“Innovation Distinguishes Between a Leader and a Follower”
INNOVATION IS THE THEME FOR THE APRIL LEADER GUIDE MAGAZINE
Innovation is the theme for April, and it is a fitting companion to the nature of spring’s arrival: freshness, new colors, inspiration to try new things, and most of all, relief from the gray days of winter’s monotony.
In the new Leader Guide Magazine, we have three articles that consider innovation. In “The Top Five Traits of Innovative Companies,” we compile the wisdom of leaders and visionaries to determine a big picture of innovation. In “It’s a Lafley Matter: How to Innovate in Today’s Hyper Competitive and Shifting Marketplace,” we look at the approach of a Proctor & Gamble CEO, A.G. Lafley. Lafley’s leadership style, along with the success of the company he leads, paints new and bold strokes upon the landscape of innovation.
Also new for April is Part IV of our ongoing series “Best Leaders of 2006,” based upon a U.S. News & World Report and Harvard collaborative study. This month, we look at the Leadership Lessons of Alan Khazei and Michael Brown, founders of City Year; Wynston Marsals, Artistic Director of Jazz, Lincoln Center; Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg, innovators in improving New York public education; and Robert Moses, founder of the Algebra Project.
We continue with our enhancements to editorial content at leadershipdevelopment.com and our web site’s look/functionality. The new design is much more modern, and soon, we’ll be adding additional products and services to the LeaderShop. Our web site continues to be a highly-visited resurce for leaders seeking information. We have consistently been at the top of search engines for the terms “leadership quotations” and “leadership development” (#4 in April 2007 on a Google search, out of 122,000,000). As we add additional features, it is exciting to see that we are also at the top of the searches for such terms new to our site as “Leader of the Month,” for which we were #6 in a Google search out of 28,700,000 results!
In another change starting this month, we have added “Leadership Etc.” as a catch-all for some old faves (like “Defining Leadership”), and some new additions (like “Leader of the Month”).
LEADERSHIP ETC…..
Innovation
Defining Leadership……… “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”–Steve Jobs, CEO Apple
Inspiring Leadership Quote………. “Once again, this nation has said there are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond our reach.–John S. Herrington
Leader of the Month: Jeffery Immelt, CEO of General Electric, has boldly stepped into the “chapter after” role to an almost-legendary leader, Jack Welch. Immelt has proven he has his own leadership wisdom to impart, and he was named by Barron’s as one of the world’s best CEO’s. General Electric, under his leadership, has been honored as “America’s Most Admired Company” Immelt summarizes his success with “there’s no real magic in being a good leader(1).” He specifies the practicalities needed to lead in what he calls “a world that is more volatile and has less economic growth.” Leadership, he says, is as simple (not easy) as learning to “…spend your time around the things that are really important: setting priorities, measuring outcomes, and rewarding them.” (1)
Leadership Website of the Month: www.managementhelp.org
Features several assessment tools such as how to determine your leadership style and an look at quality and skills. There are 650 topics in the library and 5000 links for both nonprofit and profit sectors. Topics in the library include boards of directors, leadership, finance, and marketing.
REFERENCES
(1) www.businessweek.com, Jan. 10, 2005
