Courageous Leader BLUEprint™ – 2nd edition
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.
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