10 Things that Separate Common Leaders from Champions

Let’s start with what champions and leaders have in common. Both are often seen out in front of people, the idea, or the process. They both have influence. They both work to enable themselves and others to the progression of positive outcomes. And, chances are they’ve experienced some level of success.

There are over 600 different definitions for the word “leader”, “leadership” or any of its derivatives. When something is defined in so many ways, it loses its meaning. The term has been played and played and fails to distinguish good leaders from the truly great leaders.

That’s why I wrote The Organizational Champion. Today, our complex global environment calls for us to move beyond mere leadership. Today we need our champions.

So what is the difference between a leader and a champion? Here’s a list of ten differences.

1. Champions are personally grounded through values; Leaders can be situational. Champions operate from a strong personal values foundation, they are consistent, genuine and authentic in their behavior. You get what you expect from a champion every time. Leaders can adjust their M.O. (modus operandi), allowing the situation to dictate their behavior.
2. Champions influence through love; Leaders can influence through power. Champions are sincere, emphasizing the human endeavor above authority. Through love, champions achieve real power. Leaders can often seek power in spite of love.
3. Champions pursue mutual value; Leaders can be self-serving. A win-lose proposition isn’t a workable proposition for a champion. A champion emphasizes the greater or global good over selfish ambition. Therefore, champions are more trusted.
4. Champions drive transformation; Leaders drive transaction. Champions hunger for change. Though they understand the significant importance of the transaction, they don’t stop there. They are thinking about how they can redefine their industry in ways that solidify competitive advantages. For the champion, they don’t just look for game-changing moves. They look for ways to change the game altogether, and therefore, create organizational agility.
5. Champions embrace the mission; Leaders embrace the role. Champions aren’t limited by their role. In fact, champions are not good role players. They must connect to a mission or a movement because their work is personal to them beyond a paycheck.
6. Champions are operational & visionary; Leaders are one or the other. While a champion might have a tendency toward vision or a tendency toward execution, they see the value in both. A champion knows that vision without execution damages trust. They also know that execution without vision might force a company to lose relevancy with its customer base because it lost sight of where its customers were going.
7. Champions aren’t defined by circumstance; Leaders are limited by circumstance. Champions are energized by new challenges. Barriers don’t push them off course and they have staying power. Because they aren’t defined by circumstance, they are resilient and able to withstand the toughest challenges toward success. Because they aren’t defined by circumstance, they remain steady and poised in the most extreme situations – good or bad.
8. Champions are emotional; Leaders are guarded. Champions are transparent and even vulnerable. They invite others in through their passion and their emotional energy ignites others toward a movement. These champions must engage personally and emotionally before they can inspire others to do the same. For them, emotions don’t impede logical thinking. Champions can manage both, and they have an amazing ability to connect with others.
9. Champions are curious systems thinkers; Leaders can be linear thinkers. Champions think beyond “problem-solved”. They want to know what preceded the problem and what will happen 10 steps down the road. Their ability to know the entire system and all its parts helps them bring a new level of creativity to problems and new innovations behind compelling opportunities.
10. Champions are fully present in every moment; Leaders can be consummate multi-taskers. Champions are fast-taskers, not multi-taskers. They completely immerse themselves in one task at a time, therby increasing the speed and quality of their output. They are fully present in every interaction and they know the importance of every encounter.

Tags: champions, difference, enlightened, leaders, Leadership, list, ten, top, topten

The Organizational Champion Webcast – Ep. 05

 

 The Organizational Champion Webcast - Ep. 05 [31:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show Notes:

In the News:

The Best of Behance: Best of Behance’s 99% Conference: 13 Tried and True Practices For Making Ideas Happen.

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/linda-tischler/design-times/best-behance-13-tried-and-true-practices-making-ideas-happen

The ECChO Model:

ECCho Discussion:

I. Recap The Definition of a Champion
II. Discuss the Model (Quick Overview)
III. The Enlightened Leader

Why is this important for leaders?

What is the value proposition of a company being led by enlightened leaders?

What is the value of a company producing enlightened leaders?

SPONSORS:

The Organizational Champions Podcast is sponsored by www.ChampEm.com.
Production considerations for the Organizational Champions Webcast by www.sviworld.com.

Tags: champion, enlightened, leader, organizational, Podcast, webcast

Enlightenment is the Key Differentiator of Extraordinary People

Becoming enlightened is the first step toward becoming an organizational champion because the process starts with you. Living enlightened means living true to yourself and your unique design – authentically, genuinely, consistently. Naturally living out your core propensity is necessary for personal efficiency and effectiveness. Don’t diminish the importance of personal growth and improvement, however. But realize that your best improvement will grow from your core sense of self. If you’re an introvert, you’ll likely never be a natural extrovert—but you might learn to communicate better. If you’re an academic, you might not be an artist (though these aren’t mutually exclusive)—but you might learn to think more creatively.

