Are You Modeling the Way?

Have you had a chance to read The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner? It’s a bit dry, but provides great stories about leadership and, more importantly, a simple and understandable leadership model. It’s a great resource to have around the office.

The first of five Practices of Leadership they talk about in the book is “Model the Way.” Here’s a short excerpt:

Leaders demonstrate their intense commitment to the values they espouse by setting the example. It’s how they earn and sustain credibility over time. It’s about doing what you say. Leaders send signals in a variety of ways and in all kinds of settings, and constituents read those signals as indicators of what’s okay and what’s not okay to do. How leaders spend their time is the single best indicator of what’s important. The language leaders use and the questions they ask are other powerful ways that shape perceptions of what they value.”

Today, my challenge to you is – are you modeling the way both personally and professionally? What do your actions say? What do your lack of actions say? What do your words indicate? Are you asking others to do things you would not do first?

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