Our guest, Roxanne Kaufman Elliott, has spent much of her professional life exploring what makes the difference between failure and success – and she’s found that it comes down to exemplary leadership. The good news is that there’s an exemplary leader in all of us – we just need a way to unleash it.
As President and i3 Leadership Master at ProLaureate Ltd., a transformational leadership development firm, Roxanne helps both individuals and organizations unleash their leadership potential and transform cultures. She’s also a certified executive coach, facilitator, award-winning business marketing strategist, and the author of Never Wear Read: A Leadership Love Story.
Roxanne started her professional life in drama, and later as a theater administrator. She then made a natural segue to working at a small company manufacturing specialty resin products for the construction industry. As part of a small leadership team, they grew that small business into a thriving company… before it was purchased by a large European company.
That was a pivotal and heart-breaking moment for Roxanne. She saw the business philosophy and priorities shift away from communication, cooperation, and collaboration. She had to leave.
She spent years learning about leadership from different organizations and research before founding ProLaureate, where she offers three distinct coaching services:
The Leadership Challenge – Primarily cultural development based off of the book of the same name, written by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. This training often involves individual coaching with everyone in an organization.
i3 Executive Coaching – One-on-one and small group coaching for executive teams that want to develop strategic leadership skills (with an emphasis on strategy).
ROXTalks – Speaking engagements and keynotes for large groups or organizations covering topics like “The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership” and “The Secret Sauce.”
The Leadership Challenge
Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner co-authored The Leadership Challenge and created the LPI 360 assessment around the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. These practices are in schools, churches, Fortune 50 corporations, and everything in between. It's really a movement to create a shared language for leadership, level the field of what leadership is, and build genuine leadership within organizations.
Each one of the five practices are the tip of an iceberg that goes deep into developing our own personal leadership, which always comes first, and then our ability to lead others.
One of the things that Roxanne loves about Kouzes and Posner is that they say the key to success, in anything that we do, is to be in love. Think about it: when we're in love, we're passionate about what it is we are in love with. And, in this case, it's our business; it's our people; it's the work that we do; it's the impact that we make; it's the change that we bring.
The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership that guide organizations and people to leadership success:
Model the Way – Walk your talk. How many times have we had leaders say one thing and do another?
Inspire a Shared Vision – This is critically important because most people struggle with vision statements, sharing visions, and getting other people to buy in.
Challenge the Process – Experiment and take risks. You know the old saying if it ain't broke, don't fix it? Well, if it ain't broke, break it... and see if you can make it better.
Enable Others to Act – Foster collaboration, build trust, and strengthen others by helping them develop their own competencies.
Encourage the Heart – Recognize people for their contribution, celebrate values, and celebrate accomplishments (especially the little ones). A handshake, a twinkle in your eye, a genuine appreciation, and saying thank you go further than just about anything else.
The last one is Roxanne’s favorite, and it is the basis for the title of her book, Never Wear Read: A Leadership LOVE Story (emphasis mine). A lot of executives balk at this idea, at first, but this is the heart of it all – this is the passion that brings success to everything we do.
I appreciate Roxanne sharing so much about her experiences and coaching, and what she teaches parallels a core tenet of improvisation: providing support. Leadership can’t lead well in a silo, and teams can’t perform at their best without being given the tools they need to be successful.
How can you start providing support in your life to train as a stronger leader?
Resources:
Connect with Roxanne: ProLaureate.com | LinkedIn | Twitter
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