Those who fail to understand who they are often fail to lead naturally, always trying to fit into someone else’s leadership mold. This only leads to frustration and inefficiency. Through perspective and understanding, embrace who you are naturally—pursue growth from your core, and unleash your unique and valuable gifts.

• Discovering yourself gives you a new found significance and sense of purpose.
• Discovering yourself gives you more freedom to move through life and run wild as you’ve defined your own playing field.
• Discovering yourself gives you new energy and passion that allow you to bring your best to any situation.

The road to enlightenment begins with self-discovery. And the road to self-discovery isn’t always easy. In fact, many people find it a very difficult trek. But by accepting the difficulty—even embracing it—we discover ourselves, and through that discovery we can enlarge ourselves and our impact.

Tags: book, champion, development, enlighten, enlightened, leader, Leadership, organizational, theorganizationalchampion

Definitions of Definitions

A few months ago, through much research, the definition for an organizational champion was created. Organizational champions are enlightened change makers who are sensationally tuned to altruistic values and relentlessly driven by possibilities.

Over the past several months, the definition has been tested, reviewed, and debated. Fortunately, the definition seems to stick and excitement continues to build as this new, fresh term is unleashed to move us beyond leadership.

However, I understand that many of the words used in the definition might need to be described further to ensure alignment and understanding. So below is a brief description of the relevant words or terms.

1. Enlightened – An enlightened person is self-aware and self-realized. They have strong convictions and values that serve to guide their life decisions and experiences.

2. Change maker – A change maker is a systems (non-linear) thinker who is able to envision change, enroll others in change, communicate across boundaries, and manage complex tasks and milestones.

3. Sensationally tuned – A sensationally tuned person is inspirational and emotionally energized. They rarely suppress their emotions, but rather, they manage their emotions to inspire others toward an idea or cause.

4. Altruistic values – A person who lives by altruistic values lives to do good, not harm. They keep selfish ambition in check for the sake of the win-win scenario and mutual benefit.

5. Driven by possibilities – A person driven by possibilities has a strong sense of wonder and curiosity of the potential. These people use this curiosity to define, refine, reshape, and transform cultures, products, or processes.

Hopefully this adds additional clarity to the definition of an Organizational Champion. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

Onward!

Tags: champion, change, enlighten, enlightened, Leadership, maker, organizational

OC Attributes Survey Findings

Thank you all for participating in the recent online survey regarding the attributes of an organizational champion. So far, we’ve captured the data from 57 responders. While we will continue to capture additional responses, this post is an update on findings from these initial responses.

Participants were asked to rank the importance of each of the attributes shown in the chart below regarding leadership today. The specific question was:

Based on organizational needs and demands in the 21st century, please rate the necessity of the following attributes of an organizational leader in order to have the most impact on organizational success on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being “Completely Unnecessary” and 10 being “Completely Necessary”.

The attributes and their ratings of importance are below (Click on image to enlarge.):

Not surprising, trustworthiness captures the number one spot for the most important attribute followed closely by vision. The next three attributes emphasize the importance of communicating to and enabling a complex and decentralized group of work teams toward change across many organizations and enterprises of which one has no or limited authority over.

Ok. Agree. The next question is how? Communication skills will fail if motives aren’t trusted. Therefore, motives must be pure and good. But motives will fail if you have an inability to communicate. Communication is a behavior (non-verbal) and skill (verbal). In order to be trustworthy, behaviors, skills, and motives must be trusted and understood in order to effectively move people, an organization, and a group of organizations.

Effectively maneuvering people and organizations through change seems to be at the top of the priority list as it relates to effectively leading in the 21st century.

Trusted behaviors and skills seem to fit many leadership principles. The next level of valued attributes for a leader in the 21st century according to survey responses are drive, inspiration, and authenticity. Today, inspiration can’t be manufactured as followers are smarter and leadership is constantly being tested and evaluated. It must be authentic from within. And because trustworthiness is so important, one’s authenticity must be good. There are few things more destructive than a driven and inspiring leader with a completely self-serving or evil agenda.

Therefore, the current data seems to align with the definition for an organizational champion. Organizational champions are enlightened change-makers who are sensationally tuned to altruistic values and relentlessly driven by possibilities.

(Click on image to enlarge.)

Tags: 21st, attributes, business, century, champions, change, characteristics, competencies, drive, enlightened, leader, Leadership, maker, organizational, trust, vision