The Shadow of Influence: An Obligation of Leadership

Overview: Following the tragic events of September 11, it was noted with interest how keenly employees were looking at the actions of their CEOs and senior teams to see how they would respond. Were they visible? Did they communicate? Did they show caring and concern? Were they living the values of the organization at a time when that was needed most? It has been seen that some leaders do remarkably well at both inspiring and calming their organizations. Conversely, others were that failed the test. It was a reminder of the powerful shadow cast by leaders. How can we best influence? Perhaps the most important thing we have learned is that moment-to-moment quality of thinking determines our behaviors, and that we can monitor this by noticing the internal state or feelings. When we are feeling grateful, hopeful, optimistic, and resourceful, the quality of thinking is high and we will almost always be casting a positive and constructive shadow. When we are feeling critical, judgmental, angry, excessively impatient, and over-stressed, it is a clue that the shadow we cast could do some damage. Read the article as how influence of other people effect the leadership quality.

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Format: PDF | Size: 76KB | Date: Jan 2003 | Pages: 7