Leadership By Expression

‘Express yourself…’ ~ Madonna, pop-music icon

Your leadership style is based on your personality. An introvert will express himself/herself in a more inquisitive way, through questions, and actively listening. An extravert will be more inclined to share their private thoughts openly, preferring to answer questions. Our preferences do guide us, naturally, to express ourselves, and our leadership differently.

People will judge us no matter how you project yourself in public. How do you assert yourself in conversation, as well as in your writing? Are you more asking or telling? Do you offer others a chance to convey their ideas? How much do you present of your leadership when you apply the ‘golden silence’? Are you only a follower if you choose to read instead of respond?

If you initiate or participate in a discussion on social media, how are you leading? If you choose to refrain from commenting, how much of a leader are you promoting? If you correct a piece of factual inaccuracy, how do you do it without a friend (or friend of a friend) losing face? There is authority and responsibility in our role as a leader, so how do we maintain each aspect?

Leadership Lessons: How will you express your influence this week? What will you do differently when you lead? How will you lead in your written correspondence? When did you last start a discussion thread on Facebook or Twitter and lead in the process? How long did it last before you terminated it, and how did you discontinue the process?

Cracking the Double Century-Ride

This morning, I decided to attempt a 200K ride. I rode on my road-bike, with integrated aero-bars, and road-tyres. In the past, I used my ZIPPS 404 that were light, durable and exceeded my expectations once I pushed past 33kph.  42K into the ride, on the second of the 30K Selarang/Coastal Road loop, Hui Koon suffered a flat – a group of roadies riding with us heard the loud ‘pop’. His tyre had a two-inch gash, which pretty much destroyed any chance of patching it, or completing the ride. Disappointedly, we flagged down a cab and he loaded up his bike. I could tell he was very disappointed. I am sure he will do some hard rides in the coming week to compensate for the missed opportunity.

I managed 193K after being battered by sidewinds and headwinds, the dreaded heat, and after I witnessed a fallen cyclist; I think she was bleeding at her chin. Fortunately, her friends were with her and tended to her, sitting her up and assuring her; there was also a suspect truck adjacent to them. It was nearly one o’clock in the afternoon and I decided to head back home due to the insistent heat. My quads were noticeably tight as I did 5 loops worth of gentle slopes; in fact, this was my longest ride so far. My longest one recently was about 70K. I had spent the past six months on developing my marathon legs. After Berlin, I did a 30K and 15K race, and decided that I better get my posterior on the saddle. The past fortnight of evening fast 30-60K rides seem to have engaged my latent riding muscles. Kevin of Perth wrote that the 7K I missed were marginal, and I agree. Today’s ride is 110-120K more than I have done for a while. It was a pity I could have enjoyed more company: I was riding shotgun before I went solo.

*****

Is Macca giving 2011 Kona Ironman the flick? It was reported that this looks likely as he just won his second Ironman World Championships title three years apart in the seventh fastest time ever. Next to fellow Australian, Craig Alexander (twice world champion), he may be the oldest competitor to defend his title, which will be challenging in the face of new and hungry professional triathletes. Macca blew his chance to defend his title in 2008 when he experienced mechanical issues with his bike. It must be sweet to savour success twice (at Kona) in one’s career.

In conversations with friends, it seems that most prefer Crowie’s introverted personality. The extraverted, chatty, and smack-talking Macca may be more direct and honest, however he seems to back up his opinions with performance. It has been four times in a row, since 2007 where Australians have dominated in the Ironman World Championships reign. Rinnie joins them as the female Australian pro to win Kona this year. Mirinda Carfrae assumes the title after Chrissy Wellington, and before that Australian Olympian, Michellie Jones. In Aussie-speak, a braggart is a ‘tall poppycock’. Personally, I like some pre-race excitement, like the Ali-Frazier press conferences in the 1970’s, and also the WWE harangues. Sometimes, the bark is louder than the bite.

Leadership Stardom

Lim Leong (aka Reeves) wrote on his blog an interesting piece, Leveraging on Consumer Stardom. By the way, that’s a clever name for a blog.

It started me thinking about stardom. Click. Click. Whirr.

What about leveraging on leadership stardom? If you are well-liked by your staff, colleagues and peers (not just by your personality) for your ability to lead in teams, and you seem to be the default, leader-elect for other opportunities – then you may be a star. Stars sparkle. They may have that cheeky twinkle in their eyes, or their feet. Their energy is infectious, and their behaviors affective on others.

Dr Kua Harn Wei, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore is an internationally-ranked, Deca-Ironman triathlete. That’s 10 Ironman distance races, done back to back, over 10 days; or 38km swim, 1,800km ride, and 420km run done, consecutively. This endurance athlete is considered amazing and bonkers at the same time. He has star quality, by reputation of his achievements. He also volunteers his time with wheelchair athletes.

Top, local Olympic Distance triathlete and SEA Games gold medalist, Mok Ying Ren may be considered a leadership star. He was the Ambassador for the Tri-Factor triathlon series this year. Despite being a busy medical student, he continues to achieve personal bests in public runs and triathlons.

In the early days of this blog, we enjoyed interviews with leading triathletes, ultra-marathoners, celebrity-emcees, and Everest climbers. They included: Steve Novick, Dave Low, Craig Holland, Oz Perlman, Alan Geraldi and Whit Raymond.

Have you generated and garnered enough wisdom to offer advice, or your words of wisdom? Have you updated your beliefs, including contemporary versions of idioms, axioms and proverbs?

How do you leverage on your leadership stardom? Do people around you spread your reputation? Are you often quoted in conversations?

The great leader is the one who the people say: We did it ourselves!