A recent article from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) reviewed key findings from a new book coining the phrase Open Leadership.  While the book is written from the influence of social media on leadership – I think these new Rules are applicable to student leadership as well. I’ve adapted them to fit the current reality of student leadership today.
1.  Respect that others have power. The simple lesson in this is that leadership is more about character than charisma and your leadership is NOT positional.  A traditional mindset of command and control leadership is going to go the way of mySpace in a Twitter induced world.

2.  Share constantly to build trust. Sometimes leaders might feel they need to put on the “air” of knowing all and being professionally tight-lipped.  Be able to share information, responsibilities and CREDIT goes a long way to build your skills as leaders.  People are talking – whether you share the information or not – so, be in control by sharing not dictating.

3.  Nurture Curiosity & Humility. Only a fool thinks they can do this alone.  That’s the same fool who takes on doing a campus event all by themselves because no one else would do it as well, or don’t have the time to do it as good as you.  Right.  And you will be the only one at the program that night.  Being able to be curious – is about exploring ideas – not grilling someone for information.  Go into wide-eyed.

4. Hold yourself as Accountable as you do others. If you expect the same out  yourself as you do others you create an openness based in integrity.  You do what you say you are going to do. And you make it right if it’s gone awry. You get to apologize when you know it’s not up to your standard.  And you make it right for you – and those touched by your leadership.

5. There are no failures. There are only learnings.  Even in the example of doing the program by yourself and enjoying the band all by yourself can still be a learning. When seen this way, versus failure, you provide opportunity for others to take risks, live big and share in your vision of leadership.  Reread #4 if you keep repeating the learnings over and over and see how you might hold yourself a bit more accountable so that they are not repeated.

Applying these 5 Rules of Open Leadership will allow you and your organization to build strong relationships with each other and what your group contributes to the total Student Life Experience.

I was at the Focusing on the First Year Conference at the University of Minnesota the other day. The keynote from the Gallup Organization, Shane Lopez, shared a great message about Strengths and Well Being and how they both influence our success in and out of the classroom. A key component of success is a having a vision.

How many of us have a Vision that propels us forward? How many of us use our Strengths daily to get us closer to living our Vision? Why is this important?

Shane said something during his keynote that I wrote down about 5 times: When we create the memories of our futures we do better today.

By creating your Vision for the future – you do and become better TODAY —- it’s not this someday, maybe, out there in the future game. It’s T-O-D-A-Y!

Here are three steps for you to create your Vision and start cherishing the Memories of the Future for you:

1. Ask yourself – What do you want? This is about attracting something – not getting rid of crap, but CREATING new possibilities. Sure, your office might be a pit – but the vision you create isn’t about cleaning up, or pitching the papers, it’s about Creating Serenity and Space for My Mind and Heart to Be it’s Best in the Space. Your vision might be big, blurry, even etherial at this point. That’s okay!

2. Determine your strengths – and get really pointed with this question – How have I used my strengths today that allow me to lean a bit closer to my vision. This is you at your best. You at your best is quick, effortless, warp speed.

3. Connect with the Emotional Content of your Vision. Close your eyes and laser focus on you standing in your vision. You’ve got it. Achieved it. High Five. Notice where in your body this lives. And breathe into the positive, life-altering, smile making emotion you have as you stand firm and large in your vision. What’s the single word that describes that? Emotions are single words. Cognitive thoughts about what you are feeling tend to sound like a run-on sentence. When we can cement a positive emotion to our vision – our brain starts to act and answer, how the heck can that happen. The science behind this is catching up to what we’ve known.

Bonus…Get yourself a visual image of your vision, emotion and success. Look at it everyday. Put it someplace you can’t help but catch glimpses of it. Long commute to work, road trip…how about putting a copy of it on your steering wheel?????

My strengths that propel me to success:

Strategic | Learner | Empathy | Adaptability | WOO

(each one a piece of this entry which seemed so easy to write!)


Bottom line –> Well Being drives SUCCESS. Take a step back to understand that your STRENGTHS influence HOPE that lead to Well Being.

