What God Gives Use to Help Others

Starving Refugees flee their homes under the threat of death while the U.S. pays farmers NOT to farm their land. Ever wonder how God feels about us NOT using the blessings He so richly gave this land. Listen! That is the sound of excuses.

Read how we could make this a win-win for all of us and cause this country to be great once again. See:
 Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy by Bill Clinton (Nov 8, 2011)

EXTREME HUBRIS OF TOXIC LEADERS

   Some degree of exaggerated pride and self-confidence can be found in most organizations. Some degree of self-centeredness can be found at times in most leaders. Of all the leadership traits, many leaders to not exhibit tact or humility in any way. I have witnessed the egotistical, self-centered narcissist from military units to school districts. In its extreme stages, it results in toxic leaders who have no place for listening to others input or excercising particpatory leadership and by no means would they ever be considered servant leaders. Consider some larger than life examples in the following:
   "Hubris and narcissism speaks volumes when unraveling the complex behavior of leaders. Curiously, there is even more than initially meets the eye when attempting to decode the dark and troubled side of leadership. Stories abound as the media has feasted on the upper-echelon conflicts and debacles at Vivendi Universal, Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and a “Who's Who” list of Fortune 500 corporations and executives. An infamous circle of corporate leaders have shamelessly exhibited the farther reaches of hubris in the form of greed, excesses, arrogance and unbridled bluster. The toxic leadership of Jean-Marie Messier, Gary Winnick, Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski, and Bernard Ebbers has permanently engraved the darker and destructive side of organizational behavior into the collective conscience of Wall Street, corporate life and business schools around the world."
~ Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations:  A Therapeutic Approach
By Alan Goldman, pp.11-26

Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations

Sometimes, leaders arrive in position of authority without the credentials to do the job.

"A certain degree of narcissism is perfectly natural and even healthy. A moderate measure of self-esteem contributes to positive behaviors such as assertiveness, confidence, and creativity, all desirable qualities for an individual in any walk of life, but particularly so for business leaders. At the other end of the spectrum, however, extreme narcissism is characterized by egotism, self-centeredness, grandiosity, lack of empathy, exploitation, exaggerated self-love, and failure to acknowledge boundaries. In this severe form, narcissism can do serious damage. This is especially true within an organization, where the combination of a leader's overly narcissistic disposition and his or her position of power can have devastating consequences." (Kets de Vries, 2006)

Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional Organizations: A Therapeutic Approach
By Alan Goldman          
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ebook.jsf?bid=CBO9780511805097

Servant Leadership

WELL DONE to Alyssa Magnotti on the following article:

Read "What is Servant Leadership & Why Should I Use It?"
by Alyssa Magnotti at http://bit.ly/em4YI2  Note difference in power driven and servant leaders

See Alyssa at http://thinkspace.com/about/our-team/

Leadership Lost Along the Way

    Once a leader always a leader; well maybe not    David Kovacovich writes that, "Every organization reaches a tipping point. That point when your vision becomes a company, later an organization, and at some point a corporation. As companies grow the vision gets further from reality and process takes over. We lose site of our purpose for waking up in the morning and punch the clock. Every executive in every company knows how to deliver his/her message. The question is at what point do they stop believing the message? If the top executive does not believe, their employees will not either, and their customers will realize that the dream has become a commodity. Then it’s work: clock punching, reporting……….and nothing more! The CEO may never even realize the point at which his/her dream died."
   I have observed this in leaders and have seen the diminishing effects on the organization as a whole. It can be caused in part by the Peter Princple when the organization outgrows the strength of the man or woman in charge of it.  "The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book The Peter Principle, a humorous ^[1] treatise which also introduced the "salutary science of hierarchiology." [read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle]
    I believe that the same thing can happen not by promotions but by the organization outgrowing the "leader."
    For the full article by Kovacovich go to:
      http://www.leadersbeacon.com/oversight-a-tale-of-leaderhsip-lost/

Serving Others, Ray Ivey

Caution Laissez-faire leadership Attempt Ahead

   This French phrase, Laissez-faire, means "leave it be," and it's used to describe leaders who leave their team members to work on their own. It can be effective if the leader monitors what's being achieved and communicates this back to the team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership is effective only when individual team members (1.) are very experienced; (2.) skilled self-starters; and (3.) have experience working together. Unfortunately, this type of leadership can also occur when managers don't apply sufficient control.1  1 http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htm
   When a person, named "Leader", trys this leadership style, I see more disasters than successes. At the base of it all is that the person "in control" is not and is not really a leader. I can see a train wreck waiting to happen. They, in fact, maybe overwhelmed by the task of leadership and see this as way not to be discovered.  //follow me on Twitter at "@rivey" search for me by using "@rivey" or  "Ray Ivey"//

The Leader Misled Misleads

    Some leaders feel they lead, but what they do is direct from their position of authority and they get compliance. They see things happen and they feel they are big leaders, but there is no inspiration that motivates or inspires. They are more supervisors than leaders.
   With compliance followers, you only get what is required. You do not get any discretionary effort.  Compliance followers will do what's necessary not to embarrass themselves. The "leader" can be misled. The "leader" can also be misled by the sycophant's fawning and overt flattery.
   What leader doesn't have a self-serving subordinate or two. The classic "yes man".  What leader will recognize the "yes man" with him? Not many. And what leader values the person with a dissenting view to balance the leader's ego? Not many.
   There is a story of an Roman Emperor returning from victory with the spoils of war and the praise of the crowds, had a slave ride along and repeat these words; "Respice te, hominem te memento" ("Look behind you, remember you are only a man"). And thus it is so. (c) Ray Ivey

Increasing Intelligence/synapses?

See "Can you build a better brain?" by Sharon Begley, Newsweek Magazine January 10& 17, 2011
  Neuroscientists discover the mechanisms of intelligence; of what really works
      http://www.newsweek.com/2011/01/03/can-you-build-a-better-brain.html
  Serving Others
    Ray Ivey