Blanchard discusses servant leadership, changing your management philosophy and being a role model for your employees.
Not a chance! Paul Hersey and I both were unknown. I think the reason the book has been successful is because neither Paul nor I knew any big words and we were always looking for ways to make the complicated simple.
Yes. Spencer was a children’s book writer and I was a storyteller, so we agreed we would write a parable. For more than three decades, the simple tools of One Minute Goals and One Minute Praisings continue to produce great results and human satisfaction.
We self-published "The One Minute Manager" and introduced it at the National Restaurant Association meeting in 1980. We sold more than 700 copies at $15 each — an amount unheard of in book publishing at the time. I sent a copy to Ronald Reagan and got a personal letter of thanks.
Because life is a very special occasion and I don’t want to miss it! I learned from Norman Vincent Peale, my 80-something coauthor on "The Power of Ethical Management," every day is an opportunity to learn. If you stop learning, you might as well lie down and let them throw the dirt on top of you, because you’re already brain dead.
The world is in desperate need of a new leadership role model. I don’t think self-serving leaders lack skills; it’s just they think leadership is all about them and their own self-interest. That’s a heart and head problem, and not a hands and skills problem.
Self-centered leadership happens at all income levels. On the other hand, you can have great leaders at all income levels, too. As Mark Miller and I point out in "The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do," you don’t necessarily need a powerful position to be a good leader.
Absolutely. It’s just the magnitude that’s different. Leadership is leadership. You have to provide vision and direction to inspire and motivate people.
There are two parts to servant leadership: vision/direction and implementation. It’s the leader’s responsibility to make sure the vision is set. That’s the leadership aspect of servant leadership. Implementation is the servant aspect of servant leadership.
I know servant leaders with all types: introverts and extroverts; type A and type B; logical thinkers and intuitives — you name it. The common denominator of all these people is they have a servant heart.
Absolutely. The world is desperately in need of a new leadership role model. I don’t think a person can become a truly great leader until they understand they’re here to serve, not to be served.
All the great leadership models imply servant leadership. You can’t become a situational leader unless the people you’re leading have clear, observable, measureable goals. You determine the appropriate leadership style so you can better serve them during the implementation phase.
They’re so busy dealing with today’s problems that they’re not paying attention to tomorrow. It’s a mistake to task people with present time leadership positions to plan the future.
Because they’re either overwhelmed with the present or have a vested interest in it.
A willingness to be honest about what’s working and what’s not. Then you have to be humble enough to admit your mistakes and smart enough to learn from them. You also have to be humble and smart enough to learn from other people.
People tend to do as you do, not as you say. Leaders can’t just give lip service to things such as their commitment to the vision and values — they have to live them.
I just finished working with Morton Shaevitz on "Refire! Don’t Retire: How to Make the Rest of Your Life the Best of Your Life." The book has a lot of applications for the workplace, too, in terms of refiring with your people emotionally and intellectually. Also, William Morrow will be publishing "The New One Minute Manager" in May, which is very exciting, as we think the One Minute concepts will reach a whole new audience of leaders.
If you want to run a successful family business, you have to provide some structure around it. When our son Scott, daughter Debbie and Margie’s brother Tom joined us more than 20 years ago, we hired an outside consultant. The five of us, including my wife Margie, have met each quarter with a consultant for more than 20 years. As a result, we’ve been able to work well together and keep our loving family relationships going.
They’re all important. Not having a strategy for your change is like navigating without a map. Don’t be surprised if you don’t arrive where you intended to go! Likewise, if you don’t take the time to develop a process during which you allow people to surface and communicate their concerns about the change, chances are good the change won’t happen.
An opportunity for change management occurs when there’s a difference between what you want to see happening and what’s happening. If your organization is not on track to achieve its vision; if you’re not seeing the outcomes you desire; if you’re having problems with budgeting, productivity, or morale, then it’s time to consider a journey toward change.
My favorite leadership style is Situational Leadership II. For more than 45 years it’s been considered the most effective way to lead and motivate people. It has passed the test of time. So has "The One Minute Manager."
It’s a time for change that can signal an opportunity for the future.
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