Today is the final of the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Bob Low is participating in the Pole Vault final. Bob has consistently been ranked in the top 5 in the country as a vaulter for BYU.

The pole vault is an exceptionally difficult event. It takes incredible self-discipline, focus, and a combination of natural ability and technique developed over the years. Bob started as a hurdler when he was just 9 years old, following in the footsteps of other family members. But it was the pole-vault that intrigued him and he participated in his first national championship in the 8^th grade.

In that first championship clearing the bar at 8 feet was a daunting task and after failing to advance, Bob declared he would never jump again and then the tears of disappointment poured out of his young eyes. That was 12 years ago and today his senior year will culminate in his last college championship. He has broken many records along the way and now jumps 10 feet higher than he did in the 8^th grade. He was not a quitter.

We can learn a lot from athletes. They make a choice to win, to be high performers. They choose to overcome all odds to be the best they can be. Sometimes that really hurts. They suffer setbacks, injuries, and blows to a fragile ego, painful failures and broken dreams. They  never give up; they pick themselves up after a loss and work even harder to achieve the ultimate goal.

The beauty of sports, especially track and field is that it has room for participants on every level. It is why jogging and road racing became so popular. The average guy and gal could achieve personal bests every time they ran a race. In the pole vault they ‘raise the bar” when a height has been cleared…setting the bar for a new height and each ¼ inch is a remarkable accomplishment.

At Leadership Excellence we cheer for Bob Low today as he is a part of our excellence family and all the other participants and wish them the very best. We believe in helping people find a wiser, better way to live their life and lead their organizations. Raise your own bar and clear new heights. Advance your personal training to include new goals and dreams. We offer a Personal Excellence Plan that can serve as a guide for your personal development and help you sustain your training.

Authentic leadership has been a buzzword for several years and has recently come back into fashion with the near collapse of the American economic system plagued by scandal and companies scrambling to reposition, retain talent or find new talent!

Where are the leaders? Is the outcry from the observation deck. The leaders were there – they just weren’t “authentic” if you will. Many leaders were authentically bad perhaps.

David Peck in his book Beyond Effective Practices in Self-aware Leadership; he talks about authenticity. “ The actions of the most compelling leaders have a distinct authenticity of heart and mind that others can appreciate. It’s based on how consistently their decisions, communication, and responses to adversity reflect their most heartfelt principles. In their relationships and tasks, authentic leaders are apt to be unguardedly themselves, and not what they think others want or expect them to be. They keep a wary eye in the mirror for any temptation to massage the message, or to ignore their inner compass just to keep the wheels of progress turning. How authentic do you allow yourself to be with others? What holds you back from being transparent to others? What actions are you willing to take to be true to yourself in the presence of others? “

While these are great questions asked by Peck, you cannot be authentic to integrity and good character if you are self absorbed and lying to yourself about who you are or who you want to be. A leader who desires to be know for authenticity needs to be aware he/ she cannot have their “own” agenda, nor can they continue to blame others (or past events) for missed opportunities, mistakes, or even failures. With authenticity comes the responsibility to be 100% accountable for where you are in the every moment of the day…whether it is in conversation with other members of your team, writing a memo, planning a media campaign, or building an alliance. That is the ownership of leadership.

At Leadership Excellence, our publishing parent, Executive Excellence Publishing launched a book by David Gill last summer titled “ It’s About Excellence” Gill addresses these very issues of authenticity while building ethically healthy organizations. Order from Amazon today

Nancy Low

Remember that game show ” You are the Weakest Link “?  The host would ask silly questions and the weakest players were eliminated.  That would be an easy way to solve problems in your organization.  When things go bad - mistakes are made, just declare ‘You are the Weakest Link” and then  like Donald Trump; “you’re fired“.

But life isn’t a game show.

Kanu Kogood is President of Bridges in Organizations and co developer of Leadership Alchemy with NASA’s Office of Human Capital Management. Dr. Kogood writes about the Seven Principles of Leadership Development on page 17 of our April issue of Leadership Excellence.

Notice Principle 1: Breakdown to Breakthrough. The place of chaos and uncertainty is the place of most potential because it is in those times that new patterns can be best developed. That is a WOW statement.

It reminds me of the ‘sink or swim” motivation. When times get tough you can either dig deep, pull your socks up and get to work or you sink. You fail. Good times bring complaisance and a false sense of power and authority. The brain goes to mush and you lose a bit of your creative energy that drives you to find solutions and new ideas.

Dr. Kogood says; “People are uncomfortable when things are uncertain, unclear or chaotic. Yet, these times afford opportunity for new ideas, solutions, and possibilities to emerge.”

Most people are resilient and bounce back after hard times. My son, who was a very successful basketball player, said the greatest lessons he learned were from the failures on the court not from their victories. The games they lost showed where they needed to improve and new ideas, strategies and skills were developed.

Good leaders don’t have to do anything extraordinary – except be honest, share the pain and be willing to carry their share of the load. There is never a good time for finger pointing – but it is always a good time for building and growing success.

If you think you are the teams weakest link and can’t take the uncertainty … maybe its time to do some character building exercises and strengthen your commitment or move on to something else.

Here is our April edition of Leadership Excellence

Alexander Pope wrote: “The patterns of art come from a deep unconscious source in the memory.” And Keats noted: “The truth in poetry comes almost as a remembrance.” And Wordsworth saw us born into life “trailing clouds of glory.”

Pope, Keats, and Wordsworth searched for their patterns of truth in a deep pool of memory, sensing that their work would have universal appeal only if they drew their ideas and images out of the collective unconscious, the universal spirit of mankind. (more…)

Our new President of the United States was sworn in yesterday. And whether or not you agree with his policy and positions, his call for Americans to be more responsible is one we can all agree this country needs to follow:

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

Leadership Excellence literally wrote the book on responsibility. “Responsibility 911″ - published by Leadership Excellence and edited by Ken Shelton and Daniel Louis Bolz - features dozens of articles and commentaries on the importance of responsibility, accountability, freedom, and much more.

Order your own copy, for a discounted $14.95, and learn from the best authors, thought leaders, and minds in the world - including Desmond Tutu, Peter Senge, Tom Peters, Oprah Winfrey, J.W. Marriott Jr., and President Obama himself.

Call 877.250.1983 to order a copy and start understanding the true meaning of Responsibility.

Supplies are limited.

Having worked with several executives as a writer, editor, publisher, and now literary agent, I find many to be dynamic, visionary, proactive. All have something to say, although many prefer media other than print for their expression. But for one reason or another, little of real merit ever gets published; executives settle for short, clipped statements (often misquoted or out of context) in media, minutes and other records. (more…)

Andy Andrews - also featured in this month’s issue of Personal Excellence - had some great New Year’s advice: (more…)

The challenge for servant leaders is to stay the course when their desire to stay connected with their spiritual nature conflicts with the company rule.

Values and beliefs should create the rules by which we govern our lives - not the opposite. Rules should not determine our values and beliefs. All too often, bully management has the perspective that rules are directly linked to performance. They think that without rules, performance must automatically suffer. The truth is that, in many situations, it is the rules that stifle the company culture. (more…)

Our own Nancy Low is featured on Linked2Leadership. The original post of her article can be found HERE.

Wouldn’t it be great if you worked with people who were authentic in their work? Accepting responsibility, acknowledging errors, and committing to correction? Acting without blame or victim-hood and aspiring to be the best they could be? (more…)