Some simple definitions:
Strengths – natural abilities and talents
Hope – the ability to think positively about the future and knowing that I can do something to impact my future
Well Being – the healthiness of you in all aspects – physical, career, financial, relationships – all of YOU.

What increases the likelihood that your employees will jump out of bed and say, “Cool – I get to go to work today!”?  You can look to the research from any of the big companies to determine a course of action.

You can buy your employees this alarm clock that will get them out of bed.

Or.  I offer up 3 simple things to make sure you have in place that will enable your employees to get out of bed in the morning and fully show up.

1.  Vision. Where are you headed?  What are you about? More importantly, how do your employees fit into helping accomplish this – everyday?  Leaders need to be spearheads of creating and articulating the vision.  Great leaders are going to take the time to share this, and fold in how you and I contribute.  Everyone.  The person in the mail room all the way to the person in the board room.  Everyone!

2.  Competence.  Can I perform the tasks I’m assigned in way that instills confidence in me and my clients?  It’s about a great job-person fit.  Or better yet, Organization-person fit.   I love the stories I’d hear about Southwest hiring for attitudes.  Boil down what’s most important – the skill set you can’t give on – and go after that.  When people are competent they gain confidence.  Confidence leads to a higher sense of personal mastery.

3.  Clear R&R. When you can have a crystal clear understanding of roles and responsibilities you gain even a better understanding of what’s expected.  A set of undeniable expectations help employees succeed.  It also provides a framework for leaders around feedback, development and coaching.  What do we need to do? And for who?  Clear R&R plays a key role in setting priorities for the organization.  In a time when many are being asked to do more with less – stakes in the ground around what’s important is needed to drive the work towards producing results. If every thing is important – than nothing is important.

Well, there’s always the roll away clock.

Who knew Oprah and the Black Eyed Peas could teach us a thing or two about Employee Engagement.  I was asked today to provide an example of a short, inspiring video that could be used by an OD practitioner.  What came to mind was the viral vid that’s been circulating the web since September.

I believe this video teaches us two important lessons on engagement.  Take a look what do you see that relates to engagement here?

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1. Provide clear direction.  This was accomplished through rehearsal and practice, by the some 20,000 who chose to participate in kicking off Oprah’s 24th season.  When people are provided a clear sense of direction it’s amazing what can be accomplished.  In the workplace or on the streets in Chicago.
2. Co-create with your group.  This one I think is the biggest lesson.  After viewing an interview with the director of the video, it was clear that the Black Eyed Peas put ego aside to co-create.  In a typical rock concert the spot light is on the stage.  Here the spot light extends all the way down Michigan Ave.  They let the audience in.  They let the audience be part of the show.  Takes a confident leader to allow this, don’t you think?

Research from the Corporate Leadership Council suggests that by simply providing a clear direction to the goals of the organization can yield an increase in up to 34% in effort.  What do you think the impact to engagement is when people get to be part of the “show” and co-create with their leaders?

Is it possible to have people be more engaged by asking them to daydream?

Give these next question some thought, or better yet let yourself day dream a bit…

• What does your ideal day at work look like?
• Envision it as if you leaped out of bed thinking “I get to go to work today!”
• What are you doing?
• With who?
• Where is this ideal work taking place?
• How does this work feed your values?
• What is it about the work that provides you energy?

Engage yourself in the simple act of day dreaming about your ideal work.  The power of visualization works for athletes and execs – it can work for you too.

Find yourself a comfy chair. Give yourself 10-minutes.  Think of it as a stay-cation.  And allow yourself to be in the dream.  Put your limiting beliefs aside, and dream. After day dreaming, ask yourself, “what are the nuggets from your dream that you can start to attain TODAY?”

I conducted a workshop on Career Exploration today and invited participants to day dream. One participant’s dream revolved around being a Writer.  And then the list of limitations unfolded on why that couldn’t happen.  As she looked for permission to throw the dream away, I asked her how might writing show up more in her work today? This dream gave her energy, the limitations filled her with fear.  Being able to weave nuggets of your dream into your daily work might just give you the boost to become more engaged.

It might even give you the courage to jump into the pool with both feet and DO something about your dream.  So, I say dream!