{"id":7623,"date":"2013-10-23T18:54:48","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T23:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7623"},"modified":"2013-10-23T18:54:48","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T23:54:48","slug":"book-review-the-heart-of-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=7623","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Heart of Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/heart-of-leadership-e1373743612712.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7624\" alt=\"heart-of-leadership-e1373743612712\" src=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/heart-of-leadership-e1373743612712.jpg\" width=\"376\" height=\"535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/heart-of-leadership-e1373743612712.jpg 376w, https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/heart-of-leadership-e1373743612712-210x300.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been following <a href=\"http:\/\/greatleadersserve.org\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Miller<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeadersServe\" target=\"_blank\">twitter<\/a> for the past several months. \u00a0I ran across his Twitter feed as a result of some other Chick-fil-A leaders that I follow. \u00a0 I also follow his <a href=\"http:\/\/greatleadersserve.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">blog<\/a> and appreciate his insightful and practical tips on servant leadership. \u00a0I was really excited when I heard that he was writing a new book and eagerly anticipated the release of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Heart-Leadership-Becoming-Leader\/dp\/1609949609\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1371487843&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+heart+of+leadership+mark+miller\" target=\"_blank\">The Heart of Leadership<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>which finally dropped this week. \u00a0Miller made several copies of his book available for free to bloggers willing to review his work. \u00a0I jumped at the chance. \u00a0The book arrived yesterday and I read it today.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Heart of Leadership<\/em> is a fable about a young man that is fed up with being stuck in his job \u00a0and being frustrated at home. \u00a0He is very intentional about getting help and is pointed towards several mentors who offer him their thoughts on leadership. \u00a0Through his conversations, the reader is led on a journey to pick up tools for building their leadership character. \u00a0This book is a quick and easy read, but you will walk away with some very practical resources that are not too difficult to put into practice&#8230;if you are willing to commit to being intentional about developing your leadership character.<\/p>\n<p>I highlighted several things while reading and have pasted them below. \u00a0Be sure to pick up a copy of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Heart-Leadership-Becoming-Leader\/dp\/1609949609\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1371487843&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+heart+of+leadership+mark+miller\" target=\"_blank\"><em>The Heart of Leadership<\/em> <\/a>for yourself. \u00a0Pick up some extra copies to give away to that young leader you know that is always asking you for advice.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There is a lot more to leadership than great individual work.<\/li>\n<li>You can lead, with or without, a title. \u00a0If you wait until you get a title, you could wait forever.<\/li>\n<li>If you don\u2019t demonstrate leadership character, your skills and your results will be discounted, if not dismissed.<\/li>\n<li>Your ultimate success will not be determined by your level of skills. \u00a0Leaders rarely fail because of lack of skills. \u00a0They\u2019re too easy to learn. \u00a0It\u2019s a leadership character that trips up a lot of leaders.<\/li>\n<li>Think others first.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cServant leadership is an approach contrary to conventional leadership in which the leader\u2019s focus is on himself and what he can accomplish and achieve. \u00a0Rather, the focus is on those being served. \u00a0Servant leaders do many of the same things other leaders do\u2014cast vision, build teams, allocate resources, and so on. \u00a0The big difference is their orientation and their motivation; these make all the difference in the world. \u00a0They possess an others-first mindset. \u00a0The servant leader constantly works to help others win.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The servant leader constantly works to help others win.<\/li>\n<li>To think others first is not primarily about what you do\u2014it is about how you think.<\/li>\n<li>If your heart doesn\u2019t change, leadership character will always be a struggle for you.<\/li>\n<li>SERVE<br \/>\nSee the Future<br \/>\nEngage and Develop Others<br \/>\nReinvent Continuously<br \/>\nValue Results and Relationships<br \/>\nEmbody the Values<\/li>\n<li>Without leadership character, no one cares about your skills.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t confuse opportunity with leadership. \u00a0Others control many of our opportunities, so that shouldn\u2019t be our concern. \u00a0We control our readiness.<\/li>\n<li>Expect the best.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cTo expect the best is an attitude, a belief, a choice, a lifestyle and a trait that virtually every successful leader possesses. \u00a0We believe the best about others and about ourselves.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cLeaders are dealers in hope.\u201d \u00a0Napoleon<\/li>\n<li>The future has not yet been written\u2014it is written by leaders.<\/li>\n<li>How can I serve this person? \u00a0What does a win look like for him or her?<\/li>\n<li>Respond with courage.<\/li>\n<li>Courage is a response. \u00a0When faced with a \u00a0challenging or difficult situation, the best leaders most often respond with courage; less mature leaders, or nonreaders often choose another path\u2014a path with less risk, less conflict, and less personal discomfort.<\/li>\n<li>Leaders usually don\u2019t wait\u2014they initiate.<\/li>\n<li>Leaders respond with courage when they:<br \/>\nArticulate the vision for the future.<br \/>\nBuild relationships with challenging people.<br \/>\nChallenge people to grow and change.<br \/>\nMend broken relationships.<br \/>\nConfront difficult problems.<br \/>\nMake hard or unpopular decisions.<\/li>\n<li>Your missed opportunities are often no big deal in isolation. \u00a0They are, however, cumulative.<\/li>\n<li>If there were no challenge, there would be no need for courage\u2014or leadership. \u00a0It\u2019s one of the hardest parts of the job.<\/li>\n<li>Leadership character, like other character traits, once established, is hard to hide.<\/li>\n<li>Hunger for wisdom.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on the pursuit not the outcome.<\/li>\n<li>You need to think of your quest for wisdom as a hunger that will never be satiated.<\/li>\n<li>Leadership is a privilege, but it is not free\u2014it comes at a price.<\/li>\n<li>Leaders accept responsibility.<\/li>\n<li>The best leaders don\u2019t blame others. \u00a0They own their actions and their outcomes.<\/li>\n<li>If you and I as leaders pretend we own the outcomes, it will: Change our level of engagement, Increase our level of buy-in, and Change the way we see people and the work.<\/li>\n<li>I get to decide. \u00a0I choose my response. \u00a0No one does that for me.<\/li>\n<li>Hunger for Wisdom<br \/>\nExpect the Best<br \/>\nAccept Responsibility<br \/>\nRespond with Courage<br \/>\nThink Others First<\/li>\n<li>The heart of leadership is a matter of the heart.<\/li>\n<li>You and I have to answer the question of motive. \u00a0Are we a serving leader or a self-serving leader?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission\u2019s 16 CFR, Part 255 &lt;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html\">http:\/\/www.access.gpo.gov\/nara\/cfr\/waisidx_03\/16cfr255_03.html<\/a>&gt; : \u201cGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; I&#8217;ve been following Mark Miller on twitter for the past several months. \u00a0I ran across his Twitter feed as a result of some other Chick-fil-A leaders that I follow. \u00a0 I also follow his blog and appreciate his insightful and practical tips on servant leadership. \u00a0I was really excited when I heard that he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,25,16,23,28,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-education","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}