The rules for fostering great leaders in your workplace are changing. It’s not enough just to train them; you also have to develop them. Today, Don Frericks, CAO of Community Blood Center and Founder & Leadership Coach of Make Me A Better Leader, joins Mike Sipple, Jr., to talk about what makes extraordinary leaders. They talk about Don’s study of leadership, how he developed his method to recognize and cultivate great leaders, and why you should never settle for anything less than extraordinary.
- Don believes in building deep, meaningful relationships and has met phenomenal leaders throughout his career. It has come to his attention that extraordinary leaders share a common denominator of sorts, and it was this shared characteristic that led him to study leadership and how to identify great leaders from average ones.
- As a thought leader, Don has fulfilled many different roles in training, coaching, consulting, and mentoring. He was driven to find a better way to get people to become the best version of themselves, become better leaders, and figure out a way to objectively measure the effectiveness of good leadership.
- Here’s an interesting statistic Don points out: 80% of people don’t do anything with what they learned in workplace leadership training. It goes in one ear and out the other. Don realized that you can’t just train people to be good leaders. You have to help them develop extraordinary leadership skills, too.
- Nearly 67% of employees are disengaged at work due to ineffective and uninspiring leadership. This means that average or ‘good-enough’ leaders don’t cut it! Extraordinary leaders have profound strengths that create a work environment where people have the highest levels of fulfillment, productivity and engagement. Great leaders motivate employees to go the extra mile, to get the work done better and faster.
Throughout the episode, Don and Mike explore certain common themes and leadership characteristics that distinguish the average leaders from the exceptional. Here are a few:
- All journeys are different.
- Leaders aren’t born, they are made.
- Good and bad bosses help us learn and understand leadership.
- Leaders need training, coaching, and mentoring at some point in their career.
- Organic Process of Leadership Development: Observe, Internalize, and Apply.
Listen to the full conversation to understand how leaders encourage people to take the next step and how organizations can contribute to the awakening of more extraordinary leaders.
Don Frericks
Community Blood Center “Be A Hero, Give Blood”
Rapid Leadership Development Video
Resources
Team of Teams – New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World by General Stanley McChrystal
How To Be Exceptional – Driving Leadership Success by John Zenger and Joseph Folkman