Ordinary People, Leading Quietly, Radically Changing Lives:  Making decisions everyday between Right & Right.

Most of us think of great leaders as the movers and shakers of major events that change the course of history.

The proposition I want to present to your management team is that understanding leadership, particularly leadership in the middle of big, complicated business, not for profit and governmental organizations, there are a whole set of messy, complicated problems that are referred to as right versus right problems that do not fit the simple,  “do-the-right-thing model” or “take one for the Gipper”. The vast majority of difficult, important problems are not solved by a swift, decisive stroke, by a single intervention by the person at the top. They are solved in the trenches of every day life.  With struggles and lots of antacids.

These men and women who are not high-profile champions of causes, and don’t want to be by any stretch of the imagination. They don’t spearhead ethical crusades or stand as a rebel with a cause.  They are the backbone of our every day life in the organizations that make the world work.

Middle managers move patiently, carefully, and incrementally. They do what is right—for their organizations, for the people around them, and for themselves—inconspicuously and without casualties.

We have come to call these people quiet leaders because their modesty and restraint are in large measure responsible for their impressive achievements.

In the Keynote we take a close up look at a few ordinary individuals and how they unknowingly have become quiet leaders by seeing a kaleidoscope of issues which surround their business initiatives and the mix of challenges that are compounded by mixed emotions of people.

We will look at five lessons learned through the Challenges of Quiet Leaders.

1. Have a bias for action and don’t get bogged down in motives. When self-reflection chases its own tail, take a break and plan for action.
2. Don’t think you are disqualified or exempt from leadership because your motives are mixed or complicated.
3. Trust yourself and your motives, especially when they pull you in different directions.
4. Internal conflicts tell you something important.
5. Before taking on a serious ethical challenge, be sure you really care. Quiet leaders run risks and take action. Their motives are complicated and self-serving.

Workshop Session Objectives

• Ever find yourself choosing between corporate and personal values?
• What process do you employ to approach leadership dilemmas
• Alignment of corporate decision making as the foundation for developing Middle managers
• This session will help you determine what can be done when leadership decision making is in question.

 Research On Leading Quietly