Leadership was all the rage in the late 1990ies, early 2000s. John Maxwell made a fortune selling lists of 25 rules of this, 19 rules of that. He's strongly on the doing side. Then on the other side of the same coin, there are the "Being" guys. Who you are is more important that what you do.
Then came the complexity of the new era. Leading in the age of constant change, uncertainty. Generation Y, X and all the others together in the same workplace. Simplicity is no longer the order of the day. How does one become a leader in this world?
The 4 cornerstones model is a simple technique for continually growing in pertinent areas to both sides of that coin. It works cross culturally, and at every age marker along with way. You can boil leadership down to these four growth areas.
1. Character: Great people of character are those who continually work on their inner being. But what is character? Beginning with an "end sought goal" helps, rather than a list of do and don't do.
2. Competency: How many organizations are crippled because the leader is "a great guy" but he just doesn't know what he's doing (or she). They may be a technical guy who got promoted into management but really is only good at math, or a charismatic person who has no idea how to budget and read a spreadsheet (I'm in that latter category). The good news is that this area is the easiest to grow in. Two core subsets are at work here. Hard (read technical skills) and soft (read interpersonal skills)
3. Culture: the longer people are in leadership, the more they realize "fit" is important. Great men fail where lesser men succeed. Similarly, organizations fail because they fail to understand how their culture shapes their future.
4. Clouds: Ok, its really VISION, but I needed another "C." Vision is often referred to as the 35,000 ft. perspective. Its being able to see the big picture. But Vision is also a very practical process that all individuals, families, faith communities, and businesses must have.
As the site grows, you'll be able to click on each one of the links and get articles, links, commentary, and helps for each of the 4 Cornerstones. I also do the 4 Cornerstones as a weekend leadership retreat. For info, just post a comment.