SparkPilot blog

I was asked recently what traits I look for to determine if someone is ready to move into a leadership role, either as a manager or as a thought leader.  This is easy if I have worked with the person because they will display the majority of these traits in their daily actions.

In addition to this post on Leadership, here are some of the traits that I looks for:

• Consistently demonstrates core values
  • Respect for others
  • Strong work ethic
  • Honesty & Integrity
  • Self motivation
• Discipline excellence
  • Deep discipline knowledge
  • Ability to mentor & coach others
  • Results focus
• Leadership
  • Desire to lead
  • Consistently demonstrates accountability
  • Mobilizes others to action
  • Credibility
• Soft skills
  • Communicates clearly and effectively
  • Self aware
  • Selfless
  • Responds well to feedback
  • Cares for others
    • Helps develops others
    • Demonstrates empathy

And the final item that I look for is:

Are others willing to follow that person’s lead?

I am always humbled by genius and talent; therefore when the writings of Guy Kawasaki are converted to wonderful imagery by Martha McGinnis, I just have to share.

The art above was created by Martha McGinnis – a hi-res version can be found here (7.4M)

Guy Kawasaki wrote this blog post on The Art of Innovation and provides a little insight to the visual artistry above.

I don’t know about you but I have run into the situation where a great employee  is not delivering the results that the business needs.  Here is the question that I ask myself:

If I put that person in a Life or Death situation where they face death if they are unable to deliver the results.  Are they able to deliver the results?

And the options are:

• if they are able to deliver the results: – then there is a motivation issue
• if they are still not able to deliver the results: -  then there is a skills issue

I do not recommend that you put any of your people in a Life or Death situation.  For me, the ideal approach is to have conversations with them to determine what the issue(s) are.  As long as you have already established a culture where they can share issues without any repercussions, they will share with you.

by Cherie Carter-Scott

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.