Authored by Doug Lennick and Chuck Wachendorfer
“Lennick and Wachendorfer have boiled down the ‘8 Essentials’ anyone can apply to make a meaningful difference in their life or in the lives of others.”
―Stephen M.R. Covey, Bestselling author of The Speed of Trust and Trust & Inspire
“If you’re looking to grow leadership skills in all areas of your life, this book is a highpowered combination of critical thinking skills combined with emotional competencies. These 8 leadership essentials work together in a magical combination to produce unlimited positive outcomes for today’s leaders.”
―John Hantz, Founder and CEO of the Hantz Group
CHOOSE THE KIND OF LEADER YOU WANT TO BE
Aim to Be Your Ideal Self – “We can only be successful leaders when we embrace principles and values, define our purpose and goals, and act accordingly,” write the authors. They detail the importance of ensuring that your values, goals, and behaviors are
aligned.
Know Your Real Self – “We need to cultivate self-awareness to benchmark our real selves against the people and leaders we ideally want to be,” the authors explain. They point out the common errors people make when assessing who they are, and how to
develop a more accurate picture.
Ignite Integrity and Responsibility – Integrity and responsibility breed trust. If others don’t trust you, they won’t collaborate with you. Lennick and Wachendorfer emphasize telling the truth, standing up for what’s right, keeping promises, admitting mistakes, and serving others, as key components of a commitment to integrity and responsibility.
Embrace Empathy and Compassion – Empathy is the ability to understand and appreciate what others are feeling, while compassion involves using what you understand to show that you care. The authors describe a variety of barriers to empathy and
compassion, and outline a pathway by which leaders can recognize the experiences of their followers, help them to address those experiences, and then move forward together with a shared sense of purpose.
Decide Wisely – Everyone makes approximately 35,000 decisions each day. Your influence as a leader depends greatly on others’ responses to the decisions you make, explain Lennick and Wachendorfer. They discuss obstacles to wise decisions – such as
“emotional landmines” and mental biases including overconfidence, confirmation bias, and over optimism – and lay out the four Rs of decision making: recognize, reflect, reframe, and respond.
Let Go Of What You Know – Learning agility – the ability to learn from experience – has become a critical skill for leaders at all levels. The authors offer guidance for cultivating a learning mindset, including being curious, choosing growth over comfort, resisting defensiveness, and experimentation.
Achieve Purposeful Goals – Lennick and Wachendorfer encourage people to adopt the WDYWFY goal achievement model, which stands for “What Do You Want For Yourself.” This approach requires achieving self-awareness about what you want, applying an “acid test” to your goals, and following five clear steps for achieving those goals.
Empower Others – “Empowerment is a powerful leadership tool because it taps into the internal motivators of the people you want to influence,” write the authors. Effective empowerment demands that leaders clarify expectations and provide resources to their followers.
Media Coverage:
8 Essential Actions to Enhance Your Leadership Impact in Business, Inc.
https://www.inc.com/martin-zwilling/8-essential-actions-to-enhance-your-leadership-impact-in-business.html
Enhance Your Leadership Effectiveness by Practicing Self-Awareness
https://ceoworld.biz/2023/04/14/enhance-your-leadership-effectiveness-by-practicing-self-awareness/
How leaders make difficult decisions
