MTI, Monica Thakrar Inc.
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Online Courses
    • Search Inside Yourself (SIY)
  • Leadership Development Program
    • Leadership Development Details
  • Art of Leadership Blog
    • Resources
  • Clients
  • Contact

Art of Leadership Blog

What Makes A Good Executive

2/22/2012

0 Comments

 
Peter Drucker says that being a good executive happens in three stages: getting the knowledge you need, converting this knowledge into effective action, and then ensuring that the whole organization feels responsible and accountable.

He says that the way to get the knowledge you need is to:
  • Asking what needs to be done?
  • Asking what is right for the enterprise?

Effective leaders find one priority (or two at the most) which are the most important at the time and focus on it. Then when they are done with that task they ask again what needs to be done instead of going right to the second task. Also effective executives focus on those tasks they are especially good at and delegate the rest. They also focus on the enterprise as a whole and not any one constituent or group.

The second stage is converting knowledge into effective actions. This includes:
  • Develop Action Plans
  • Take responsibility for decisions
  • Take responsibility for communicating
  • Focus on opportunities, not problems

Action plans create statements of intention, a way of checking results against expectations.
0 Comments

“The Leadership Challenge” Review Summary

12/21/2011

0 Comments

 
Kouzes and Posner laid out very practical and logical research on what are the five key practices for exemplary leadership. They say that everyone can be a leader, that people can be taught these skills and I agree with that. Some people may have some these qualities innately, but overall leadership comes with knowing yourself, standing up for what you believe in and taking the risks to get there. It is mainly about knowing yourself and building strong relationships with people around you as you cannot be an effective leader a community around you.

Ultimately the authors say that leadership is not just an affair of the head, but it really is an affair of the heart. It is really getting to find something that you love and going after it, pursuing it, finding opportunities all around you, and stretching to be the best possible leader that you can be.

So this holiday season are you opening your heart? Are you doing what you are most passionate about? Are you investing in your relationships and building community around you? The more you practice these skills the more you are investing in being the strongest leader that you can be.

Happy Holidays to the leader in all of you!
0 Comments

“The Leadership Challenge” Review 3

11/30/2011

0 Comments

 
In “The Leadership Challenge” authors Kouzes and Posner talk about the five practices of exemplary leadership. The first two practices were Model the Way and Inspire a Shared Vision which I discussed in my last two blog posts. The third practice the authors discuss is Challenge the Process.

They say that exemplary leaders search for opportunities and experiment and take risks. Leaders are able to take initiative in searching out new opportunities and looking outside of their organization for inspiration. They network, create partnerships, innovate, and make something happen by being proactive. They also encourage other people in their businesses to look for opportunities and actively look at trends outside of their business in order to find opportunities.

Leaders are also willing to take risks. They know that the great opportunities or innovations never come without taking great risks. But the authors say the way to take risks is by taking small steps and generating small wins as well as learning from experience. It is important for leaders to keep learning and growing. If they take small steps and learn from those steps they will be able to increase their confidence and ultimately get the big win.  Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln are great examples of leaders who failed many times, but eventually became great leaders through that experience of failing.

Finally the authors say that leaders are resilient. They learn from their failures and learn how to become stronger in order to overcome those mistakes. They grow from those experiences and ultimately become even stronger leaders as a result. Leadership is about change - being open to change, embracing change, and looking for change.

So are you taking risks in your business? Are you searching for opportunities in the current business trends? Are you continuously learning and growing in order to expand your possibilities as a leader?  If not what small step can you take today in order to do so?
0 Comments

“The Dip” by Seth Godin

12/15/2010

0 Comments

 
Are you in a “Dip?”  As Seth Godin describes it in his book – it is that place between beginner and mastery that inevitably happens to everyone. It is that spot that is in between the effort you have been putting in and the results that you want to see.  If you are on the right track in terms of knowing that you can become a master in the area that you are working in then “the dip” is just something to persevere through. It is what distinguishes the ones who are excelling in their fields (experts) and the ones who are just mediocre. Mastery entails going through “The Dip” and becoming stronger through it, knowing that the dip is a challenge to step up your game and become the best you can be. It is a time to intensify your activities and effort and know that you are working in the right direction.

On the other hand those people who excel and persevere also know when the actions they are taking are leading into a cul-de-sac or an area that is really not going to have any returns or the returns that they desire. People who excel know when to quit and what to quit quickly so that they are not wasting time on areas that do not add value to where they truly want to go. They let go faster of cul-de-sacs so that they can spend their time on things that truly matter. 

