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Monica Wofford, CSP, is a leadership development expert and author of Contagious Leadership and newly released, Make Difficult People Disappear.

What can you learn from the leadership lessons of 2012 that will make you that “lean, mean leading machine” in 2013?

 

Happy New Year! As 2012 concludes and 2013 begins, we look back briefly at the lessons we learned. Based on some of the year’s top news stories, these lessons will help us be even better “lean, mean leading machines” in 2013. Okay, well not mean, but perhaps even more effective. 

  • Confidence in your convictions will keep you driven, but leaders ensure they’re driving the bus with other people on board and not an empty one they’ve got floored.
  • Distractions abound. Always remember where your attention flows, your energy goes.
  • Preparation and timing make you “lucky”. In other words, build a parachute while others are looking for the cliff.
  • Watch what matters to the employees you lead or they may lead others to rise up against you.
  • You win some and you lose some, but focusing on the loss won’t make you a winner.
  • Natural selection is a powerful force. Let the difficult folks go instead of persuading, asking, complaining about, or begging them to stay the course.
  • Even the best leaders need continued development, training, knowledge, and reminders of who they’re leading how and where.
  • Opportunities for change come in all shapes and sizes even in what appear to be the most permanent of enterprises.
  • When the boat goes off course, collect yourself and those around you, make a plan, and lead them to safety. Its quick action that saves the day and it is the times of crisis that determine how well with you, in good times, others will play.
  • Leaders learn, listen, and speak, but only after they’ve fully evaluated the kind of guidance those they lead, seek.

It’s been a year and a half! So much has happened in the last twelve months and tomorrow we begin again, but perhaps without dwelling on where we’ve been and simply learning how it will make us better. Take a quick step back and look in the mirror, decide where you’re going and lead them to get there with fervor.

For more information on leadership development and training provided by Contagious Companies, go to ContagiousCompanies.com.

I’m Monica Wofford, and that’s your Monday Moment. Have a great Monday, an even better week and of course, stay contagious!

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