Transformational Leadership. Social Entrepreneurship

Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the fifth and final part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get updates on upcoming series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

Do you remember Christopher Columbus? He was the first European who discovered the New world! He was a true blooded pioneer who brought knowledge of the New World to the rest of Europe. But pioneers can’t be rightly called pioneers if other people won’t follow them. Pioneers push frontiers, explore new worlds and ideas and establish new orders.

When the pioneers shall have done their jobs, the managers and the rest of the people will populate whatever colony they have established. We can liken this to managers following the footsteps of the leader.

Managers are mainly maintenance folks. They make sure that the machine is running as efficiently as effectively as possible. They tend to be the “behind-the-scenes” guys while leaders are usually like the driver of a bus or the captain of a ship. Leaders are responsible that the ship is cruising along towards the right direction while managers are concerned in the efficiency, speed, and performance of the ship.

How’s your leadership habits and reflex?

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Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the fourth part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get the upcoming articles on this series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

The Global Positioning System is an amazing feature of twenty-first century civilization. Through the use of satellites way above planet earth, individuals can actually see where they are on earth and how they stand in relation to their environment. This system used to be exclusively for military use. But now, it is also used by civilians for numerous purposes. This technology also gave rise to location-based web technologies and to the famous Google Earth and Google Street View.

How does the Global Positioning System works?

The satellites used for GPS (24 of them) circle the earth twice a day. They then transmit signal information to the planet. The receivers (gadgets installed on a computer or in a car) then take this information and through a process of triangulation, the receiver calculates the user’s location on the planet. The satellites measure time and distance and after a series of really quick calculations, the GPS receivers will display it on the device.

This poses an important lesson for leaders all over the world: Do you have a leadership GPS? How are you using it? How can you have one?

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Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the third part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get the upcoming articles on this series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

In ancient times, sailors and pirates looked at the night sky and saw only the stars, the moon and the darkness beyond. But looking upon the same night sky, captains would see the direction of the ship and the continuation of a journey in search of treasure or new lands.

Being captain wasn’t simply a title. It meant being able to read the stars, literally, and calculate the direction of the ship. If you can’t navigate, you’re done with! Can you hear Captain Jack Sparrow and Capt. Barbossa quarrel over the map to the Fountain of Youth?

How can you, as a transformational leader, navigate effectively?

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Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the second part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get the upcoming articles on this series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

Anticipation is an important activity for any leader. The road ahead may be difficult but a good leader can anticipate problems long before they occur. Sure, they get surprised by some things every now and then. But they know the lay of the land and how they can make best use of the terrain.

Here are the top four mistakes that leaders make in anticipating the road being taken by the organization.

Near-sightedness. Some leaders can only see the here and now. While that may be good for people who want to enjoy every single moment of their lives, it is not good for the organization. By focusing only on short-term gains and successes, the leader may be sabotaging the long-term sustainability and growth of the organization.

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Every Wednesday, this Transformational Leadership blog features a series on leadership or personal development. This is the first part of our Leadership Anticipation and Directions series. To get the upcoming articles on this series, please subscribe to our blog feed.

Pilots stay right at the nose of their aircraft. A driver of any vehicle has to stay at the front seat. And the leader has to stay at the helm of the organization and exercise leadership foresight!

Leaders have to see the road ahead. Will the journey be smooth? Is the direction clear? Are there hazards along the way? Should he change some parts of the plan? Is the organization still in the right road? How can the leaders make the right decision?

Leading an organization is just like going through a long trip. Some parts of the journey are well known while the others may remain a mystery.

Before any long trip, a good driver checks if the vehicle is in good working condition—the clutch, the tires, the brakes and all the controls should be A-okay. In the same way, the leader should check the organization if its divisions, agencies and its individual members are up to the challenge of the journey ahead. This will prevent damage if the organization eventually runs into difficult terrain.

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