Leading with Excellence

Excellence is the best deterrent” Leroy Logan

Cultivating excellence can be likened to the work of a Casting Director whose role is not to find the next star, but to find actors for a team that will create the foundation for a successful film. Like assembling the cast of a movie, excellent leadership is an art form. Nurturing excellence means identifying people with certain qualities and helping them develop so they can make positive impacts on organizations, communities, and the world. Excellent leadership requires:

Humility and intentionality

Excellent leadership is courageous and requires faith that you’re the right person to intervene at this time. Intentional leaders are deliberate and humble enough to know they won’t succeed unless they create space for others to lead, and to know when they’re the wrong person to intervene. As in life, it’s essential to balance overconfidence with a total lack of ego.

Patience and discernment

We promote excellence in leadership through reflective practice. Reflective leaders ask the right questions to ascertain whether the time is right to take a certain action. They understand that waiting for the right time and situation is crucial to making things fall in line. Acting too fast or suggesting changes to people who aren’t ready to make them can be a recipe for disaster. On the flip side, waiting too long could mean you miss out on an opportunity altogether. Excellence in leadership flourishes where there is balance.

Advocacy

Advocacy in leadership promotes excellence. Speaking on behalf of others for a worthy cause is vital to bringing about positive change. Advocacy is the skilful use of one’s self to intervene in a group situation, have the ability to imagine what the future can be, and then do anything and everything possible to get there.

Emotional Intelligence

Leadership excellence is built upon the ability to be aware of, identify, and respond appropriately to the emotions of others and our own. Leaders respond appropriately to situations and are masters of ‘reading the room'.