Unusual thoughts on leadership

From a journal

# You need a different style of leadership and management for different situations, just as you need different tools for different jobs.
# How varied is your tool chest? What is the quality of your tools? Have you practiced using them?
# Anger is a management tool, which used rarely and with purpose.
# Humor is a management tool, when used often.
# Passion is contagious. People can read it in your tone and actions, not your words.
# Make people laugh. It relieves tension and makes them like you.
# If you have a file of to do items and you haven’t touched it in 2 weeks, throw it away or do it today.
# If you’re micro-managing, you’re not leading.
# Anticipating and preparing for the storms you see coming helps when you’re blindsided by the unexpected.
# Never miss a chance to compliment people.
# People disagreeing with you is not necessarily a challenge to authority.
# Ask and use advice from subordinates. It builds their self worth, rewards them and gives you information you can’t get otherwise.
# Everyone in a department is important, no matter their job status.
# Read Brave New World and Tom Peters’ Re-Imagine to understand the need to combat the sterilization of bigness.
# Plants require pruning to be healthy. So do organizations. They also require fertilizer to grow.
# It’s ok to want people to like you. Everyone wants to be liked. Use this to accomplish many goals.
# Anyone who can’t accept disagreement or hearing about workers’ gripes, isn’t fit to be a leader.
# It doesn’t matter what your agenda is, if you can’t build consensus, you will only build resentment and discord.
# Most of the problems on campus are caused by people who forget we’re here for students.
# Good students are your best resource. Good faculty attract good students. You can get rid of bad students. Bad faculty are much harder. Bad students can’t wreck a department. Bad faculty can wreck a department.