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  The LiDER

Thank You...C. Charles Jackson Foundation

1/15/2018

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Gratitude and love to the C. Charles Jackson Foundation for awarding LiDER a grant to support our Leadership Trainer Certification Program!

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Theory Thursday: Skills

1/11/2018

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For this week, we will be exploring "Skills Theory"! Exceptional leaders develop technical, human, and conceptual skills to capitalize on their leadership practice.
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Theory Thursday: Trait

1/4/2018

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On the east coast of the USA, we're battling winter snow storms! There is no better way to enjoy a cold day - hunkered in with hot cocoa - and watch a compelling video on leadership theory! Here's to "Theory Thursday" with a brief exploration of Trait Theory - also known as Great Man Theory...  
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Leaders Ask Powerful Questions

12/4/2017

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Leaders strategically utilize questions to stimulate the reflection and action of themselves and their supporters.  Questions enable leaders to purposefully:
  • Learn something new.
  • Uncover the subconscious.
  • Create a moment to purposefully pause.
  • Provide healthy challenge.
  • Connect thoughts to actions.

Leaders have a variety of questions at their disposal. Each type elicits a different response:
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Leaders need to be just as comfortable asking questions as they do dictating actions. There is one caveat, though. After asking questions, leaders need to be comfortable with silence. Silence does not mean surrender. The quiet and stillness is part of one's quest to process the question and share a response that is authentic and true. Warren Burger, author of A More Beautiful Question, suggests that to ask powerful questions, we must:
  • Step back to assess and notice what is missing or being silence. 
  • Challenge assumptions (including our own)
  • Gain a deeper understanding of the problem at hand.
  • Question the questions we are asking.
  • Take ownership

When was the last time you asked yourself - or your supporters - one of these questions:
  1. What excites my curiosity, wonder and delight?
  2. How would my ideal self create a solution?
  3. Just because it happened in the past, why must it be repeated?
  4. How much energy is this worth?
  5. If not me, who? If not now, when?
​
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LiDER Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

9/16/2017

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Yesterday, September 15th, was the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States of America. Not only do Latinx have a long, rich, vibrant and important history in the USA, the future is even brighter. At present, Latinx have the highest job market participation, the fastest growing small business sector, and 20% of millennials at Latinx.   
 
Why do we celebrate this Hispanic Heritage Month in the middle of the month? Simple. This is the same week that many countries in Latin America—specifically in Central America—celebrate their independence. Namely: Belize, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Nicaragua, where LiDER provides intentional leadership trainings, resources, and mentoring, for example, celebrated Independence yesterday, September 15th.
 
LiDER celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and the contributions our Latinx hermanos y hermanas have made in the USA and across the world!
 
More information on Hispanic Heritage Month can be found at:
  • https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.org/
  • https://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/about/
  • ​https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hispanic_Heritage_Month
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LTCP Day #1

6/26/2017

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LiDER's LTCP program launched on Saturday, June 24th with an engaged and "thirsty"-for-leadership-training (Gleysi) group of participants! It was a great day to cultivate relationships, dialogue about personal expressions of leadership, and explore principles of experiential learning and reflective dialogue.

A list was generated to capture initial thoughts on leadership and leader-qualities:
  • Adaptability.
  • Bravery.
  • Commitment.
  • Continuous Learning.
  • Grit & Gumption.
  • Humanity.
  • Influence.
  • Inspiration.
  • Knowing Yourself + Others.
  • Motivation.
  • Tenacity.

And, in a sentence, the practice and essence of leadership can be thought of us:
         "Helping us re-encounter our forgotten humanity." (Erick)
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LiDER Launches First Program

6/23/2017

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This is a momentous occasion. In late August, The Leadership Institute for Development, Education, and Research (LiDER) held its first Board meeting. Less than 10 months later - after strategizing, raising funds, and crafting an incredible curriculum - we launch our inaugural leadership development experience: The Leadership Trainer Certificate Program (LTCP).

The LTCP is a seven-week program is designed to train university students and young professionals on how to facilitate intentional leadership development experiences. We will focus on three areas for effective leadership training - leadership theory, leadership practices, and facilitation skills.

We look forward to posting pictures, videos, and stories of our leadership-learning journey here. Stay tuned! 
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LiDER Executive Director, Jonathan Kroll - polo on - and on location! Ready to go for tomorrow's Day #1 of the LTCP!
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Benjamin Franklin's Mentoring Group

5/16/2017

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​Much like traditional one-to-one mentoring experiences, group mentorship has been practiced for centuries. As a developmental relationship, it has played a significant role in the learning and growth of individuals, the enhancement and productivity of organizations, and the evolution and progress of whole communities. Benjamin Franklin, as a young entrepreneur in Colonial Philadelphia, established a mentoring group named The Leather Apron Club.
 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1727 was the fastest-growing city in all of the British settlements—a bustling urban environment of 51,000 colonists. It was on the verge of becoming the commercial, economic, and political power of the Thirteen Colonies—more culturally relevant and influential than the other dominant settlements of the New World. This is the same year that Benjamin Franklin convened friends and colleagues to create a peer mentoring group named The Leather Apron Club. Much of Philadelphia’s emergence as a prominent colonial force is due to the work of Franklin and his collaborators.
 
