Accepting a position in Rotary makes you a manager. Becoming a leader is more difficult. It involves setting the right goals, communicating ideas, and delivering results. A leader must be able to prudently influence and inspire others to execute a plan. Rotarians respond to well-articulated visions that are strategic, persuasive, and measurable.

Leadership delves into effective decision-making processes, power and influence, altering behaviors, recasting mind sets, organizational change, personal negotiation styles, and investing in and managing relationships for greater impact.

Leadership development should focus on:

Innovative Rotary Leaders develop a sense of community within their club and district. They:

Video of J.K. Rowling, Commencement Address Harvard University, June 5, 2008.J.K. Rowling the author of the Harry Potter series makes several important observations on setting goals. "We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better."


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text of J.K. Rowling's speech

Bill Clinton: charity in a downturn
Bill Clinton expounds upon the importance of charity during an economic downturn and worries about raising money for good causes over the next few years.

audio interview with Bill Clinton by Economist Magazine

Jacqueline Novogratz on charity
The CEO of Acumen Fund on the challenges of job creation in the developing world and why the charity model is not sustainable

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RI Leadership Publication

A club's leadership development program can help develop the personal leadership
skills of club members, enhance their professional lives and nurture future club leaders. Explore a new RI publication, Leadership Development: Your Guide to Starting a Program, for an overview of 10 recommended leadership topics for the program:

Leadership Audio and Video Tutorials

Interview with Jim Collins author of "Good to Great"

Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Also visit Jim Collins website.

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Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail
by John Kotter
This is a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how John Kotter's concepts of change work in practice. The full article was originally published in March-April 1995 issue of the Harvard Business Review and was republished in January 2007 as an HBR Classic.


John Maxwell - Leadership Decision Making
An excellent leadership development resource from leading author and speaker John Maxwell, author of the"21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership". You will find this short video of interest and value.

 "A great leader's courage to fulfill their vision comes from passion, not position.” John Maxwell
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Personal Leadership Plan
Developing a Personal Leadership Development Plan. Do you have a personal leadership plan? This short video highlights the basic ideas and principals for a personal leadership plan.
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Jim Clemmer, Making Leadership Choices.
A very popular speaker Jim Clemmer focuses on our choices as leaders.
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Bishop Desmond Tutu on Leadership
T he 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate discusses what makes a good leader.
Watch this video. . . . .To watch the full Desmond Tutu interview click HERE

Ten Milestones in Rotary's Development.
Why has Rotary prospered for 103 years? Leaders must have vision and look to the future but they must also be aware of the past and build on the foundation of leaders that have gone before them. Chris Offer outlines what he feels are the 10 most important milestones in Rotary's development in the past 100 years in this audio broadcast.
Listen to this MP3 audio file.

Adapt or Perish - Keynote presentation delivered to the 2008 International Assembly – San Diego by PDG Leigh Higinbotham on the Club Leadership Plan. Le plan de leadership de club : s’adapter ou périr.
English
Français

Leadership Articles

Six Traits of Future Leaders
A new article from RSM Erasmus University - Rotterdam. How we define leadership has a lot to do with our own era. So what does the current milieu demand of the next generation of leaders? A number of core competencies stand out.


How Exceptional Managers Develop
This is a summary report of a six-year research project by HR Chally that studied and sometimes installed management development techniques in six very different American corporations. Though the specific findings varied from company to company, enough similarities emerged to support the conclusions contained in the chapters which follow. Published by The Chally Institute.


General Colin Powell on Leadership.
Powell's 18 points of leadership. A primer worthy of perusal by any aspiring leader. "If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude."


Six Essential Traits of a Rotary Leader
What does it take to be a Rotary leader? PDG Chris Offer identifies six essential traits of successful Rotary leaders.


Leading as a Follower Leading as a follower begins with a simple idea: No matter how little of your work or volunteer responsibility is under your control, you always retain control of your dignity as an individual
.