Start the weekend early with the Leader Impact-5 tops posts from this past week. Like a drop of water in a still lake creates ripples, applying any one of these simple ideas can create a ripple effect in your life and leadership. Live Well, Love Deeply, Lead Courageously, Learn Continuously and Leave a Legacy are all interconnected. Added BONUS this week: Laugh Loudly (another “L”- the alliteration is almost getting out of control!). Enjoy and apply something.
Live Well. You don’t have to be connected with Rick Warren or Saddleback to benefit from @TheDanielPlan. The website has hundreds of tips for living well: eating, fitness, thinking, healing and connecting. It is free to sign up at http://www.danielplan.com/. Powerful visual message this week on Choose Health LA at http://fb.me/1bVU69zwr. Check it out.
Love Deeply. I have always hated “wife jokes”. They reflect poorly on a husband’s attitude toward his wife. @MichaelHyatt had a great blog that crystallizes my thoughts on Why Speaking Well of Your Spouse is So Important. Everyone needs affirmation and encouragement, including our spouse. Great leadership starts at home.
Lead Courageously. Speaking truth takes courage, and it is necessary to move forward in relationships and business. Dan Rockwell @LeadershipFreak has some good insights and practical tips for Moving Towards the Truth. Cowardly self-interest is usually behind deception; Truth-telling takes courage, but does not mean it has to be brash and alienate others if done in the right way.
Learn Continuously. Best quote of the week: Henry Ford- tweeted by John Maxwell: “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” @RonEdmondson post on 7 Dangers of the Proud Leader was a good warning. Humility, the opposite of pride, is the start of the continuous learning cycle. When I am aware that I don’t know it all, I grow hungry to learn from God and others. But, only learning “about” can lead to pride; I must be willing to learn from and with others. The leader with a tendency for strategic planning and problem solving must overcome the learning disability of only learning about and arriving with “the answer”. Very deadly to leadership. Without humility, a leader is unwilling to learn from and with others-especially those who are “under” him or her.
Leave a Legacy. My professor, Dr. Ray Wheeler @LeaderPraxis quotes a Kenyan proverb: “When elephants fight the grass gets crushed, when elephants make love the grass gets crushed.” He also talks about eels, storks and frogs in Cross Cultural Lessons-Learning to See Through Other Frames. Effective leadership leaves a positive legacy behind; good intentions are not enough. We must be aware of how we assign and use power.
Bonus: Laugh Loudly: A FREE copy of @kevinrhaggerty’s new e-book: ‘An Idiot’s Guide to the Galaxy’ . Download some laughs for FREE.
What are your favorite blogs in these areas?
What one idea from this week do you think could create a ripple effect in your life and leadership?
Other Leader Impact-5 top posts:
- the Leader Impact-5 (LI-5, v. 1.5) : Tony Schwartz, Terry Morgan, Seth Godin, Jeff Bezos, Dan Rockwell
- the Leader Impact-5 (LI-5, v. 1.4) : Michael Hyatt, T. E. Hanna, Lead Change Group, Kevin Eikenberry, Terry Morgan
- the Leader Impact-5 (LI-5, v. 1.3) : Steve Morgan, Don Miller, World’s Most Admired Companies, Harvard Business Review, Ray Wheeler
- the Leader Impact-5 (LI-5, v. 1.2) : Andrea Buczynski, Todd Nielsen, Dan Rockwell, Eric Swanson, Terry Morgan
- the Leader Impact-5 (LI-5, v. 1.1) :InfoGraphics, Doug Fields, Mark Driscoll, Ron Edmondson, Michael Hyatt
Steve Morgan
stevermorgan.com 
What do you think?