This is the time in Rotary when our club president is winding down their year and hopefully measuring the success of objectives for Rotary Year 07-08.  It is also the time when our Presidents-Elect are finalizing their plans for RY 08-09. 

Since many Rotarians are successful business men and women, they might consider applying effective leadership skills from business to their new role as the leader of a Rotary club. 

I recently attended a Rotary Leadership Seminar where Francis Kong was one of the many speakers.  Kong is well-known for his motivational workshops throughout the Philippines and felt some of the things he felt required of a good leader.  He highlights ‘Courage” as being vital in the role of a leader. A few of these are:

1)          Courage to seek the truth, even if they conflict with personal thoughts.

2)          Courage to lead an ethical life, and regard honest people as heroes.

3)          The courage to assume responsibility and be responsible for the failures, as well as the successes.

4)          The courage to persist.

5)          The courage to serve by solving problems and find answers and motivate others so they can complete their tasks.

Rotarians have many available resources through the RI website and printed materials.  I suggest that other sources might include the many business periodicals as well.  www.charactercounts.org recently had a great article on The Six Pillars of Character from the Josephson Institute of Ethics.  A brief synopsis of the aforementioned would be:

1)    Trustworthiness:  When others trust us, we are held higher esteem and felt to be honest, sincere, reliable, loyal, and possess integrity.

2)    Respect:  We must show civility, courtesy, and decency to all with whom we come in contact.  Treat others with tolerance and acceptance.

3)    Responsibility:  Good leaders must have accountability, possess self-restraint, and inspire excellence.

4)    Fairness: An important trait of leaders is the manner in which impartiality towards others is shown and understood.

5)    Caring:  If the leader expects his team to care for the goals of the leader, then the leader must care for the feelings and aspirations of the team.  We may maintain our equipment, but we must care for our workers. 

6)    Citizenship:  Get involved in community affairs, stay informed, and respect authority. 

Another good source of leadership material is Change This which may found at www.800ceoread.com.  A recent feature was “Kiss Theory Goodbye” by Bob Prosen.  A few of the leadership objects found on Prosen’s list are:

1)    Establish the organization’s top three objectives.

2)    Assign each team member his or her respective objectives.

3)    Ask each team member what he or she needs to win.

4)    Agree on what the leader will do to help.

5)    Follow up the status with a regular monthly update.

6)    Share lessons learned.

7)    Reward results.

Prosen’s book stresses the importance of communication and encourages the leader to listen.  Listen to the conversation in meetings to determine if the discussion is directed to improvement or complaints.

Some of the above may remind you of The Four-Way Test, what you may have memorized as a Boy or Girl Scout, what you may have heard in professional workshops, or even your Rotary seminars.  I’ve tried to compile simple lists that will help you as you enter your role as a Rotary Officer for the coming year.  May you develop the inter-personal skills needed for RY 08-09.  Remember that leading a Rotary Club of volunteers is different that a business where you are the ‘boss.’ Sometimes it is like pushing a rope….it can be done, if the rope wants to be pushed, and respects the pusher.

I look forward to meeting many ROTIans, as well as other Rotarians, in Los Angeles at the International Rotary Conference.  Be sure to come by the ROTI booth, # 247 in the Global Networking Section of the Friendship and Fellowship Hall.  Bring a friend while you are out; show them what ROTI is about.  We have brochures and cards to hand out.  And if you need a ROTI pin, they will be available for only $3.00.  We even have a few of the Charter Member pins in case our CMs need to replace a lost one, or buy a spare.  Glo has made some beautiful ROTI banners you may want to bring back to your club, or for your personal collection. 

BTW, speaking of banners, bring one from your club.  We like to display banners from our members.  See you in LA.

Ron

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