Hi Tech Leadership

Lots of other things we once considered “high-tech” gadgets have disappeared too.

Rotary phones. How did our fingers ever have the patience to wait for the dial to return before spinning up the next number?

Real rolls of film. Imagine having to wait a week to see your selfie.

Dial-up modems. Advanced planning and notification to everyone in the household was required before you could go on the Internet. I love the sound of a dial-up modem connecting in the morning.

8-tracks. Cassettes and vinyl are included in the carnage. Love the mp4, but still miss the feeling of holding the album cover.

Leadership Skills

What about you? What about your leadership? Are your “high-tech” leadership skills losing ground in the present workplace? Do some of your techniques need to be dropped from your repertoire? Maybe they call you a micro-manager or a control freak, or perhaps you don’t even know what’s making it difficult for you to make an impact in your role.

You may need to retool, or at least refresh some of your thoughts on leadership.

It can happen to anyone. We get so busy cutting wood that we don’t have time to sharpen the saw. There never seems to be enough time when we are so busy doing and leading. And besides, the training budget has been cut! So how do we make it happen?

Surround Yourself

Show me what you are surrounding yourself with, and I'll give you a hint as to how much you care about staying current and growing your leadership skills. Leaders are not born.  Leaders are grown, and they grow a little at a time.

There are great people out there who will stimulate your imagination about leadership and challenge you to grow as a leader.  Sure, they will charge lots of money to travel to your organization and share their material with your team. But did you know they give away their material for free? That’s right, for free! All you do is sign up to receive updates from their blog or podcast, or follow them on social media. That’s how you surround yourself with great leadership material. That’s how you sharpen the saw. And it takes less of your precious time than making a pot of coffee.

Take 8 minutes a day – every day – and surround yourself with great leadership material. You can pick your source and your media, but if you want to get better, you must invest in some kind of leadership knowledge.

I started doing this investing 20 years ago, and I was known to practically wallpaper my office with tidbits of wisdom that I picked up from other leaders’ daily discipline. Every time I looked at those notes, I was retooling and refocusing my leadership skills.

You can find them yourself with a simple internet search.  Or, I have already done the work for you! Just ask me, I will send you a list of 10 excellent leadership resources – all completely free. All you do is commit to giving it the 8 minutes per day that you need to grow!

When we surround ourselves with great leadership resources, it makes us consider our own leadership style and way of thinking. By taking time every day to reflect and grow as a leader, you can rest assured that your leadership style will always remain high-tech.

doug biline