Wake Up and Shake It Up Post

While I'm not very good at keeping my own blog site current, I recently co-wrote a piece with Tanveer Naseer titled, "Is Your Leadership Serving Others . . . or Just Yourself?"

You can read it here at Shawn Murphy's leadership blog series called "Wake Up and Shake It Up."

My Favorite Tweets this Week

When used properly, social media can be an amazing tool and a vast land of learning. Here are some favorite tweets from people this week:

• "Nothing stunts a leader's growth like an overdeveloped ego." (via @tedcoine)
• "The greatest thing a generation can do is lay a few stepping stones for the next generation." Charles Kettering (via @johncmaxwell)
• "Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing." Mary D. Poole (via @thehrgoddess)
• "The bridges you cross before you come to them are over rivers that aren't there." Gene Brown (via @salespowertips)
• "Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these, society will face tremendous difficulties." The Dalai Lama (via @UpayaChaplains)
• "Ask for help not because you are weak, but because you want to remain strong." Les Brown (via @ReadyTOFeedback @czaucha @BillyCoxLive)
• "Employee recognition is powerful when you understand the principles and practices behind it -- Make it more than a gimmick! (via @smaxbrown -- me)

Love Leadership

I love books that challenge the status quo, and more importantly, provide real solutions for a better future. This is exactly why I highly recommend that you take the time to get this book: "Love Leadership: The New Way To Lead in a Fear-Based World," by John Hope Byrant.

The case John makes is this: "As unlikely as it sounds, the best way to get ahead is to figure out what you have to give to a world seemingly obsessed with only one question: "what do I get?" To make the argument that "the best way to do well and to achieve true wealth over the long term is to do good," he breaks it down into five fundamental laws:

1. Loss Creates Leaders (there can be no strength without legitimate suffering)
2. Fear Fails (only respect and love leads to success)
3. Love Makes Money (love is at the core of true wealth)
4. Vulnerability is Power (when you open up to people, they open up to you)
5. Giving is Getting (the more you offer to others the more they will give back to you)

Do yourself a favor and buy this book for Valentine's Day -- it is a great read and I've purchased several copies to share with clients and friends.

I'm also very excited to be interviewing Chairman John Hope Bryant to discuss the book in further detail on Real Recognition Radio -- more details coming soon so stay tuned!