Business Learning Blog

Top five qualities of extraordinary leaders

Today's leaders have to be able to deal with the new realities of the extreme future (read about it in our post over at CPA Success), a constant rapidly changing environment with new and increased risks.

Our research shows that leaders must be able to strategically think, both critically and creatively, and be ready to shift their perspectives and those of others. Then they have to mobilize people to help them get the work done - insights to action.

Here is our list of the five most important qualities of extraordinary leaders:

1. Sight - Ability to see emerging patterns and shift perspective when necessary
2. Insight - Ability to learn faster than the rate of change in your industry
3. Create - Ability to think strategically and critically to gain insights that create new opportunities
4. Communicate - Ability to collaborate inside and outside your organization and to build and sustain social networks of people engaged in the work
5. Inspire – Ability to mobilize support and engage others to join you in ACTION

We have developed this into a "strategic thinking system" with three key learning steps: 1) Leadership I2A, a 3 day retreat that develops these skills for leaders and future leaders, 2) I2A - Facilitation, teaches a system for facilitating and leading discussions like strategic planning sessions, and 3) I2A Mastery - a mastery program that expands the skills for seasoned facilitators and strategic planners.

See our catalog for more leadership training programs

When chaos creeps home, here's a path to peace

Ask me for one word to describe the past year and I might just settle on "turbulent."

You know how the weather folks always describe a hurricane as "churning?" Finance types seem to like "turbulent" as a recessionary adjective. We've used it time and time again right here in this blog.

Here's the thing, though: These posts speaks of turbulence in business terms -- the uncertainty that the recession has caused our companies and clients. Most of the advice that's been doled out during this recession centers on calming our professional waters and building a foundation for future success.

But what about our personal waters? Amid all of this talk, it's easy to lose sight of life's really important stuff. How is all of this turbulence impacting the people we love, and what can we do to protect them?

Gretchen Pisano has a few ideas.

Gretchen is creator of Sounding Board Ink Coaching, a coaching practice that uses visual and verbal techniques "to live a life of purpose." She is also a "master life coach" and a master's candidate in applied positive psychology at University of Pennsylvania.

Her advice centers on bringing order to the chaos of our daily lives, on bringing a bit of calm and stability to our most important relationships. It all boils down to six steps:

• Seek peace of mind by banishing b.s. (big scary) thoughts. "Choose to hold on to the thoughts that inspire you to life, rather than the ones that scare you to death," Gretchen writes.
• Stable instability. "Choose a few things in your family’s life and establish predictable patterns. ... These family rhythms will give everyone something they can count on."
• Consider your time and energy as precious commodities. "Invest in trustworthy relationships (personally and professionally) and divest of the drainers."
• Eliminate busy work. "Consolidate your bills, errands and chores."
• Lose the list. "At the beginning of each day, decide on three things you need to accomplish to call it a good day."
• Give back. "The investment of time and heart will pay big dividends into the future."

Read Gretchen's advice in its entirety, then tell us: How do you calm the turbulent waters of your life?

Learn more from Gretchen with 'Insights to Action'
"Insights to Actions: Strategic Thinking System" is a new BLI program that focuses on how to think more strategically. Gretchen offers advice on how to think both conceptually and sequentially and apply a fresh new strategic planning process to your organization. Get details about the program here and here.