Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 4th edition
We hope you’ve been able to put the newsletter resources to good use so far!
We have two requests for you to consider:
Welcome!
This is the fourth edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
We hope you’ve been able to put the newsletter resources to good use so far!
We have two requests for you to consider:
1- If you have had a success story with the “5 Free Ways to Improve Morale” or “Coaching Tips”, we’d love to hear about it.
2- We want to know, what kind of leadership issues, challenges, or opportunities are you dealing with? That way we can create the content that is most relevant for you!
In this edition, we will continue with the Courageous Leader BLUEprint™, a framework designed to support your success as a courageous leader.
Last time, we talked about how B stands for Be Bold.
The L stands for Learn.
Being bold while maintaining a willingness to learn is what makes up the inner work of
leadership.
Leaders who are no longer willing to learn are no longer leaders
That may sound controversial or even harsh at first, but think about it…would you want to work for a boss who refused to learn?
Probably not!
Leaders who refuse to accept that there is always more to learn have an ego problem.
There is undoubtedly a welcome place for ego in leadership. That’s because leaders need to be bold!
However, courageous leaders have a healthy ego – one that is characterized by resilience, self-awareness, self-confidence, emotional regulation, and humility.
Humility is having the courage to be imperfect and admit you don’t know it all.
And humility can be tough. Trust me, I’m the humblest person I know 😂
All kidding aside, here are some considerations to rate your own humility:
You have an accurate self-perception:
Too harsh: “I’m never good enough. Why bother?”
Too proud: “I’m the best, obviously.”
Balanced: “I am competent but can always be growing.”
You are good at receiving feedback:
Too harsh: “You’re right, I’m always messing up.”
Too proud: “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Balanced: “Thank you for sharing that; I’ll consider how I might apply it.”
You are good at talking about yourself:
Too harsh: “I just got lucky.”
Too proud: “Here’s how I nailed it…that’s just how good I am.
Balanced: “I’ve been successful with my approach and would be happy to share what I’ve learned.”
You have a healthy view of relationships and teamwork:
Too harsh: “They’d be better off without me.”
Too proud: “They couldn’t live without me.”
Balanced: “I bring strengths, as do you. Let’s work this out together.”
You understand how to use failure:
Too harsh: “I’m just a failure.”
Too proud: “It was other people’s fault.”
Balanced: “This was not the outcome I wanted, but what can I learn from the experience?”
You know you must keep learning:
Too harsh: “I’m so far behind!”
Too proud: “I know everything.”
Balanced: “I have come a long way, but I’m continuously learning.”
How did you feel about these statements? Did some resonate?
The beautiful part about humility is that you’ll never be perfectly humble, nor will I.
Like leadership, humility is a lifelong journey.
Humility is a mix of confidence about who you are and curiosity about how you could get even better.
Confident, not proud. Curious, not harsh.
Sometimes, we can be overly harsh on ourselves or excessively proud of ourselves. This is human nature.
If you’ve ever felt like you might be too harsh on yourself, or maybe you wonder if your ego is getting in the way, we’ve created this PDF with some ideas that may help:
“8 Ways to Practice Humility” [Download it here]
*Blue Lion Leadership is a Dallas-based distributor of Coaching for Improved Performance and Results
Since humility is one of the building blocks of emotional intelligence, it makes sense to take a closer look at how emotions show up in the workplace.
Did you know? I’m is a certified GENOS Emotional Intelligence Practitioner, and we have a FREE tool that can help identify the emotional climate in your organization.
GENOS is a leading Emotional Intelligence research organization based in Australia with certified practitioners all over the world.
It was a professional highlight to become certified because emotional intelligence is a foundation of healthy workplace cultures.
At GENOS, they “call our work game-changing for business, and life-changing for people.”
When I first entered the workforce, it felt like there was an unwritten rule that emotions were not welcome.
The truth is, it is completely normal to experience a wide range of both pleasant and unpleasant feelings at work.
But! According to research, the employees at the most productive workplaces collectively
experience more pleasant emotions and less unpleasant emotions.
Curious how your employees are feeling?
It could be worthwhile to find out.
Remember from our last newsletter that half of the workforce is stressed and actively looking for a new job, and about 70% is disengaged (Gallup).
Our guess is that stressed, disengaged employees who are looking for a new job are probably experiencing more unpleasant emotions than pleasant ones.
Here’s some great news: GENOS provides its practitioners with a free assessment tool called the Emotional Culture Index.
It’s simple for us to get started, and the process includes three easy steps:
We create a link with customized demographics for you to send to your employees
Employees can take the survey in less than five minutes
We schedule a time to debrief your results
From there, if you are satisfied with the results, that is awesome!
