There is a huge difference between leaders and managers.
Never sell managers short, they are the stewards of resources.
Their problems will cost you money
Leaders are the stewards of culture.
If the organizational culture is toxic, it is the fault of the leaders.
Their problems will cost you your whole organization.
Endgameleadership.com
Ken Wrede
Kenneth W. Wrede
First, thank you to everyone that has been following me for the last 18 months or so. I really appreciate your thoughtful comments and interest. I know I have been a little slow online the last few months, but your encouragement has made me rethink my blog and the purpose it serves. I have been using my time during these last months for writing and working on a new project.
My goal now is that I want to keep 5,000,000 businesses from failing.
As a step towards that goal, I am launching a new Website called EndGame Leadership.
The early goals of this blog has been for me to capture and articulate my thoughts on a variety of topics that are interesting to me.
One of my pet projects since my EMBA Program has been a personal appraisal of my experience of 35+ years of leadership training, both as a student and teacher. Through that analysis, I have been developing a leadership model that I believe really cuts away all the nonsense of leadership we think we know and presents what is really effective.
I am calling the end result “EndGame Leadership“. There are a many ways people grow as leaders and it is usually a bottom-up, solitary, personal process. They develop their skills on an ad hoc basis and when experience slaps them in the face.
I have taken a fresh approach and researched why have businesses failed? I can’t control anything if a business fails because of market issues or problems with the economy. But, when the research shows that 25% of all businesses in the US fail because of leadership issues, now we have a starting point. When those failures can be traced back to root problems, we know what to fix. My approach was to create a leadership model that is engineered to avoid the root causes that lead to failure.
I would appreciate it if you will check out the new site. Let’s find a way to work together. I can’t save 5,000,000 companies by myself. (http://EndGameLeadership.com)
There is a preview available of my first book called “6 Rabbit Holes of Leadership”. The book is an attempt to help the novice leader avoid the pitfalls that bogus advice gives though that advice seems often compelling. For more experienced leaders, I hope the book helps you to realize that you were not alone on your journey and I hope the pages give you the framework to help those who look to you for advice.
The preview I am including is the first four chapters out of nine chapters. Please sign-in and take a look.
This site isn’t closing, I have occasional items I’d like to discuss, but this blog will be more personal and, at times, whimsical. If, however, your focus is leadership, please head to the new site and follow me from there. Many of the previous resources are there, but the focus is on leadership.
Thank you for your previous and future support!
Ken
To paraphrase the old saying, “Leadership
is like the weather – everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.” People seem to accept leadership, good or bad, as a cosmic fate that simply happens. If we benefit, great. If we suffer from inadequate leadership, it is perceived as bad fortune and unavoidable.
I do not accept those premises. Unlike the weather, we can do something about leadership
Leadership development is one of the single most important strategic activities undertaken by business entities throughout the world. To ignore the need for excellent leadership practices is an invitation to catastrophe.
Here is what the science says:
I think there are three main fallacies that directly contribute to poor leadership development:
Fallacy one – “Real” leaders have charisma. Continue reading
(Or The Fallacy of Leadership Style)
There are a lot of articles and posts written on the subject of leadership style. Most of it is based on a faulty premise: you are your leadership style and your leadership style is you.
In other words, people are led to believe that they are defined by their leadership style and they should hone that style into a sharp cutting tool. However, a sharp tool is not always the best for every job.
“One Style to Rule Them All”
I had a podcast interview with Jonathan Pritchard over at A Life Well Designed. Jonathan uses design principles to analyze challenges in life and business, then applies design techniques to find elegant, effective solutions.
(For some reason I had a tough time enunciating, but I hope the messages were clear.)
I enjoyed the interview immensely, thanks Jonathan!
EOM,
(http://www.alifewelldesigned.com/podcast/alwd-008-leadership-with-ken-wrede/)
When you are in a position of authority, what is the best use of your time? How do you get more leadership bang for the buck?
One of my leadership principles is to create a healthy organizational culture. I think the best way to convey the message is to cultivate cooperation from people instead of enforcing compliance. Continue reading
K.W. Wrede 