If you know you can truly excel at something and it totally suits your personality and strengths then persevering through the dip is the only thing that matters – keep going and keep making the strides necessary to excel in what you are doing and become an expert in your field. If you are struggling and know that to continue to persevere in this area will just lead to more heartache and non-results then it is time to let go and focus your energy on something where you can make the results that you so desire. 

I agree with Seth that knowing when to persevere and when to let go are critical aspects for leaders especially in this time of economic uncertainty. It is standing tall in your belief and in your knowing that what you are spending your time on is worth all of the effort that you are exerting.
0 Comments

Leadership in these Economic Times

12/8/2010

0 Comments

 
With the economy going up and down in the last couple of years businesses have had to be nimble and resilient to ensure that they stayed afloat or prospered in this environment.  Leadership in a time of change can be a career maker or a career breaker. How can you make sure that it a career maker? In order to progress in times when the environment is shifting all around you need to do the following:

  • Be open to new opportunities – as the environment is changing, leaders need to be open minded to new opportunities in their business. Although certain strategies may have worked during good economic times new strategies may need to be implemented to take the company through a down economy. What are new ways to keep ahead of your competition? Is it creating a joint venture that offers something that is a great complement to your business? Is it adding a new type of product that your customers are asking for and you know you could also implement well. What new opportunities are available to you if you just kept your ears open?

  • Let go of things that are not working – if there are things that you are doing that are no longer working then it is time to let it go. Although it may be something that you truly want to be doing, the market may just not be what it is looking for. Is there something that you have been trying to sell for a while without any results? Is there something that you keep trying to do and need to let it go? Being an effective leader also means letting go of what is not working in a timely manner so that you can put your energy into what is truly working.

  • Invest in your top performers – although during tough economic times you may want to cut down on expenses, you need to keep investing in your top performers. They are the bread and butter of your organization (especially service organizations) and they need to feel special even during the toughest times. Otherwise they will leave the minute that the economy is back on track. As is said in the book “Good to Great” Jim Collins says “getting the right people in the bus” is more important than even focusing on the right strategy. If you have the right people in the organization then you can ensure that you are creating the right strategy and continuing to create the results you want.
 
0 Comments

    Monica Thakrar

    Monica Thakrar has over 18 years experience in business focused mainly on strategy, change management, leadership development, training and coaching resulting in successful implementations of large scale transformation programs.  

    MTI Newsletter Signup
    For Email Newsletters you can trust.

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    May 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Assessment
    Change
    Change Management
    Character
    Clients
    Collaboration
    Commitment
    Communication
    Complexity
    Cost
    Courage
    Creativity
    Culture
    Discipline
    Diversity
    Economy
    Emotional Intelligence
    Emotional Labor
    Emotions
    Employees
    Entrepreneur
    Excellence
    Facilitation
    Failure
    Flexibility
    Focus
    Generosity
    Genius
    Goals
    Growth
    Habits
    Hiring
    Holidays
    Ideas
    Innovation
    Inspiration
    Integrity
    Introverts
    Invest In Employees
    John Maxwell
    Kindness
    Leader
    Leadership
    Linchpin
    Managers
    Marketing
    Meditation
    Myers Briggs
    Myths
    Opportunities
    Organization
    Planning
    Potential
    Prioritize
    Progress
    Relationships
    Resilience
    Resistance
    Rewards
    Risks
    Seth Godin
    Stephen Covey
    Steve Jobs
    Technology
    Time
    Transparency
    Tribes
    Trust
    Understanding
    Vision
    Vulnerability

    RSS Feed

​Contact Info
1435 Chapin St NW, #206, Washington DC 20009 703.282.3295
monica@monicathakrar.com    
MTI Inc. is a woman-owned small business founded in 2008 | Monica Thakrar, CEO | DUNS #004654409 | NAICS Codes 541611, 541612, 611430 | Classification WOSB 

Copyright © 2020 MTI Inc., Monica Thakrar All Rights Reserved | Aspire Beyond Expectations | 11435 Chapin St NW, #206, Washington DC 20009 | 703.282.3295 | 
Find us Online
Site design by Artotems Co. 
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Online Courses
    • Search Inside Yourself (SIY)
  • Leadership Development Program
    • Leadership Development Details
  • Art of Leadership Blog
    • Resources
  • Clients
  • Contact