If you see an area for potential improvement and would like to know how our emotional
intelligence assessments or programs might help, we’d be glad to discuss.
Either way, we’ll be cheering you and your organization on to
have the emotionally intelligent culture people want to work in.
Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 3rd edition
In our last newsletter, we introduced the Courageous Leader BLUEprint™.
It’s much more than the name of this newsletter series – it’s your framework for courageous leadership.
The B stands for Be Bold.
In order to Be Bold, we must choose integrity.
Welcome!
This is the third edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
In our last newsletter, we introduced the Courageous Leader BLUEprint™.
It’s much more than the name of this newsletter series – it’s your framework for courageous leadership.
The “B” stands for Be Bold.
In order to Be Bold, we must choose integrity.
This is the courage to do what’s right, even when it’s costly.
Unfortunately, too many leaders face external threats to their integrity, such as:
Pressures from the organization to cut ethical corners or risk not being seen as a “team player”
Systems that reward short-term wins over long-term values
Toxic cultures that lack ethical accountability
Leaders can also face internal threats to their integrity:
Fear of losing status, income, or approval
Ego or insecurity – the desire to be in control, be liked, or appear successful
Rationalization…“everyone is doing it” or “it’s not that big of a deal”
Fatigue – when we’re tired or burned out, sometimes it seems easier to take the quick win
When leaders succumb to external or internal threats, the long-term cost is a loss of the trust they’ve built and their reputation.
There may be short-term costs for choosing integrity.
In the short term, they may lose status, relationships, or, in extreme cases, even their job.
Sometimes, these are very difficult choices.
However, at Blue Lion Leadership, we believe in integrity so much that it is one of our three core values.
As leaders, our character is always being evaluated.
It’s important to remember that the people we lead are always watching what we do. They pay much more attention to what we say and do than we sometimes give them credit for.
The tip here is simple, but not always easy:
Do what you say you will do. And always do the right thing.
One practical way to Be Bold as a leader and lead with integrity is to intentionally coach the people you lead.
Believe it or not, many leaders fail to recognize coaching opportunities – even though they are everywhere!
Some wait until the mandatory annual performance evaluation to discuss goals and progress—this is not leadership. Really, it’s not even good management.
As a leader, you are responsible for helping your team members continuously grow.
In the book “Drive”, Daniel Pink popularized the prevailing research around motivation, noting that beyond adequate compensation, intrinsically motivated people have three key needs:
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
As a coach, you can help people develop autonomy by empowering them to use their own critical thinking skills.
For example, when your team members come to you looking for an answer, do you just give them the answer, or do you ask questions like:
“How might you approach this?”
“What could be the potential alternatives?”
And my personal favorite – “If you knew the right answer, what would it be?”
When it comes to mastery, as a leader, it’s a good reminder that you are responsible for helping your team members continuously build their skills.
Everyone has a gap between where they currently are skill-wise and where they could be (including you).
That gap is called potential.
And one of your roles as a leader is to help your team members reach their potential.
The great thing about potential is it isn’t a final destination. The process is continuous.
In our popular program Coaching for Improved Performance and Results*, one of my favorite quotes is: “A coach is someone who takes people to a level they did not think they could get to on their own.”
Do you know what skills your team members need to develop? What skills they want to develop?
When was the last time you asked them?
This could be as simple as “What is one area you’d like to strengthen?”
What would it look like to ask one of your team members today?
And last, but not least, purpose. As a coach, you can help your team members realize how their work connects to the larger mission of the organization.
You can ask them for their input on how and why what they do matters.
For example:
“How does this work align with your values?”
“How do you feel like you’re contributing to our mission?”
Coaching is not always about giving advice. It’s about asking the right questions.
For practical ideas, check out this PDF:
“The Courageous Leader Coaching Tips” [Download it here]
*Blue Lion Leadership is a Dallas-based distributor of Coaching for Improved Performance and Results
If you want to be the first to receive the newsletter before we publish it, subscribe here
Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 2nd edition
The Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ isn’t just the name of our newsletter – it’s the framework we share to help bosses become courageous leaders.
We believe that Courageous Leadership Matters now more than ever.
Welcome!
This is the second edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
The Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ isn’t just the name of our newsletter – it’s the framework we share to help bosses become courageous leaders.
We believe that Courageous Leadership Matters now more than ever.
Why?!
