12 ways of leader thinking - does this apply to kids? Some of it.

There was an interesting post in the Harvard Business Review called 12 Things Good Bosses Believe.

It lists 12 ways of leader thinking that are in addition to skill and knowledge.

To try to put it in terms older children may better understand, I will modify his 12 a bit. Most kids leadership is not based on organizational position, and even when it is, it is more strongly affected by interpersonal influence.

   1.  I have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to be led or influenced by me.
   2. My success — and that of followers — depends largely on being the master of obvious and mundane things, not on magical, obscure, or breakthrough ideas or methods.
   3. Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but don't focus so much on them that you forget to encourage small wins that help people to make a little progress every day. This is how you get to the goal together.
   4. One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my leader role is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough. This takes time to get right.
   5. Sometimes I have to keep my followers focused when other things distract or affect them.
   6. I strive to be confident enough to convince people that I can lead, but humble enough to realize that I am often going to be wrong.
   7. I may need to convince others I am right, and also listen as if I am wrong. As I get better at leadership, I teach followers to do the same thing.
   8. One of the best tests of my leadership — and my group — is "what happens after people make a mistake?"
   9. Part of my role is to encourage followers to generate and test all kinds of new ideas. Then I help to winnow the many down to the few we can or should do. This means dropping the bad ideas and most of the good ideas, too.
  10. It is important to eliminate the negative and to accentuate the positive.
  11. How I do things is as important as what I do.
  12. Because I lead, I am at great risk of acting like an insensitive jerk — and not realizing it.

With kids, it may be more feasible to ask them to watch for manifestations of these beliefs in leaders within their sphere of influence such as teachers, coaches, youth group leaders, parents, friends parents, and so on. Then after letting them share what they have noticed, ask what they plan to do when they lead or influence. This is more sowing stage than reaping stage with children, in my opinion.