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My primary professional focus is on the DEVELOPING OF CRE8NG COMMUNITIES throughout entire workplaces from the front door or shipping dock to the executive offices, wherever they are located.

My basic topic areas are:

Leading skills and styles, whether a team, small to medium to large organization

Communicating skills and styles from one on one to large group presentations and faciliation of meetings.

Teaming skills, styles and team leading styles

Cre8ng...the S.P.R.E.A.D.ng of creative thinking throughout entire organizations and the generating of Creative Potential Solutions

In this section of my website I will continue to share my thinking about these topics based on my 46+ years of working since 1960; since 1976 my speaking, consulting, searching, researching and continous reading in each of these topics.

Are there a set number of traits or skills of leaders to become a successful productive leader?

NO!

Each organization, each set of people, each situation, each time period, each problem or challenge most of the time require a different mix of leading traits or skills.

Can people be taught to be leaders?

My experiences and life learnings have taught me that most people can learn skills to help them to become more effective, efficient and thus productive leaders.  Today we need people who can step forward and lead when necessary.  We need people to learn how to manage their own work, the work of a team, the work of a department, the work of an entire organization.  W. Edwards Deming and his work over 50+ years demonstrated that people can learn to manage their jobs and ought to be allowed to and trained to.  His work and the work of many others have shown that the greatest majority of people can learn valid, useful skills of managing their own work and the work of a team, especially teams of people who know how to manage their own work.  As to BOSS-ing, too many people only think of the NEGATIVE aspects of Bosses and not the appropriate and necessary skills of TAKING CHARGE IN THE MOMENT when it is necessary for a variety of reasons.  We can all learn to develop the skills and talents of TAKING CHARGE in a positive, valuable, results oriented way.

Can all people become great leaders?

This I doubt.  But in reality we do not need great leaders to do great things.  Great people or people devoted to doing greater things with moderate level leaders can accomplish and do great things when motivate to do them.

Are leaders born?

perhaps...actually I doubt this.  Yet some people are born into situations that will enable them to become leaders during their lives.  Remember that many of the great leaders were only great during a short or limited time period.  Before and after that time period they may not have been much better than average if not poor.

Is it wrong to Manage or Boss your people?

People who lead need to be able to lead, manage, boss, coordinate, coach, counsel or surround themselves with people who are good to great at these skills.

If by "boss" you mean be autocratic or authoritarian in a given situation becasue there is no time for discussion or team meetings?  YES!!!

If you mean "boss" as in bossing everyone around not letting them think, make decisions, grow, take part in decisions?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!

What are the differences between LEADING - MANAGING - BOSSING?

These are 3 difference aspects of COORDINATING the work of 2 or more people. 

LEADERS - focus on the long-range, big picture, the vision, the mission, which they often set or create and definitely strive to inspire people to commit to.

MANAGERS - focus on the short to mid-range, medium picture, the plans (3 to 5 years), goals (1 to 3 years aiming at completing or fulfilling the plans), objectives (1 to 3 years aiming at completing or fulfilling the goals and the plans) and planning of the tasks that will accomplished the objectives, goals, plans.  All that managers do is and ought to be measurable and continously verified along the way.

BOSSES - focus on the short-range or immediate tasks, get the job done and the results are measured by the accomplishments or solving of problems.

Leaders lead but not all those who lead are Leaders

Does this make sense to you?

It does to me by what I call "leading with a 'little l' versus a capital or giant "L".

Teams and groups often need to be led.  Teams rarely need to have an official LEADER yet they need members who can step forward when necessary to lead.