Spur Leadership Conference – Steve Price

A Chalk Talk on Leadership – Steve Price – Session 3

Steve is a VP at Dell. His talk is about 3 things that every great leader must have.

Lou Holtz – you can do anything you set out to do if you lead with your heart.

You have to decide that you want to be a great leader. It starts with the heart.

1) Understand the significance of impact. Leaders have the ability to change the trajectory of another person’s life. Are you positioned to have impact? You must have passion and competence. Your impact as a leader is where your passion and competence intersect. That is your sweet spot. Your life doesn’t have signifigance if it doesn’t impact others.

2) Understand the power of influence. Others don’t follow because they have to but because of your influence ultimately. Influence is the intersection of the trust others have in you and your engagement in their lives. Does your family know that taking the field with them is the greatest thrill of your life? How about others you lead? Do they know that you will give your best? If so, you can have unbelievable influence! I’m a work in progress and I am giving you the best I have…

3) Put others before yourself. When you choose your behavior, then you can care for people. When you care, then you can serve and sacrifice for others. When you serve and sacrifice, then you have influence. If you have influence, then you really lead.

Do you love people more than your position?

Great leadership is a function of impact and influence. Do you desire to make an impact or an impression? An impression fades quickly. Impact lasts forever.

Spur Leadership Conference – Rocky and Janet Mountain

Session 2. We found coffee during the break!

Janet and Rocky are giving an amzing talk on being a fully engaged leader while also holding on loosely. Janet is the head of the Dell Foundation. Rocky is a venture capitalist and a former VP at Dell.

Here’s what every engaged leader should do:
1) Remove road blocks effectively. Both in their own way and in the way of those who report to them. Roadblocks, usually conflict, left unsolved, can be disasterous to every organization.

2) Be Truth Tellers. Tell people who report to you what is up.

3) Inspire Ingenuity. Is there a better way to do what you are doing? Is there a better way to fulfill your mission. Better ingenuity means more results. Do you have a way to measure results? What is a problem you need to get creative about?

4) Communicate Cogently. Do those who report to you know what is expected of them? Do you communicate effectively to those you report to? Do you communicate clearly to your peers in the org? Are you using forms of communication that work? Rocky talked about a campaign at Dell where they sent letters to team members at their HOME address so they would be sure it was received.

Janet talked about being over-engaged. That’s a struggle for me. Allow openness to other ideas. Life is less about a series of choices but a series of tradeoffs.

Awesome talk!