The Heart of a Leader

“People with humility don’t think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less.” Thoroughly challenging and completely inspiring, this outstanding book will encourage you to develop the courageous heart of a true leader. You'll enjoy the profound wisdom and valuable insight that only best-selling author Ken Blanchard can deliver. Arranged with your busy schedule in mind, Blanchard has condensed his greatest life and leadership lessons in an accessible format that allows you to reach for instant motivation and insight on a daily basis — or in one reading. In the process, you'll discover great leadership tools to help you sharpen your skills and build personal integrity. As a leader, the decisions you make today impact lives. So, whether your office sits high atop a skyscraper or comfortably at your family' s dinner table, take time to improve yourself. And, let The Heart of a Leader encourage you as you travel down the road to a happy and successful life. Millions have looked to Ken Blanchard to help them improve their leadership skills. His best-selling The One-Minute Manager library has sold more than nine million copies. A captivating and much sought after speaker, Blanchard is a leading consultant to Fortune 500 companies in the area of training and leadership. He and his wife Marjorie, are co-founders of Ken Blanchard Companies. When I was in high school, we had a football coach who loved motivational sayings. They covered the walls of our locker room. Sayings like, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” and “Quitters never win and winners never quit” were imprinted in my mind. As a result, when I started teaching and writing in the field of leadership and management, I used sayings to help people remember key points. That's why I was thrilled when the Honor Books folks asked me to write a book that included my favorite sayings. With the help of long-time friend and writing colleague Jim Ballard and the fabulous editing of Rebecca Currington from Honor Books, The Heart of a Leader became a reality. I hope the sayings in this book and my comments will give you the business smarts you need to become an effective leader and manager. I hope you will also come to realize the best way to achieve high performance and remarkable results is with a caring “business heart.” Catching people doing things right is a powerful management concept. Unfortunately, most leaders have a genius for catching people doing things wrong. I always recommend that leaders spend at least an hour a week wandering around their operation catching people doing things right. But l remind them, effective praising must be specific. Just walking around saying, “Thanks for everything” is meaningless. If you say, “Great job” to a poor performer and, “Great job” to a good performer, you sound ridiculous to the poor performer and you “demotivate” the good performer. Catching people doing things right provides satisfaction and motivates good performance. But remember, give praise immediately, make it specific, and finally, encourage people to keep up the good work. This principle can also help you shine at home. It's a marvelous way to interact with and affirm the people in your life.