The Secret What Great Leaders Knowand Do

By Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller 2004

Book in Brief
The secret is: Great leaders S-E-R-V-E their followers See the Future Engage and Develop Others Reinvent Continuously Value Results and Relationships Embody the Values

Keywords
Leadership, Mentoring, Vision, Values, Serve, Relationships, Results, Appreciative Inquiry, Listening, Engagement, Hiring, Connecting.

Powerful Quotes
Everything rises and falls on leadership!
John C. Maxwell

A key question you must continuously ask yourself is Am I a serving leader or a selfserving leader?
Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller

The leaders objective is to leverage the strengths of people and make their weaknesses become irrelevant.
Peter Ducker

The very best leaders are learners.

Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller

People will not give you their hand until they can see your heart.
John C. Maxwell

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care
John C. Maxwell

Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve

Dr. Martin Luther King
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved - Bashar Dari Page 1 / 4

The ability to develop capable successors is a hallmark of great leaders

Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller

The best teachers are always those who know they havent got it all figured out
Ken Blanchard & Mark Miller

Book Insights
Developing Leaders is our highest strategic priority

They become great leaders one day at a time throughout their lifetimes

A compelling vision stirs passion

Values are the beliefs that drive our behaviour

In our company, we often refer to problems as opportunities. I believe that developing leaders is our highest strategic priority as an organization. I believe we demonstrate our priorities with the way we allocate our resources and that includes our time. How do you think I can best serve you in the months ahead? True leadership has nothing to do with ones level in the organization. Leadership is a lot like an iceberg. There are two primary components. Below the water is the character of a leader. Above the water are the skills of a leader. Another way to think about it is that leadership has two componentsBeing and Doing. As an organization, where possible we select people with both character and skills. But if we have to choose between skills and character, We will select men and women of character and develop their skills. Great leaders dont become great in a momentor in a month or a year. They become great leaders one day at a time throughout their lifetimes. Youll never finish. Youll never completely arrive. Youll constantly and continuously find new ways to serve, and every time you do, your leadership skills will improve and youll become a better leader. How can I help? What do you think your greatest challenge is? I want to do everything I can to help you succeed. The S stands for See the Future. Its about your vision as a leader for the future of your group. A compelling vision stirs passion within you. It tells everyone who works with you who you are, where youre going, and what will drive your behaviour. Leaders must constantly evaluate how they invest their time. Some time must be devoted to Heads UpSee the Future/Vision, and some must be devoted to Heads DownCurrent needs/Operation. Values are the cornerstones of the culture the leader is trying to create. Our values are the beliefs that drive our behaviour. Values: o Customer First: Our thoughts and actions should always be focused on answering the question How will this decision or action impact the customer? o Serve Others: I believe that those who wish to become great must be willing to serve. o Stewardship: we are accountable for all that has been entrusted to us our time, talents, financial resources, and relationships. o Creativity: The ability to think creatively is a gift weve all been given, and we are determined to utilize it to the fullest. We will never be satisfied with the status quo.
Page 2 / 4

Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved - Bashar Dari

ENGAGE: do more than enlist their handsyou want to engage their heads and hearts

Helping people leverage their strengths

Both Results and Relationships are critical for long-term survival

Its been said that seeing the future is one leadership responsibility that cannot be delegated. It can be shared, but its the leaders job to make time today to ensure that there is a tomorrow. E is for Engage and Develop Others. You must have the right people, in the right roles, fully engaged if you are going to accomplish the things you identified under See the Future. You can learn a lot about people by the questions they ask. If I can talk candidates out of accepting the job, they dont need to join our team. I would rather lose a candidate than a team member. Engage has to do with the level of buy-in people have for a cause, their work, and a leader. You want to do more than enlist their handsyou want to engage their heads and hearts also. What are the things that fire you up about your work? My goals were clear, I was well trained, I had the information I needed, My boss had confidence in me, My boss was there when I needed help, I was making a contribution, We were all learning and growing, boundaries were pretty clear, expected to think for yourself rather than just execute what your boss wanted done, and accountable for outcomes. Developing others involves creating the expectation for learning and growing; creating training and development opportunities; providing educational resources. I would rather fit people in the right jobs and help them leverage their strengths, rather than fixing them later. Helping people leverage their strengths is one of the most rewarding parts of the leaders role. Great leaders R=Reinvent Continuously on three levels: o Personal level: The very best leaders are learners. Great leaders find their own approach to learning. If you stop learning, you stop leading. o Systems and processes: How can we do the work better? How can we do it faster/for less? o Structural reinvention: Great leaders understand that their organizational structure should be fluid and flexible. V stands for Value Results and Relationships. Both are critical for long-term survival. Not either/or but both/and. If we can take care of our customers and create a motivating working environment for our people, profits and financial strength are the applause we get for a job well done. Value Results: high expectations, clear goals and high level of accountability. Value Relationship: Listen, Invest time, care deeply and accentuate the positive (=catching people doing things right). Each person has his or her own personality and temperament. Building meaningful relationships can never be reduced to a checklist of activities. How many of your people would say that you have made a significant investment in their lives? To value relationships, Find out about peoples lives outside work. What are their goals and dreams and struggles? If success is about results and relationships, youll have to take a few relational risks along the way. Connect with others: if they would share with me the top five things they wanted to Be, Do, Have, and Help in their lifetime, I would do all that I could to assist
Page 3 / 4

Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved - Bashar Dari


If you dont have your peoples trust, youll never be a great leader

them in achieving those twenty things. I want to invest in the lives of my people. I cant help all of them with everything on their individual lists, but I can usually do something. Thats one way I can demonstrate the fact that I value relationships. As a leader, you must gain the trust of your people. If you dont have their trust, youll never be a great leader. E stands for Embody the Values. There are many ways to build trust. One way is to live consistently with the values you profess. One of the things great leaders do is establish, articulate, model and enforce core values. For a leader to be successful, he or she must embody the values of their organization. Who are the leaderspast or presentwho you think best demonstrate the SERVE approach to leadership? How do you lead? By following. How can I be first? By being last.Jesus of Nazareth People who want to be great leaders must embrace an attitude of service to others.

Personal Reflection
It is very interesting the similarity between these five S-E-R-V-E practices and the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership that Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner documented in their The Leadership Challenge Book. Here is the mapping:

S See the Future E Engage and Develop Others R Reinvent Continuously V Value Results & Relationships

Inspire a Shared Vision Enable Others to Act Challenge the Process Encourage the Heart

Model the Way E Embody the Values What I like best about this book is the Appreciate Inquiry style, meaning the many thought-provoking questions. What I dont like about this book is the perception that things can turn around quickly from bad to good/positive. I learned that it takes a lot of hard work, time, and commitment to make the jump to be a leader, let alone be a Great Leader. It doesnt happen overnight or in a week or a month. Also, you can expect many setbacks until you reach a level that you are comfortable with and even then, you need to realize that Leadership is a life journey of learning.

Links
Excerpt: http://www.bkconnection.com/static/The_Secret_2nd_EXCERPT.pdf Ken Blanchard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Blanchard Mark Miller: http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Mark_Miller.pdf The Leadership Challenge: http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/

Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved - Bashar Dari

Page 4 / 4