leadership

Avi

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Anyone know if there is a good internet forum related to leadership ?

A related issue which motivates this question is I am re-reading the "Tao of Leadership", and would like to know if anyone can recommend other books on the topic of leadership ?

Mods - you can move this to Media or other sub-forum if you think it is better there.

Thanks.
 
No idea but it was such a cool topic that I scrounged up a possible lead for you.

Find a Meetup Group - Meetup.com

Dream, very interesting link, thanks.

There is a lot of information out there about business leadership, which I am not so interested in.

I am more interested in learning about leadership related to dealing with people in other environments than just business. For example science and engineering leadership.

So far the best source I have found, as I mentioned, is the "Tao of Leadership". It is pretty good. Maybe I will post a branch from this post to the Taoism or Buddhism sub-section.
 
Ok. Lets see what happens in the Buddhism sub-forum

======================>>>>>
 
Here's another question. What does leadership mean on an interfaith board :) ??
 
Here is an interesting blog I found, it is more business oriented than I am looking for, but I found an interesting post related to heros, a topic we were discussing here recently:

Leadership Forum: No more heroes?

An interesting observation is that it seems that the business people are obsessed with leadership, and no one else seems to even care at all, is this the case ??? :D:D
 
Ok, I will take a whack at the leadership issue, so who is (are) the leader(s) in an interfaith board:

1) Brian is the leader - he enforces the rules. In fact, he created the rules. And he owns the server that keeps this software. So he is the leader,

or

2) Some of the posters are the leaders. The ones with the most green squares are the leaders :D,

or

3) The ones with the highest post count :D,

or

4) the admins, now that I think of it, I am not even sure who these folks are, but I am pretty sure they all have aliases :D,

or

5) The posters who start the most threads are the leaders,

or

6) The posters that post the most well thought out posts,

or

7) The posters that start the most well thought out posts.

or

8) Is it the biggest bulldog on the board, woof (I don't think so avi :D)

Did I leave any out ?

So what is leadership in an interfaith board ?
 
To me leadership skills are transferable in all avocations. It takes the same skills to motivate people whether you are leading a group of engineers or salesman. Now there are things that motivate them, some it is economic, others it is glory/appreciation, others it is self satisfaction of doing something worthwhile.

You might like the John Maxwell Leadership Bible. It has leadership skills tied to various biblical texts, both the old and new testaments are smattered with boxes discussing leadership principles displayed.

But I wouldn't be afraid of reading business stuff and cross applying it. Harvey Mckay was one of my favorite authors. Online I'm on the email/ezine
lists of Dennis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Chris Widener, and Brian Johnson's philosophers notes (he does cliff note pdfs and mp3's for a variety of books) all great resources through the week.
 
To myself in the IO environment, the leaders are those people whom others look up to, or especially seek or read the comments of.

I have never seen myself as a leader, as much as the caretaker - I just make sure things turn over properly.

For an indication as to who may be regarded as community leaders on the forums, just check out the memberlist when sorted according to user reputation:
Interfaith forums - Members List

Certainly not fool-proof, but an interesting indicator.
 
"Many authors from their preoccupation with words have the bad habit of choosing those they use in conversation too carefully. They form their sentences with unconscious care and say neither more nor less than they mean. It makes intercourse with them somewhat formidable to persons in the upper ranks of society whose vocabulary is limited by their simple spiritual needs, and their company consequently is sought only with hesitation."

--from Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham

:p
 
The Book: "Presidents don't have power, their purpose is to draw attention away from it. "

Ford: [talking about Vogons] "They don't think, they don't imagine, most of them can't even spell, they just run things. "

--Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy



Shopping results for "leadership vacuum"

He Died Before His Plans Were Realized: President Tolbert: A ...
$21.49 new - Amazon.com
A Leadership Vacuum
$12 new - 4 stores
A Leadership Vacuum
$10.54 new - Ereadable


--Google search on "Leadership Vacuum" last entry on page 1



From 2001-2004, the TEAMS Program hosted the Cesar Chavez Conference on Service and Leadership for middle and high school San Francisco Bay Area students and their TEAMS teachers. In April 2003, 120 students created 10 beautiful murals that focused on the values of Cesar Chavez. These murals have been traveling through Bay Area schools to educate other students about the life of Cesar Chavez and the issues that he fought for. Over 50 classrooms were chosen to receive up to $1,400 grants for the implementation of service learning projects with a Chavez focus.

--Article about Cesar Chavez Leadership and Service Initiative Cesar Chavez Leadership and Service Initiative | TEAMS/AmeriCorps Fellowship Program



[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Leadership Development did not emerge as a distinct "Method" of Scouting in the BSA until 1972, when the Sixth Edition of the Scoutmaster's Handbook was published. During the 1970s the emphasis was taken away from the importance of traditional Scouting skills. The term "campfire," for instance, did not even appear in the index of the 8th Edition of the Scout Handbook.

