“One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership” by Mike Figliuolo presents a practical approach to clarifying your philosophy of leadership.  His approach is to formulate maxims that come from events in your life that had a significant impact upon you.  This creates a leadership philosophy that has passion and is personal to you rather than relying on borrowed platitudes.  The book is divided into four primary sections:

Leading yourself

What motivates you and what are your rules of personal conduct?

What do you want “future you” to look like and stand for?

Leading the thinking

Where are you taking the organization and how will you innovate to drive change?

What are your standards of performance for how you will safely get to your destination?

Leading your people

How can you lead them as individuals rather than treating them like faceless cogs in the machine?

Leading a balanced life

If you are burned out, you are worthless. How do you define and achieve balance?  (p. 6)

He argues that a good maxim, “. . . exposes who you are as a person. It helps you share your beliefs. It is a vehicle to tell your story. It builds understanding, trust, and respect between the leader and those he or she seeks to influence” (p. 93).  The author also borrows from his military and corporative experience to illustrate lessons on leadership.  He emphasizes that “Leadership is people-focused. It is the words spoken and actions performed that inspire something deep within another person that leads that person to act independently to advance the interests of the team.  Leadership is inspiring and influencing people to act in ways they ordinarily would not” (p. 132).

Clarifying one’s values provides a moral compass to help in leading in times of uncertainty.  “An authentic leader does not say what people want to hear, but instead says the things people need to hear, whether they want to hear them or not.  Those same leaders take actions consistent with their thoughts and beliefs” (p. 137).  This book makes explicit what many good leaders implicitly practice.  If you’re looking for a book to solidify your philosophy of leadership you will find this a beneficial help.  What is one of your favorite leadership maxims?