Each of these 8 leaders continually worked at developing their strengths while surrounding themselves with others who had the strengths they were missing.

Begin your Development by reading articles about and by leaders you have respect for on a weekly basis.

We all can improve our abilities as PRODUCTIVE LEADERS by focusing on the TRAITS that are needed in our departments: Now and in the Future.

Which of these traits are your strongest now?

1. Commitment
2. Control
3. Consistency
4. Challenge(s)
5. Competence
6. Centered (focused)
7. Confidence
8. Compromise
9. Creativity
10. Caring
11. Communication
12. Credibility

Chose one Cornerstone/Trait per week to work on.

Start by thinking about the Cornerstone/Trait.

By spending 15 to 30 minutes each day thinking about how you might strengthen and use the C/T will begin to help you to concentrate on improving and developing it.


Alan
alan@cre8ng.com
http://www.cre8ng.com

All workplaces need leaders who champion creative thinking in all their employees.

Here are 7 who did just that for many years in their respective organizations:

Alex Osborn - BBDO who created Brainstorming and co-created the Osborn-Parnes Creative Problem Solving Process, the Creative Education Foundation and its annual Creative Problem Solving Institute

Charlie Clark who ran his own company Yankee Ingenuity and did much of the early research with BRAINSTORMING

Sid & Bea Parnes who championed the CEF, CPSI and many of their colleagues and creativity in general around the world for the past nearly 60 years.

E. Paul Torrance who created his Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and wrote extensively for over 50 years about the development of creativity and creative thinking in classrooms around the world plus with his wife Pansy Torrance created the global FUTURE PROBLEM SOLVING PROGRAM

Morris I. Stein, "Uncle Moe", researched and authored extensive studies into creativity and creative thinking.

Ruth Noller who co-founded the Buffalo State University, Creative Studies Program, co-leader CPSI and wrote extensive about the use of creative thinking and creative problem solving processes.

Look for the leaders within your organization who will
S.P.R.E.A.D. creative thinking

Support, Promote, Recognize/Reward, Encourage/Educate, Apply and Develop

from your front and back doors to your top floors.

Alan
alan@cre8ng.com
http://www.cre8ng.com

Transformative leadership

Here is a recent article in the Hickory Daily Record BUSINESS section on Sunday, January 25, 2009 by Danny Hearn

There are about six characteristics of a TRANSFORMATIVE LEADER that we would like to … understand and adopt…:

1. The ability to think systematically.
2. The ability to see connections among diverse and disparate factors and ideas
3. The ability to ask appropriate questions.
4. The ability to spot trends and weak signals
5. The ability to understand and utilize a diversity of parallel processes
6. The ability to buiild capacities for transformation in organizations and communities.

The difference between a TRADITIONAL LEADER and a TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADER is that…

TRADITIONAL LEADERS focus on short-term needs and tangible outcomes that usually can be measured in quantified terms.

A TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERS focus on building longer-term “capacities for transformation” to prepare organizations and communities for a society and economy in constant change.

Why is TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP so important at this time in our history?

We are living in an age of historical transformation, not just a pendulum swing between conservative and liberal thinking.

Unless we develop capacities in our people, organizations and communities to see the world differently and to utilize new concepts, methods and techniques, we will continue to try to improve ideas and methods that are increasingly out of date.

When a society begins to change at an expotential rate (as today), only those leaders who are able to think and act as a higher level of complexity will be able to help prepare institutions and communities for the future.

The success of our economy and society will be based upon how well we see new patterns and develop innovations never before conceived. Imagination will be a key to the idea of continuous innovation.

(Perhaps we now need to) create a new system of values, concepts, capacities, strategies, attitudes and behaviors that will need to be understood and used for community transformation.”