--Article about the Science of Boy-Leadership from Traditional Scouting: Boy Scout Activities B-P Traditional Scouting Scouts Resources



"For over 200 years, the United States has been steered by male leadership who tend to lead from a 'self-centered, self-preservation' perspective. (Wars declared prematurely. Inhumane tax structures adopted. Environmental disregard. Labor practices which devalue workers.......Women around the world are inclined to lead, their families and nations, from an 'other-centered' perspective."

--abstract of quote of Reverend Patricia Kitchen in Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Matter
[/FONT]

When we think we lead we are most lead.
--Lord Byron



Humanity is the virtue of a woman, generosity that of a man.

Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience.

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

Adam Smith


The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries.

When people talk of the freedom of writing, speaking or thinking I cannot choose but laugh. No such thing ever existed. No such thing now exists; but I hope it will exist. But it must be hundreds of years after you and I shall write and speak no more.
John Adams
 
Dream - nice collection of thoughts on leadership, do you have any observations about leadership as well ?

It seems to me that at the first level, leadership means having a vision for your own life and putting that vision into action. In some cases you can do this as an individual, but in more cases you need to have other people involved. Involvement of these other people requires leadship skills. We are not taught these skills in school. They are not intuitive. We can only learn them by reading the ideas of other leaders and trying to assimilate these ideas into our own approach.
 
Avi, have you signed for any of the email lists?


Funny the quote on scouts, where I recollect that scouting was initially designed to teach leadership skills. The patrol method, the older scouts teaching younger scouts outback skills. The whole campfire and hiking experience has nothing to do with camping and hiking and everything to do with problem solving, working with a group of your peers, establishing a level of cooperation and developing leaders. If one looks at the list on the followng page it appears the skills taught prior to 1972 worked quite well. List of Eagle Scouts (Boy Scouts of America) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
 
Wil, I believe the change in Boy Scouts was to compensate for a change in society. Originally, boy scouts truly trained to be actual scouts during wartime. Boys of varying skill levels went off by themselves into dangerous wilds under guidance of boy patrol leaders and senior boy patrol leaders. They took leadership seriously, as the wrong leader could get a patrol killed. By the year 1972, scouts no longer went into the wilderness unaccompanied by adults. The military no longer relied heavily upon scouts with wilderness orienteering skills. it was no longer OK to go out into the woods and indiscriminately cut down trees to build a cabin. People started worrying about forest fires, and war on American soil was no longer really probable.

Fortunately the old scouting was prepared for a change. To maintain emphasis upon leadership skills and appreciation of good character, the organization gave birth and died. Technically, boy scouts ceased to be the same old boy scouts; but in its death throes the old scouting gave a gift and its name to a new creation. When I was elected patrol leader and then senior patrol leader, nobody's life was at stake. Instead, the position itself was a kind of training, rather than a test of leadership and survival skills.
Avi said:
It seems to me that at the first level, leadership means having a vision for your own life and putting that vision into action. In some cases you can do this as an individual, but in more cases you need to have other people involved. Involvement of these other people requires leadship skills. We are not taught these skills in school. They are not intuitive. We can only learn them by reading the ideas of other leaders and trying to assimilate these ideas into our own approach.
Truly, and also there is another famous quote that talks about politics as a science that is being developed. That is true, and fortunately that science is beneficial so long as everyone is aware of it. We are still discovering it and hopefully sharing it.
 
I've never heard of a history of boy scouts as you describe. It was modeled on something similar, but that was never boy scouting as I understand it. ie it was a weak version of what would be required by a military 'scout'
 
Ah, I follow what you're saying. Right, they did not actually send boy scouts into wars. However, talking to the old scoutmasters, scouting was not a safe sport. It was a real team effort with real physically stressful challenges and rewards, where you really depended upon your elected brothers to make good decisions. It was pretty much like members of a professional exploration team. They made their own equipment, hunted, navigated, lived off the land, and the whole package.
 
You might like the John Maxwell Leadership Bible. It has leadership skills tied to various biblical texts, both the old and new testaments are smattered with boxes discussing leadership principles displayed.

But I wouldn't be afraid of reading business stuff and cross applying it. Harvey Mckay was one of my favorite authors. Online I'm on the email/ezine
lists of Dennis Waitley, Brian Tracy, Chris Widener, and Brian Johnson's philosophers notes (he does cliff note pdfs and mp3's for a variety of books) all great resources through the week.

Thanks for these suggestions, Wil, I have started looking at them and will continue.

As I think more about the issue of leadership, I believe it is really one which we face a various stages of our lives. As children leadership is just about ourselves. As we progress in our lives, we might have our own family, and leadership relates to our family members, as well. Likewise we have responibilites for others at work and leadership is important there. So again the idea of hierarchical development seems to arise.

It is partly ethics and morality. But it is more. It involves having a vision. A vision for your life and perhaps for others as well. How can one actualize this vision ?

And it seems to relate to a religious focus as well. Any thoughts on the interface between leadership and religion ??
 
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