Five Essential Principles For Leadership

“By focusing in specific ways on five key leadership elements—Purpose, Process, People, Presence, and Peace—you can increase your time, capacity, energy, and ultimately your leadership impact,” explains Amy Jen Su, author of the book, The Leader You Want To Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self—Every Day.

Su shares both Western management thinking and Eastern philosophy to provide a holistic yet hands-on approach to becoming a more effective leader with less stress and more equanimity. She draws on rich and instructive stories of clients, leaders, artists, and athletes. And, she focuses on three foundational tenets: self-care, self-awareness, and personal agency.

Most important, Su explores in depth, chapter-by-chapter the Five Ps:

Purpose – Staying grounded in your passions and contributions, doing your highest and best work that has meaning and is making a difference.
Process – Relying on daily practices and routines that honor your natural energy rhythms, enhance performance, save time and that provide critical guardrails that keep you on point.
People – Raising your game by raising the game of others at work and at home.
Presence – Strengthening your inner capacity to pause between stimulus and response, so matters of effectiveness and impact drive decisions and actions, rather than old habits or knee-jerk impulses.
Peace – Learning to trust your capacities to evolve, adapt, and respond to whatever comes your way. And, how to lead from a place of acceptance, gratitude, and trust, rather than a place of stress, striving, and ego protection.

As you read the book, you’ll learn how to:

Prioritize, elevate, tolerate or eliminate tasks.
Protect time and maximize energy.
Find balance in calendar commitments.
Build a strategic network—by getting comfortable asking others for help and reaching out to the right people.
Create new if-then scenarios to how to give yourself the power of choice.
Acknowledge your feelings and take constructive action for what’s within your control.
Set a barometer for what’s enough and how to have an attitude of gratitude.

Amy Jen Su

Recently, Su shared this additional advice and recommendations:

Question: Of the 5 Ps you consider Purpose to be the most essential. Why?

Su: I do consider purpose and your ability to reset the internal compass as needed, the most essential of the 5 Ps. It is easy, in the face of heavy workloads and other people’s demands, to feel like you’ve been ejected from the driver’s seat of life. Being connected to your purpose puts you squarely back in that driver’s seat – giving a greater sense of control, lifting you out of the day-to-day grind, and providing a way of sorting your yes’ and no’s more strategically.

To make purpose more tangible, I like to break it down into two component parts: your contribution and your passion. Bringing focus on contribution ensures that your time and energy is utilized on that which adds the highest value. Bringing focus on passion ensures that you are energized by what you do. Look for the goals, initiatives and projects which sit at the intersection of both contribution and passion and you’ll get an additional positive boost in performance, energy, and satisfaction.

Question: You also talk about the power of People. Why is it necessary to build a strategic network of support, and get more comfortable as a leader in asking for help from others?

Su: It is critical – as you take on increasingly larger and exciting roles – to recognize the power of people. The reality is no matter how effective or productive you are, you will eventually be capped by your own capacity. There are only 24 hours in a day and unfortunately, as much as we might like to, we can’t clone ourselves.

However, the fundamental mindset shift from “I want to raise my game” to “I raise my game by raising the game of others” is not an easy one to make. It means not jumping in and taking over every time anxiety or control gets the better of you. It means being able to increasingly let go more and getting more comfortable asking for help from others. Asking for help is hard and can feel vulnerable – either in your not wanting to appear weak or not feeling like you are putting others out.

It’s important to build a strong network of support and surround yourself with other people to help achieve big goals. Consider the other experts you can learn from even if you are an expert in your own right. Find those helicopters who can provide a more elevated view and perspective. Ask others to be your accountability buddy to ensure you follow-through. Have sausage makers you can brainstorm with. And, ultimately know who the cheerleaders or safe harbors are you can count on. The best relationships include a healthy give and take so support others in these same ways as well.

Question: As we advance in our careers, the focus is less on us, and more about what we can do for others. How can we find the Peace necessary to help us positively transform our teams and our organizations?

Su: As we advance in our careers, the focus is less on us and begins to shift to being more about what we can do for others. For many professionals, legacy, life purpose, and giving back move to the forefront at this stage. Coming to peace within ourselves is a necessary ingredient for being able to positively transform our teams and organizations.

When we are not at peace – we risk actions stemming out of striving, agitation or reaction. We are more focused on proving ourselves, proving we are right, or feeling the pressure to show we have all the answers. This stance shuts down our capacity to learn, to listen, or to be fully present with others.

