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Deep Motivations, Not Competencies, Drive Leadership Performance

The Empowered Buisness

For example, A successful CFO is likely to have such MAPs (Motivation and Attitudinal patterns) as — strong motivation toward procedures over options; a preference for solving problems over focus on goals; and a high past time orientation that drives focus on traditions, past experience and benchmarks. Goal Orientation.

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The Leader's Role in Crisis - a Guest Post from John Baldoni

Kevin Eikenberry

His nominated blog Lead By Example can be found here. McClelland was a general without any sense of timing or engagement. Five Keys to Better Decision Making in Meetings Nine Steps for Creating and Maintaining Team Ownership of Ideas and Goals Blogs I Like Get Uncomfortable! Do You Really Need a Meeting to Make a Decision?

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Why We Shy Away From Ambition

The Office Blend Blog

You can see McClelland’s work here ). The very process of envisioning and striving for goals and success, is often viewed a hollow and empty path. With the exception of the few that have openly discussed ambition (Hogan, for example), there isn’t a landslide of research to shed light on the topic.

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Mastering your Inner Game of Leadership

Great Leadership By Dan

Starting in the 1960s, the late Harvard psychologist David McClelland and a group of researchers wanted to understand great leadership and why it matters. McClelland called these qualities ‘socialized’ power. We identify a gap or skill we want to strengthen, then set a goal and plan for closing the gap.

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Shifting from Star Performer to Star Manager

Harvard Business Review

You set clear goals for yourself and targets for the division. You’re focused on achieving your goals and getting results… but before long, you’ve got problems. ” It turns out it’s not so easy to manage ultra-smart high achievers — especially when you’re one of them. You’re pumped.

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Do You Have What It Takes to Help Your Team Be Creative?

Harvard Business Review

McClelland got the ball rolling in the 1970s. The eight competencies—derived from empirical research, sound theory, and case studies—were as follows: Challenges subordinates: Gives people difficult problems to solve and ambitious goals to reach, while also helping them to manage stress.

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Office Politics Is Just Influence by Another Name

Harvard Business Review

For example, Gerald Biberman’s research found that those who engage in office politics are more likely to have an internal locus of control — they believe they can influence people and outcomes, which motivates them to get into the mix and try to get things done through others.