Embracing the Opportunity to Lead Seven Simple Steps Towards Embracing Team Leadership

1. Embracing the Opportunity to LeadSeven Simple Steps TowardsEmbracing Team Leadership VCCS Classified Staff Leadership Academy Dave Urso June 7, 2005

2. 6. Commit to Success; But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail “Leadership is not the absence of mistakes. It is the ability to acknowledge your mistakes and move forward.”

3. 3. Provide Others With the Opportunity to Shine “As leaders, we must share our passions with those that we work with. Once we successfully connect with them as a person, they can move towards better understanding our perspective.”

4. 7. Dream of the Impossible How are you currently Challenging yourself to grow?

5. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback “Don’t ignore poor performance. Return to the goal-setting process And say, ‘I made a mistake.’” The One Minute Manager

6. 6. Commit to Success; But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail • Albert Einstein’s parents thought he was retarded. • Charles Darwin’s father told him he would be a disgrace to the family. • Henry Ford failed out of high school. • Spike Lee couldn’t get into a graduate school for film study. • Charles Darrow’s boardgame, Monopoly wasn’t printed by several toy companies due to it’s 52 “fundamental errors.”

7. Don’t Miss an Opportunity for Leadership “Your leadership style is not how you THINK you behave; it is the way that OTHERS say you behave.”

8. 5. Excel When Dealing with Change “Are you willing to let someone else come in and take what’s yours because they were willing to work harder?” Cal Ripken, Jr.

9. 7. Dream of the Impossible “A dream is not a luxury. It is a necessity.”

10. 1. Don’t Miss An Opportunity “Success is not hocus pocus. It is focus focus.” Willie Jolley

11. 2. Believe in the Inherent Good of People What positive thing do you do just for you in the first 20 minutes of your day?

12. 6. Commit to Success; But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail The worst of all sins is not failure; It IS low aim.

13. 5. Excel When Dealing With Change If you want things to be better in the future, than something needs to change. Improvements don’t come from things staying exactly the same.”

14. Don’t Miss an Opportunity for Leadership “You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective.” W. Clement Stone

15. 2. Believe in the Inherent Good of People “We live in cynical times, and one aspect of that cynicism is the corrosive notion that individuals are powerless to make a difference. But history is still made by people, one person at a time.” Teresa Heinz

16. Don’t Miss anOpportunity for Leadership “Thank God – every morning when you get up – that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed a hundred virtues which the idle will never know.” Charles Kingsley

17. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback “There’s no such thing as a self-made man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken a word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success.” George Matthew Adams

18. 5. Excel in Dealing with Change “There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world; and that is an idea whose time has come.” Victor Hugo

19. 2. Don’t Miss anOpportunity for Leadership “There is no such thing as luck. We make our own, good or bad. We make it by our attitudes and our actions. We make it by keeping out eyes open for opportunities.” Lily Dache

20. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback “A man desires praise that he may be reassured, and quit his doubting of himself; he is indifferent to applause when he is confident of success.” Alec Waugh

21. 3. Provide Others With the Opportunity to Shine Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have.

22. 6. Commit to Success; But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail Success in life is not so much a matter of talent or opportunity as of concentration and perseverance.

23. Don’t Miss An Opportunity for Leadership At the end of your life, what will matter is what you gave—every act of integrity, compassion, courage, and sacrifice that enriched, empowered, or encouraged others to emulate your example. Consider how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what. Choose a life that matters.

24. 3. Provide Others with the Opportunity to Shine “The mark of a true professional is giving more than you get.” Robert Kirby

25. 5. Excel when Dealing with Change “I discovered I always have choices; sometimes it’s only a choice of attitude.” Judith M. Knowlton

26. 2. Believe in the Inherent Good of People “Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant of the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.” Lloyd Shearer

27. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback “Looking back, I have this regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.” David Grayson

28. 7. Dream of the Impossible “Of all the forces that make for a better world, none is so indispensable, none so powerful, as hope. Without hope, men are only half alive. With hope, they dream and think and work.” Charles Sawyer

29. Don’t Miss anOpportunity for Leadership “To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived…this is to have succeeded.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

30. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback “People may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” Carl W. Buechner

31. 3. Provide Others With the Opportunity to Shine “Our American tradition of neighbor helping neighbor has always been one of our greatest strengths and most noble traditions.” Ronald Reagan

32. 2. Believe in theInherent Good of People “Character isn’t inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear, hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.” Helen Douglas

33. 5. Excel when Dealing with Change “Most people think that if they were only in some other place, or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful. So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can and don’t put off being happy until some future date.” Dale Carnegie

34. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback Be generous with praise… but cautious With criticism.

35. 3. Provide Others with theOpportunity to Shine “People want to know how much you care before they care how much you know.” James F. Hind

36. Don’t Miss an Opportunity for Leadership “Success doesn’t come to you. You go to it.” Marva Collins

37. 6. Commit to Success;But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail “One of the hardest things in this world is to admit you are wrong. And nothing is more helpful in resolving the situation than its frank admission.” Benjamin Disraeli

38. 7. Dream of the Impossible “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” T. S. Eliot

39. 5. Excel when Dealing with Change “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” Anne Bradstreet

40. 2. Believe in the Inherent Good of People If it weren’t for the really good people in the world, love and friendship would be an even harder quest.

41. 7. Dream of the Impossible “The will to believe is perhaps the most powerful human attribute.” John P. Grier

42. 3. Provide Others with the Opportunity to Shine “The most rewarding way to get to the top is by lifting those beneath you.” Cullen Hightower

43. 5. Excel when Dealing with Change If nothing ever changed, the world would have no butterflies.

44. 7. Dream of the Impossible “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance.” Bruce Barton

45. 6. Commit to Success; But Don’t Be Afraid to Fail “Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” Moshe Arens

46. Don’t Miss an Opportunity for Leadership “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

47. 5. Excel when Dealing with Change “It doesn’t really matter whether you grip the arms of the dentist’s chair or let them lie in your lap. The drill drills on.” C S Lewis

48. 2. Believe in the Inherent Good of People “I am kind of paranoid in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy.” J D Salinger

49. 4. Feedback, Feedback, Feedback It takes skill to be able to give harsh feedback that does not sting.

50. 3. Provide Others with theOpportunity to Shine “Education is a sexual disease. It makes you unsuitable for a lot of jobs, and then you have the urge to pass it on.” -Terry Pratchett