The Apparent Irony of Effective Leadership

Dr. Scott Chambers, Laboratory Fellow, Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, comes to you from Richland, WA, USA, to discuss what exactly makes an effective leader.

How do you define success in leadership? What should the focus of a leader be? We all lead somebody in some way. At the very least, we lead ourselves, and typically we are leading a few others in one way or another at any given time. Throughout our lives, we will have a variety of opportunities to lead in bigger ways. The way we answer these questions will determine how well we rise to the challenge of effective leadership. In this presentation, Dr. Chambers will pass on a few observations he has made over the course of his life and career, and some of the lessons he has learned (sometimes the hard way!) as he’s tried to lead well. Dr. Chambers will develop the basic idea that the most effective leaders are those who know how to serve and develop those they are leading. This is the ‘apparent irony’ of effective leadership. Many people, including numerous CEOs and politicians, aspire to their leadership positions because they want more power, perks, prestige and money for themselves. Such individuals often end up being very poor leaders. In contrast, those who view leadership as an opportunity to grow people, build effective teams, and model hard work and personal sacrifice, are extremely effective in terms of helping their organizations achieve great things.

Download Slides from this Webinar in Adobe .pdf format.