Maxwell Leadership CEO Mark Cole says: Popularity is not the same as leadership.
With six marathons and 13 half marathons to his credit, Maxwell Leadership CEO Mark Cole has earned the right to compare leadership to a running event—no, not a distance competition, but relay racing. “We’ve all seen relays where the race is won or lost in the transition,” said Mark. “That is why there’s a transition zone that allows the runner who is handing off the baton to align with the runner receiving it.”
If the two runners are out of sync during the hand-off, notes Mark, they will slow the team down regardless of how fast the individual runners may be. High-performing corporate teams function the same way, and it is the leader’s job to ensure the individuals are “humming” in harmony so that when it comes to pivot, everybody is working at the same pace.
Mark has more than 25 years of leadership and team development experience, which uniquely qualifies him to have an integral role in the John C. Maxwell legacy. One of the initiatives under Mark’s leadership has been the Thought Leader Platform of speakers and authors–including this author–who are the future ambassadors of the Maxwell method of leadership and professional development.
Mark believes in “visible leadership,” which he defines as a leader’s presence for his or her team. “How well are you communicating presence with your team?” asked Mark, who uses video to communicate weekly with his team despite his busy travel schedule. “From a leadership perspective, you’re not trying to be the most popular, even though we seem to have assigned the word leader to those who get lots of “likes” on social media.”
In the podcast, Mark shares his discovery that even the most widely respected communicators often achieve limited impact with those they coach and gives you three tools to create a lasting impression.
You will learn:
- 3:00 Why success is won or lost in transition.
- 8:00 Why popularity is not the same as leadership.
- 12:00 How to create a leadership “dashboard” to measure progress.
- 25:00 How to increase employee engagement.
- 35:00 How to make your meetings or “huddles” more efficient.
Resources:
- Follow Mark Cole on Twitter and Instagram.
- Learn more about Maxwell Leadership’s Thought Leaders.
- Listen to Maxwell Leadership Podcast hosted by Mark Cole.