Consequences of Servant Leadership

Servant Leaders.  Do you know folks that fit that model?  Do you?   Or do you have a preference or style that is more hierarchical, top-down?   As you think about your company or folks you know that have enjoyed great success in their roles at various companies – how often does the leadership style come into your mind?   After decades of dialog about the positive outcomes created in organizations who really get it, clearly not everyone agrees. 

I ask this because I was speaking about this topic a few weeks ago with a friend.  We were discussing, perhaps clarifying in our own minds, the consequences of servant leadership.  A stretch to say “negative consequences” because that could be seen as self-serving.   But let’s face it – isn’t there a potential cost to individuals when they are focused on the greater good? 

You’re passionate about being great at your role, at success for your company.  You listen, teach, collaborate, build community, share best practices, and involve everyone in your ecosystem.  You are focused on the overall system.  Harmony.   Growth.   Long term success… 

Then what happens?  Do you run into a steamroller?   Is there objection from others who feel that command and control is the only successful leadership model?     Are some companies a better fit?  Some roles?   In thinking about your future, how does this mental challenge influence your decisions about directions to go? 

So this note is really just to provoke some thought and perhaps generate response.      I know there are books and blogs and entire organizations focused on this.   I’m just curious to know how these questions  have an impact (if at all) on your personal career choices.

What is your Brand?

Thinking about putting together a personal marketing plan, I recall a leadership topic from the past on key concept:  BRAND. 
 
brand     –noun 
Excerpt from a 2007 page at WikiPedia.org
“A brand includes a name, logo, slogan, and/or design scheme associated with a product or service. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the use of the product or service and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to the product and serves to create associations and expectations around it. A brand often includes a logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, and sound, which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.”
 
‘Brand’ is typically tied to marketing in the vast majority of companies, yet understood much more broadly in companies that have a focus on employee development.  Like the concept of a “system”, a brand exists whether you design it or not.  Understanding your brand means you are looking from the outside-in.  You are standing in the shoes of your customer.
 
Why is this important again from a more personal perspective?  Because with the new year and emergence of a new economy, it is important to do a self assessment and clarify your long term view.  Consider these questions:

• What’s important in forming your own company 3-year growth plan?  A viewpoint on the market forces AS WELL AS a clear statement about how you expect to be uniquely recognized in that market. 
• What’s important in forming a 3-year technology roadmap?  A viewpoint on the market enablers AS WELL AS a clear reflection about your unique capabilities to deliver.  
• What’s important in building personal development plans?  For building team goals and objectives?  For engagement?  Effective conversations?   

Look from the outside-in and you’ll see that understanding your brand is a significant step in generating success.  Looking outside-in actually requires independent feedback mechanisms.  You must work to put those mechanisms in place.  With that, you can know if your internal views reflect customer views.   Some would say “perception is reality.”  While I don’t go that far, there’s a little bit of truth to it.
 
Next step… do you know your brand?  Is it what you want it to be?  How about the brand of your team, your community, your products?  Spend some time with your customers to find out.  Think about how else you can measure and manage it.  Now put an action plan in place to achieve your goals.