Risk Taking

Ethical Leadership – A Personal Exploration

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

Ethics. Big topic.

Lots of professional courses, programs and degrees about it — and, there is always someone willing to engage in a conversation — especially in fields like bio-ethics or medical-ethics. One might think it shouldn’t be too difficult to describe an ethical leader:

  • Honest
  • High Integrity
  • Transparent … are three traits that come to mind

I think most of us actually aspire to these attributes for ourselves. And, when we are discussing leadership around us, we expect our leaders to have these same traits. But, is there something else — something more? When I see a truly great leader there is ‘something‘ that makes them stand out from the rest — that makes them special.

Maybe it’s their charismatic personality.

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Climbing the Mountain is About Believing It’s Possible

/ Dave Eberwein / Leave a comment

You hear it.

No one else hears it, yet it can be quite loud — as well as effective. ‘Self-talk’.

And, it’s critical for effective Leadership.

When we talk about Leadership qualities, most of the conversation tends to be about what an effective leader DOES. Leadership is certainly about doing good stuff but, at the heart of it is having the right inner voice. Leaders who have it propel themselves through a solution-seeking lens of optimism and hope and are the ones who lead us through difficult times.

There’s an interesting article on self-talk by Dr. Shonna Waters (The Power of Positive Self Talk and How You Can Use It, June 2021) where she discusses this strength.

WHAT IS SELF-TALK?

Self-talk is the stream of consciousness that runs through our head every day. It can be positive or negative — and typically falls in line with whether you are a positive or negative person. Successful people use positive self-talk to overcome the stray negativity that enters their mindset from time to time.

I’d rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right.

Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is disaster.

Elon Musk

Besides the obvious benefit of using positive self-talk as a spring board to create solutions, there is some research that also points to some interesting physical and psychological benefits:

benefits-of-self-talk

These are big WINS that are worth paying attention to!

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Failing Forward

/ Dave Eberwein / 3 Comments

Before I get too far into this blog post, I need to give credit to Chris Smeaton who shared his concept of ‘Failing Forward’ a few years ago when he was Superintendent of an Alberta school division. He has since retired, but is still influential in the educational field. Chris is a quality person who believes in the possible — a leader who builds a culture of risk taking and emotional support — someone who embraces the idea of failure being a springboard to better things.

Our conversation was about 3 years ago at a conference table. I loved the visual imagery of his ‘failing forward’ message.

Even if You Trip – You’re Still Falling Forward

Even if you’re experiencing a temporary pause in your momentum, you can still move forward if you’re supported and encouraged, but not if you’re condemned for your mistake during your exploration of something new.

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