To help find a greater peace within, focus on cultivating three important components of peace: acceptance, contentment, and trust:

Acceptance is a first critical component of peace because, the more you resist or oppose what is happening, the more energy you lose. It’s critical to acknowledge and feel your feelings but not be run by them. It is then easier to take constructive action for what’s within your control.
Contentment is a second critical component of peace, because without it, you can become mired in negativity. Having an internal barometer for what’s enough and having an attitude of gratitude can help.
Finally, cultivating trust in yourself and remembering that you have successfully overcome many learning curves and challenges before can help you to navigate new opportunities with greater ease.

As your leadership actions stem less from self-preservation or ego protection, the door for greater meaning and being in service of a larger mission and vision with others becomes more possible.

Su is Managing Partner and Cofounder of Paravis Partners, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. Her previous bestselling book is, Own the Room: Discover Your Signature Voice to Master your Leadership Presence.

Comments

Five Essential Principles For Sustaining Growth Through Innovation

Even though many companies strive for innovation, most struggle to achieve meaningful change. The largest reason for this disconnect? Playing it safe. Leaders and organizations want to implement new ideas, but too often they are held back by the fear of failure, even though setbacks are intrinsic to the innovation process. In the new book, No Fear, No Failure , by Lorraine H. Marchand (with John Hanc), readers will learn how to overcome the status quo that stifles creative thinking and how to create a culture that encourages innovation. Marchand provides a framework for sustained growth built on the “ 5 Cs ”: Customer First Culture Collaboration Change Chance She draws on more than 120 interviews with leaders across industries, real-world case studies, and her firsthand experience and shares step-by-step, field-tested strategies, tactics, and tools that practitioners can use to embed creativity within organizational cultures. Marchand is a former Big Tech and Big Pharma ex...

Leadership Lessons From Kent Taylor, Founder Of Texas Roadhouse

From cover-to-cover of Made From Scratch you’ll learn the leadership lessons of the late Kent Taylor , founder of the restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse. In the new book, Taylor recounts how he built the restaurant chain from the ground up after being rejected more than 80 times as he pitched the idea for the business. His approach to business was often out-of-the-box, however, his business lessons and leadership lessons from the course of his life and career are invaluable. Here are some of my favorite leadership lessons from Kent and his book: The best leaders stay down-to-earth and approachable. In a bottom-up company, the leader learns from frontline people. As soon as you make a profit, find a way to give back. Be willing to laugh at yourself. Become a student of your craft. Positive reinforcement inspires much greater performance than fear ever can. Want to get the respect of your people? Then roll up y...

Teach An Employee Something New Today

Take the opportunity today to teach an employee something new. Nearly everyone likes to learn and is capable of tackling a new challenge. Teach your employee something that expands their current job description. Teach something that will help them to get promoted within your organization at a later date. Teach them a skill that uses new technology. Or teach them something that will allow them to be a more skilled leader and manager in the future. You can even teach something that you no longer need to be doing in your position, but that will be a rewarding challenge/task for your employee. The benefit to your employee is obvious. The benefit to you is you'll have a more skilled team member who is capable of handling more work that can help you to grow your business and/or make it run more efficiently. Be a leader who teaches.

How To Be A More Human Leader

“To be most effective in today’s environment, leaders must be human leaders. Human leaders must be able to lead not only with their heads but also with their hearts and souls,” says veteran executive coach Hortense le Gentil , author of the book, The Unlocked Leader: Dare to Free Your Own Voice, Lead with Empathy, and Shine Your Light in the World . She adds, “In addition to being respected, seen, and valued, employees also seek leaders who feel human, not distant and perfect beings with whom they can’t connect.” Additionally, leaders need to put the collective interest before their own and work hard to make other people’s good ideas happen. “And although the book focuses on leadership at work, each of us is a complete individual, not a sum of separate, isolated parts. As such, the process presented in the book applies to all areas of your life,” shares the author. She further explains that becoming a human leader is a journey, not a desti...

