The “I have a dream” speech broken down into 8 insights into why MLK Jr was such an amazing leader. Great stuff by Michael Hyatt.

#4 in a series of leadership questions, @MichaelHyatt gives 4 ways he encourages creative thinking. I don’t know that they are in order of priority, but I would venture to guess that holding your tongue is the first recommendation for a reason…

1. Hold my own counsel. I might see the solution more quickly or be tempted to cut to the chase. The problem is that this inhibits everyone else’s creativity.
2. Enlist outside resources. If you aren’t constantly refilling the creative pool, it will eventually run dry.
3. Affirm creative thinking. If I want more innovative thinking, I have to notice it and publicly affirm it.
4. Create a safe environment. If people don’t feel safe, they will only parrot your ideas.

Read the full article.

Michael Hyatt is the Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S.

I wont pretend that there aren’t hundreds of thousands of books on this topic… frankly, I have grown tired of reading them. I am a Millennial, after all. Therefore, I enjoy it when someone summarizes these books for me. I also enjoy when the list challenges me as a person, worker, wife and friend.

So, this is borrowed from a blog post by Thom Rainer.

7 Personality Traits of Effective Leaders.

1. Effective leaders are loyal. They are loyal to God, their families, and the places where they serve. They are loyal to friends. And their loyalties are intense and clearly noticeable by all who know them.
2. Effective leaders are joyous and fun. One of the main reasons they are good leaders is because they have eager followers. People like to follow leaders who are fun and who demonstrate obvious joy in their lives. After all, who wants to follow a grumpy and joyless leader?
3. Effective leaders have a strong work ethic. In fact, one of the greatest challenges of these leaders is maintaining balance. They are prone to be on the task 24/7.
4. Effective leaders are self-aware. They are able to see their strengths and weaknesses with a great deal of objectivity. They seek out critical evaluations from people they trust to tell them the truth. Because they are self-aware, they are constantly seeking to improve.
5. Effective leaders take initiative. These leaders do not need to be prodded to complete a task. To the contrary, they go well beyond others’ expectation. Good managers complete an assigned task. But good leaders are regularly envisioning a better way and better strategy.
6. Effective leaders love people. Some effective leaders are extroverts; they are energized when they are around people. Other effective leaders are introverts. Put them in a crowd sharing small talk, and they will be drained by the end of the day. But both types of leaders have a love for people. They truly care about others. They embody servanthood.
7. Effective leaders are tenacious. You rarely hear about them giving up. While others may view a setback as failure, the effective leaders see it as an opportunity to move in another direction.