Dave brings a diverse and unique set of leadership experiences to the discussion. He has practiced and studied the art of leadership for 39 years, on three continents, military and civilian, union and non-union. He has practiced leadership as a supervisor and manager in Fortune 500 companies for over 25 years. He has coached leaders from the front line to CEO level on how to improve their leadership results for over 11 years.
He believes that all organizational results are attributed to leadership. A key question to consider is how well leaders are prepared for the positions they hold? How and where did they learn about leadership? Formally or informally? Effectively or just satisfactorily? How objective are the traits that we ascribe to effective leadership? If those traits can be identified, how well do we measure and develop them to help that leader realize continuously improved results?
Many leaders in this day and age are focused more on results than on the process by which those results are obtained. This implies that the process is variable and unpredictable, as long as the result meets or exceeds expectations. How is this sustainable? Many of those leaders succeed in the short term - by pushing people and processes beyond their design capability. But if a leader could develop the skills to facilitate those people and processes for sustainable results, how much better could results be and how long could superior results be sustained? The likely answer is 'indefinitely.'
A significant challenge faced by leaders is that they don't know themselves well enough to know how effective they really are as a leader. And since few people are going to give them that feedback, we just hold on for the ride. If you as a leader can learn enough about yourself and about effective leadership techniques, you can take your leadership skillset to an entirely new level of performance. It is risky to get to know yourself - it takes courage. It takes courage to admit that you may not be properly equipped to perform as an effective leader. So an effective leader starts by working on themselves, then they can expect the organization to respond in kind.
It follows then, that if a leader can learn to minimize hurdles and interference faced by him or herself, then address those faced by his/her people, they then have a right to expect spectacular, sustainable results. People first, results second. A simple formula for performance and financial predictability.
Advancing leadership can be the most important investment an organization can make in itself. Dave's experience as a servant leader and a performance coach can offer rich insight for you and your organization. Insights that will pave the way for you to approach your optimal level of effectiveness.