This secretive society was comprised of men who donned leather aprons as part of their trade—artisans, craftsmen, and merchants. These middle-class entrepreneurs dreamed of a city that would better serve its populace and utilized this forum to realize those dreams. These dozen men discussed issues of the day, debated philosophical topics, devised schemes for self-improvement, and developed a network that allowed for the furtherance of their own careers and tangible improvements to the city.
 
The Leather Apron Club was a safe space for ideas to simmer and initiatives to unfold. The reflective space for dialogue and relationship-building established an important holding environment. These gatherings resulted in each member engaging in personal growth and professional learning opportunities. Stimulated by Franklin, a particular method was encouraged—the utilization of soft Socratic queries which guided the developmental and democratic dialogue. Suggestions and questions were utilized rather than debate or dictatorial responses. This allowed for each member to pause, enter into a reflective space, forge their own knowledge, engage with their peers, and then author their own decisions. 
 
The Leather Apron Club served as a crux for social change. A multitude of civic improvements rooted in “social utility” and social improvement were devised within the gatherings. Some of the crowning achievements include the establishment of paper currency, a system for regular road repair, and consistent street cleaning. A volunteer fire company, city hospital, educational academy (which would become the University of Pennsylvania), and the first subscription library all were the direct result of these mentoring gatherings.
 
LiDER utilizes group mentoring to enhance the leadership learning of our participants. For example, our Leadership Training Certificate Program utilizes group mentoring to cultivate synergistic relationships and to more deeply explore leadership theories, effective leadership practices, and facilitation skills necessary to train others in leadership. For more information on group mentoring, see LiDER Executive Director Jonathan Kroll’s article:
"What is Group Mentoring".
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The 7th Man

5/9/2017

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“Because that’s how we’ve always done it” is a cringe-worthy statement. It’s worse than sharp nails running down a dull chalkboard.  It allows us to get trapped in a pattern of mindlessness. It leaves us stuck in ineffective traditions.

The story below highlights what happens when we stop asking questions about effectiveness - and mindlessly engage in work 'because that's how we've always done it':

Just prior to World War II, a military officer was visiting an overseas counterpart to study and learn from his maneuvers. It was a reconnaissance mission. The two officers looked on as an artillery battalion deployed from their trucks and prepared their cannons for a mock attack. The visiting officer leaned toward his counterpart and asked why seven men were assigned to each cannon.

It was clear from the arrangement that there were only six active cannon positions—the seventh simply stood at attention. The host officer quickly shared that there had always been seven-man teams, but he was not sure why. He promised to look into it the next day.

The next morning, the two were enjoying breakfast together when the host officer reported his findings:

          "There have always been seven-man teams because the seventh member was responsible for holding the
           horses," he noted.

          The visiting officer let out a disbelieving chuckle. “But we don’t use horses anymore…”

When we stop asking questions about effectiveness, we get trapped in a pattern of mindlessness.

How often do we pause and reflect on our current processes and practices? How many of us have that 7th Man or Woman standing at attention—not assisting in any meaningful way? Leadership is about taking these Because-that’s-how-we’ve-always-done-it moments and transforming them into
opportunities for change.  
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Thrive and Grow

5/2/2017

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What are great leaders doing differently to make their organizations thrive and grow?
In her TED Talk, Roselinde Torres ponders the possibilities of this question (see below).
The premise of the pondering is that regular leaders—the majority of us—are not positioned or prepared to serve as great 21st century leaders for our organizations. Although more resources are being spent on leadership education and development than ever before, there is a significant concern that our current development and education experiences are not equipping us to serve as the effective leaders our organizations need.
 
In other words, she suggests there is a leadership crisis! Over the course of a year, Torres researched this crisis under the guise of the question, “what are great leaders doing distinctively different to thrive and grow? She found three critical differences:
  • Great leaders shape their future rather than react to it. These great leaders are intentional about carving out time and space to reflect upon where the next change will come from. This time engaged in reflection allows great leaders to distill information so important decisions can be made with confidence.
  • Great leaders are connected to diverse constituents and develop expansive networks. By spending time engaged in activities that broaden perspectives—reading books, traveling, being in community and dialoging with diverse constituents—leaders are able to see connections across systems.
  • Great leaders dare to be different - they don't just talk about action, they do it. Courage is when leaders act in ways—with confidence and conviction—that allow them to move their vetted ideas along. It is so easy to carry on doing things the way they have always been done.

How are you helping yourself, your colleagues, and your organizations thrive and grow?
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    LiDER is a start-up non-profit leadership institute that provides training, resources, and mentorship to students, women, and entrepreneurs.

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  • Home
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