Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago · 1 min. reading time · 0 ·

Blogging
>
Graham🐝 blog
>
Leadership... what would your three words be?

Leadership... what would your three words be?

I knew an incredible people leader who, as part of his development strategy, would give his people three words to consider for their personal development; sometimes the words were well received, and as I understand, sometimes not so much. As I was listening to him describe this over dinner, I could not help but ask what my three words would be; he looked at me, laughed, and said, "Sobriety, sobriety and sobriety". In fairness, it was a celebration dinner.

59e0b849.jpg


I was reminded of this the other night when the discussion of Leadership came up and we tried to articulate the qualities that make up good leadership. As with many of these types of conversations it usually starts with something rather innocuous, and then gets more refined and more serious as the conversation continues,


"OMG — I used to joke around with a colleague who was very grumpy but funny, funny, funny... and my daily question would be, 'Are you bitter, angry or resentful today?'. God I miss him... crazy funny."

The conversation continued to meander over a number of topics but it became apparent the topic of Leadership was not over when someone said,

"At the heart of all Leadership is clarity, vision and competency... How's that?"  

You could see heads nodding when someone added,

"Someone who is quietly confident, trusts and believes in his colleagues, and is able to get his hands dirty, and competently gets the job done."

The final words on the topic were eloquently added,

"Without being an idiot. Is that too much to ask?"

As we laughed and moved onto other dinner topics, I heard the person who started all of this say, "I miss my old boss".


And this brings me full circle back to that incredible people leader with his three words. I can't help but wonder what his three words would be to encapsulate "Leadership"?

By no means is listing the qualities that make up a great leader original — There are countless books, blogs, white papers and opinion on the topic, and I recommend you read as many as you can. What identifying three words does is ensure you have actually put some thought into leadership and prioritized what you think are the most important leadership competencies (there are definitely more than three). For right or for wrong, the three words you pick will represent your guiding principles on Leadership.

And any three words are better than the alternative... because then we aren't even discussing Leadership.  


iamgpe  www.gpestratagem.com 

PS: Mine are Selflessness, Transparency, and Vision.

PPS: Thank you to those around the table.


"
#OMG #iamgpe #PS #God #Leadership
Comments

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #27

#19
Love the mountain analogy Charlene Norman Thx !

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #26

#18
Thx for the comment Phillip Louis D 'Amato

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #25

#17
Great take on Leadership Timothy welch... thx!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #24

#16
For the comment Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, Brand Ambassador @ beBee

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #23

#15
Thanks Aaron \ud83d\udc1d Skogen... I think we all have a boss we miss!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #22

#14
Thanks for the comment and the link Ren\u00e9e \ud83d\udc1d Cormier

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #21

#13
Thanks for the comment and link Joyce \ud83d\udc1d Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #20

#12
Thx for the comment Jim Murray... humanity is a great word!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #19

#11
Thanks for ht comment @Albina Puchalska

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #18

#10
Thanks of the comment and insight Todd Jones

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #17

#9
Thanks for the comment FancyJ London... I love the word "gumption"

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #16

#8
Thanks for the comment

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #15

#7
Thx for the comment Praveen Raj Gullepalli

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #14

#6
Thx for the comment Brian McKenzie

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #13

#5
Thx fo rate comment Phil Friedman

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #12

#4
Thx for the comment stephan metral \ud83d\udc1d Innovative Brand Ambassador

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #11

#3
Thanks for the comment and insight Joel Anderson

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #10

#2
Thanks for the comment Preston \ud83d\udc1d Vander Ven... some great messages!

Graham🐝 Edwards

6 years ago #9

#1
Thanks for the comment Jean-Yves Piton, MBA

Joyce 🐝 Bowen Brand Ambassador @ beBee

6 years ago #8

Listening, Empathy, Non-judgemental I think Juan said it best in his post about startups here: https://www.bebee.com/producer/@juan-imaz/the-importance-of-flexibility-and-empathy-in-business. Many of the things both you and he pointed out are so important all of the time.

Jim Murray

6 years ago #7

Nice piece Graham. Very intriguing. It has been nearly 30 years since I have had to depend on a leader of any kind. But if I had to describe leadership in three words they would probably be: Inspiration Perspiration Humanity

Fancy J London

6 years ago #6

Integrity, Vision, Gumption!

Mohammed Abdul Jawad

6 years ago #5

Trustworthiness - good character- foresight

Phil Friedman

6 years ago #4

Fair. Open. Caring.

stephan metral 🐝 Innovative Brand Ambassador

6 years ago #3

NEVER - GIVE -UP

Joel Anderson

6 years ago #2

Graham\ud83d\udc1d Edwards Thanks for the insights. I have had similar experiences with others in the past. One simply stated his three were Be, Know, Do. One indicated her's as Ideate, Serve, Advance. One other simply said I, You, We. These were right for them at the time and in their own context but in their singleness didn't mean much until each one explained the essence behind each of the words. At one point, when put on the spot to come up with mine during a forming, norming and storming session I blurted out Aware, Apply, Achieve but I am not so sure whether that was just the first three words that came to my mind and I am not really sure whether they remain valid any more. At the time I had a boss that had us keep our words on a sign in front of our desks and had us think about them and implement something relevant to them during our daily activities. We never knew when he would ask the question, but he would come up to one of us, usually catching us off guard, and ask one of us about our words. Periodically he would come up to me at the end of the day and ask me, "What did you and your team become aware of today? What new thing did you and your team apply today? What did you and your team achieve today?" Not always all three. Sometimes just one, sometimes two, and sometimes all three. It was an interesting drill. To be totally honest, I am still trying to figure out my three words. You have caused me to return to my quest of trying to figure "it" and them out.

Jean-Yves Piton

6 years ago #1

Great post Graham. Thanks for sharing. Integrity, empathy and accountability.

Articles from Graham🐝 Edwards

View blog
2 years ago · 1 min. reading time

Celebrating this time of the year...

This timeline may not be particularly accurate, but I believe it’s directionally sound and I’m almos ...

1 year ago · 2 min. reading time

If you want to go far...

Before I take you on a metaphorical journey, I wanted to mention two very important truisms that I w ...

1 year ago · 2 min. reading time

Finding your blind spots...

“I’m quite easy going…” · A dear friend looked at me confused and said, “What are you talking about, ...

Related professionals

You may be interested in these jobs

  • Loblaw Companies

    Commis - syndiqué viande

    Found in: Talent CA C2 - 4 days ago

    Loblaw Companies Alma, Canada Temps partiel

    L'utilisation du masculin à pour but d'alléger le texte · Venez faire votre différence dans les communautés à travers le Canada, où l'authenticité, la confiance et l'établissement de liens sont valorisés - alors que nous façonnons l'avenir du commerce de détail au Canada, ensemb ...

  • Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu

    Chef Exécutif

    Found in: beBee S2 CA - 3 days ago

    Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu La Malbaie, Canada Full time

    Chef Exécutif (H/F/D) · Rejoignez notre équipe dynamique en tant que Chef Exécutif et contribuez · à l'excellence opérationnelle au sein de notre établissement. En tant que · leader stratégique et membre du comité exécutif, vous assurerez la gestion · quotidienne du département d ...

  • N. Naicker & Associates Inc.

    bookkeeper

    Found in: Talent CA 2 C2 - 4 days ago

    N. Naicker & Associates Inc. Port Moody, Canada

    Education: · Expérience: · Education · College, CEGEP or other non-university certificate or diploma from a program of 1 year to 2 years · Work setting · On-site customer service · Willing to relocate · Tasks · Calculate and prepare cheques for payroll · Calculate fixed assets ...