10 Quotes From The 5 Levels Of Leadership -- John C. Maxwell

Soon I'll post my full review of John C. Maxwell's latest book, The 5 Levels of Leadership . In the meantime, here are some of my favorites quotes from the book that I believe should become a must-read book by any workplace/organizational leader: Good leadership isn't about advancing yourself. It's about advancing your team. Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others. Leadership is action, not position. When people feel liked, cared for, included, valued, and trusted, they begin to work together with their leader and each other. If you have integrity with people, you develop trust. The more trust you develop, the stronger the relationship becomes. In times of difficulty, relationships are a shelter. In times of opportunity, they are a launching pad. Good leaders must embrace both care and candor. People buy into the leader, then the vision. Bringing out the best in a person is often a catal...

Full Engagement By Brian Tracy

Best-selling author Brian Tracy's book, Full Engagement , provides practical advice for how to inspire your employees to perform at their absolute best. He explains that above nearly every measure, employees' most powerful single motivator is the "desire to be happy." So, Tracy teaches you how to make your employees happy by: Organizing their work from the first step in the hiring process through the final step in their departure from your company so they are happy with you, their work, their coworkers, as well as in their interactions with your customers, suppliers and vendors. Full Engagement includes these chapters and topics: The Psychology of Motivation Ignite the Flame of Personal Performance Make People Feel Important Drive Out Fear Create That Winning Feeling Select The Right People Internal Versus External Motivation At a minimum, Tracy suggests that managers do the following when managing their employees : Smile Ask questions Listen ...

29 People Who Taught Us Life Lessons In Courage, Integrity And Leadership

The 29 profiles you will read in Robert L. Dilenschneider’s new book, Character , are about people who are exceptional exemplars of character. They’re inspirational because they used their abilities at their highest levels to work for causes they believed in. Because of character, they influenced the world for good. The dictionary defines “character” as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual, the distinctive nature of something, the quality of being individual in an interesting or unusual way, strength and originality in a person’s nature, and a person’s good reputation. “But beyond these definitions, we know that character is manifested in leadership, innovation, resilience, change, courage, loyalty, breaking barriers, and more,” explains Robert (Bob), “Character drives the best traits in our society, such as honesty, integrity, leadership, and transparency, and it drives others to exhibit those qualities.” Profiled in the book ar...

How To Play Bigger And Be A Category King In Business

"The most exciting companies create. They give us new ways of living, thinking, or doing business, many times solving a problem we didn't know we had -- or a problem we didn't pay attention to because we never thought there was another way," explain the four authors of the dynamic new book, Play Bigger . They add that, "the most exciting companies sell us different. They introduce the world to a new category of product or service." And, they become category kings . Examples of category kings are Amazon, Salesforce, Uber and IKEA. Play Bigger is all about the strategy that builds category kings. And, to be a category king you need to be good at category design : Category design is the discipline of creating and developing a new market category, and conditioning the market so it will demand your solution and crown your company as its king. Category design is the opposite of "build it and they will come." Key traits of category design...

Five Essential Principles For Being The Leader You Want To Be

“By focusing in specific ways on five key leadership elements— Purpose, Process, People, Presence, and Peace —you can increase your time, capacity, energy, and ultimately your leadership impact,” explains Amy Jen Su , author of the book (released today, October 22), The Leader You Want To Be: Five Essential Principles for Bringing Out Your Best Self—Every Day . Su shares both Western management thinking and Eastern philosophy to provide a holistic yet hands-on approach to becoming a more effective leader with less stress and more equanimity. She draws on rich and instructive stories of clients, leaders, artists, and athletes. And, she focuses on three foundational tenets: s elf-care, self-awareness, and personal agency . Most important, Su explores in depth, chapter-by-chapter the Five Ps : Purpose – Staying grounded in your passions and contributions, doing your highest and best work that has meaning and is making a difference. Process – Relying on daily practices and ...

How to Be a Leader – 9 Principles from Dale Carnegie

Today, I welcome thought-leader Nathan Magnuson as guest blogger... Nathan writes : This is it, your first day in a formal leadership role. You’ve worked hard as an individual contributor at one or possibly several organizations. Now management has finally seen fit to promote you into a position as one of their own: a supervisor. You don’t care if your new team is only one person or ten, you’re just excited that now – finally – you will be in charge! Unfortunately the euphoria is short-lived. Almost immediately, you are not only overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a team, but you quickly find that your team members are not as experienced or adroit as you. Some aren’t even as committed. You find yourself having to repeat yourself, send their work back for corrections, and staying late to fill the gap. If something doesn’t change soon, you might just run yourself into the ground. How did something that looked so easy ...

Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Search This Blog