According to Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workforce, in the US and Canada:
Half of the workforce is actively looking for a new job, including managers
Only about 30% of employees are actively engaged, costing organizations money
Half of the workforce reports being stressed
Managers are even more stressed than employees
Part of the problem is that most organizations do not take (adequate) steps to develop their managers.
However, the good news is that leadership can be learned, and most bosses genuinely want to be good leaders.
And, once bosses have been trained in the fundamentals (which we also help with), they can then become the type of courageous leaders people actually want to follow
For practical ideas, check out this PDF:
“The Courageous Leader BLUEprint™” [Download it here]
Disclaimer: Living out this framework may result in some side effects for managers and individual contributors, such as higher retention and increased discretionary efforts. Do not use in moderation, as regular use can result in less irritation, fewer headaches, and improved morale.
At Blue Lion Leadership, we subscribe to the idea that “all leaders are readers”, a quote attributed to and claimed by many, but most likely originally spoken by Harry Truman.
With over 50,000 leadership books to choose from, where does someone even begin?
And who has time for a long, boring book, anyway?
Don’t worry, we’ve got some great suggestions for books that take the average reader less than four hours.
Three leadership books:
It’s Your Ship (Abrashoff)
Lincoln on Leadership (Phillips)
Make Your Bed (McRaven)
Three leadership parables:
The Way of the Shepherd (Leman & Pentak)
The One Minute Manager (Blanchard & Johnson)
The Go-Giver (Burg & Mann)
For additional book suggestions, most of which are much longer – but not boring – visit our website at www.bluelionleadership.com/reading-list
(We do not receive any affiliate commissions for these book suggestions)
One of the things we consistently hear from leaders is that they are frustrated with team members who are not performing the way leaders want them to.
If this is the case for you, we’d like to share some insights from one of our popular programs: Coaching for Improved Performance and Results*
First, here are some questions to ask yourself:
Do I know what I want them to do?
Do they know WHAT I want them to do?
Do they know WHY I want them to do it?
Do they know HOW to do it?
Are there any organizational barriers preventing them from doing it?
Are they receiving regular, appropriate feedback from me?
Do they want to do it?
If you answered “no” or “maybe” to any of the above questions, that’s a great place to start!
Some possible solutions:
Ensure sufficient communication
(A lack of communication or poor communication is where most problems start)
Ensure clarity in communication
Provide adequate training
Set specific, measurable goals
Remove organizational barriers, where possible
Look for opportunities to coach
Help team members understand the larger purpose of their work
Are any of these a silver bullet? No!
But if you take a moment to do this brief inventory and then take intentional action, you’ll be much further along than most leaders.
*Blue Lion Leadership is a Dallas-based distributor of Coaching for Improved Performance and Results
Thanks again for continuing on this journey with us.
If you want to be the first to receive the newsletter before we publish it, subscribe here
Introduction
Welcome!
This is the first edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
Welcome!
This is the first edition of our Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ newsletter.
Every three weeks, you’ll get quick, thoughtful leadership insights without the fluff.
Read time: 5 minutes
Before we get too far, a brief introduction:
Hi, I’m Charles! After serving as a police sergeant, I founded Blue Lion Leadership, an organization that helps bosses become leaders – and helps good leaders get even better.
My mission is simple – help leaders:
Be the kind of leaders people want to follow
Deliver organizational results with less stress
Decrease costly, avoidable workplace casualties
3 fun facts about me you may not know:
I play classical guitar
I’m a devoted husband and cat dad
I prefer long walks in museums over long walks on the beach
To kick things off, we’re sharing a resource: 5 Free Ways to Improve Morale.
The most courageous leaders we know begin with self-reflection.
I learned this the hard way.
Whenever I brought a problem to one of my most endeared mentors, he would always begin by asking me, " How are you contributing to this problem?”
What?!
But the truth was, there was ALWAYS something I could do better. This is what accountability as a leader really is: what is within your control to improve the situation?
It was a hard truth, and a lesson I carry with me to this day.
Improving employee morale is something you can absolutely influence.
For practical ideas, check out this PDF:
“5 Free Ways to Improve Morale” [Download it here]
A word of caution: when used appropriately, it can pay huge dividends.
Leaders, to the employees who report directly to you, YOU are the culture of the organization.
They may or may not know the mission statement, but that’s not what they talk about on the weekends with their family and friends. They talk about how the workplace culture (that’s you) makes them feel.
William Arthur Ward said:
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you.
Criticize me, and I may not like you.
Ignore me, and I may not forgive you.
Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
Who is someone on your team that needs a word of encouragement from you today?
Thanks again for being part of this with us.
If you want to be the first to receive the newsletter before we publish it, subscribe here