Post 13: Chris Widener: The Art of Influence- Four Golden Rules of Leadership

Motivational School Leadership Post 13 with Michael Horton

One of my roles at the county office is to coach the AVID programs at 30 schools.  When the state grant for AVID was cut and the fate of our relationship with our AVID schools was in question, I concluded that it was very important to build the leadership capacity of the AVID Coordinators in our schools.  Now that our programs have stabilized, I realized that site leadership is still incredibly important.  So, I started writing a series of leadership articles summarizing some of the material I was reading on the subject.  Periodically, I'll post these articles here on the blog all beginning with the title, "Chris Widener: The Art of Influence."

Here's the first in the series:

A book that I read recently had a very simple recipe for what makes a great leader.  I’ll share the recipe with you here and then elaborate on each part in future messages.  The book is called, The Art of Influence by Chris Widener.  First, he defines a leader as someone who influences others to reach a common goal.  He points out Aristotle’s list of attributes that a leader must have in order to influence others; “Logos, Pathos, and Ethos” translated: Logic, Passion, and Ethics.  This aligns well with Widener’s Four Golden Rules of Leadership:

1)      Live a life of undivided integrity 

2)      Always demonstrate a positive attitude 

3)      Consider other people’s interests ahead of your own 

4)      Don’t settle for anything less than excellence

RIMS AVID is lucky to have had two leaders in a row (maybe more, I haven’t been around that long) who exhibit each and every one of those Golden Rules, Wanda Schneider and Miceal Kelly.  You couldn’t meet two more ethical, positive, giving people.  It’s a pleasure to work with leaders like these and I would follow them to the ends of the Earth.  This is the atmosphere that every leader should try to create.   

How can you begin to use the Golden Rules of Leadership with your teams to start creating the vision?  How can you help increase the leadership skills of your teams to influence the teachers that they interact with?  Share your ideas in the comments below.

Click here, to watch Chris Widener speak about leadership and what makes people successful