This document discusses becoming a fierce leader. It begins by outlining the importance of leadership and discussing different leadership styles such as authentic leadership, level 5 leadership, and fierce leadership. It then defines coaching as a process that supports personal growth and decision making. Using a coaching approach involves adopting a mindset of believing in others, being curious, and earning trust, as well as developing listening and feedback skills. Finally, it discusses fierce conversations as a way to have more open and meaningful discussions and outlines traits of fierce leadership such as surrounding yourself with good people and paying attention to your emotional impact.

1. BECOMING A
FIERCE LEADER
Veronica Carroll, MBA CFRE
Executive Director, Delta Hospital
Foundation

2. AGENDA
 The importance of Leadership
 Background
 Discussion on Leadership Styles
 Defining and Using a Coach Approach
 Introduction to Fierce Leadership

3. WHY IS GOOD/GREAT LEADERSHIP
IMPORTANT?
 Leadership tenure/Leadership burnout
 Leadership deficit - baby boom deficit cannot be filled
by gen X
 Leadership succession – hot topic
 The challenge to attract and retain talent
 Scarcity of resources
 Younger leaders interested in new ways to structure
work – shared leadership and participatory structures
 It makes good business sense

4. BACKGROUND
 When the 75 members of Stanford Graduate School of
Business’s Advisory Council were asked to
recommend the most important capability for leaders
to develop, their answer was nearly unanimous: selfawareness.
 My own story

5. LEADERSHIP MODELS
 Authentic Leadership
 Level 5 Leadership
 Fierce Leadership

6. LEADERSHIP STYLES
AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP- SIMS, MCLEAN
AND MAYER
 “The challenge is to understand ourselves well enough
to discover where we can use our leadership gifts to
serve others.”
 Understand your personal narrative
 Need to devote yourself to personal growth
 “Like elite athletes, you must devote yourself to a
lifetime of realizing your potential”.

7. LEADERSHIP STYLES
LEVEL 5 LEADERSHIP – JIM COLLINS
 Based on work around Good to Great
 A leader in whom genuine personal humility blends
with intense professional will
 A Level 5 Leader is a study in duality:
 Modest and willful
 Shy and fearless
 Ambition not for themselves but for the organization

8. LEADERSHIP STYLES
FIERCE LEADERSHIP – SUSAN SCOTT
 “A Fierce Leader commits to a way of life, not a
business strategy.” Susan Scott
 Really asking, really listening, then directing (in that
order)
 Feedback rich, on-going personal growth, culture of
passionate engagement, sharing resources,
collaborating, open, transparent, respectful culture,
shared values and ethics guide decisions, and
shared enthusiasm for agility and original thinking

9. Dialogue # 1

10. DEFINITION OF COACHING
 “Coaching is a process that supports individuals to
make more conscious decisions and to take new
action. It helps them to identify and build on their
strengths and internal resources and moves them
forward from where they are to where they want or
need to be. Coaching supports reflection, awareness,
communication, and accountability.”

11. WHY COACHING?
 In response to all of the pressures that we talked about
– younger leaders expect shared
leadership/participatory opportunities
 A central task of leadership is learning to support the
growth of others – Preskill & Brookfield
 Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize
their own performance. It is helping them to learn
rather than teaching them - Whitmore

12. USING A COACH APPROACH
 3 Elements:
 Mindset – Believing in Others, Being Curious,
Managing Needs, Earning Trust and Showing
Respect, and Staying Connected
 Skills – Listening, Inquiring, Giving Feedback, and
Sharing
 Framework – Clarify the focus, Identify the Goal,
Develop Solutions, and Create Accountability

13. Dialogue #2

14. Fierce Conversations – Fierce Leadership
Susan Scott

15. http://www.fierceinc.com/leadership-training-audio-video

16. FIERCE CONVERSATIONS
 “In its simplest form, a fierce conversation is one in
which we come out from behind ourselves into the
conversation and make it real.” Susan Scott
 Every organization wants to feel like it’s having a real
conversation with its employees, its customers, and
with the unknown future
 Each individual wants to have conversations that are
somehow building his or her world of meaning

17. WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE?
 What are my goals when I converse with people?
 How many meetings have I sat in where I knew the
real issues where not being discussed? What issues
are we avoiding?
 If I were guaranteed honest responses to any three
questions, whom would I question and what would I
ask?
 What has been the economical, emotional, and
intellectual cost to the organization of not identifying
and tackling the real issues?
 How would I describe the level of collaboration,
alignment, and accountability of my executive team?

18. MORE QUESTIONS…
 If nothing changes regarding the outcomes of the
conversations within my organization, what are the
implications for my own success and career?
 What is the conversation I’ve been unable to have with
senior executives, with my colleagues, with my direct
reports, with my donors, and most important, with
myself, with my own aspirations, that if I were able to
have, might make the difference, might change
everything?

19. FIERCE LEADERSHIP
 From Susan Scott’s “Fierce Leadership”:
 “A fast acting antivenom to the business as usual
mode of high task/low relationship, self serving
agendas, directing and telling, anonymous
feedback, holding people accountable, excessive
use of jargon, and mandating initiatives that cause
people to weep on too many fine days. The act of
acquiring your most valuable currency – emotional
capital. “

20. TOP TEN FIERCE LEADERSHIP
TRAITS
Memo to Leaders
 1. Stay awake
 2. People to keep and people to free up to industry
 3. Surround yourself with good people
 4. Role is to engineer the culture
 5. Pay attention to your emotional wake

21.  6. Keep describing reality without laying blame
 7. It’s not about reorganization
 8. Do not, under any circumstances, tell a lie – of
either commission or omission
 9. Show up as yourself consistently
 10. Take one conversation at a time. Make them fierce.

22. RESOURCES
 Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott
 Fierce Leadership, Susan Scott
 Coaching Skills For Nonprofit Managers and Leaders,
Judith Wilson & Michelle Gislason
 The Path, Creating Your Mission Statement For Work
and For Life, Laurie Beth Jones
 Difficult Conversations, How to Discuss What Matters
Most, Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton & Sheila Heen

23.  The Pause Principle, Step Back to Lead Forward,
Kevin Cashman
 The Power of Habit, Why We Do What We Do In Life
and Business, Charles Duhigg
 Mother’s Pearls, 27 Aha Moments of Realization,
Kevin J. Cottam
 You Already Know How To Be Great, A Simple Way to
Remove Interference and Unlock Your Greatest
Potential, Alan Fine with Rebecca R. Merrill

24. Thank You!
veronica.carroll@dhfoundation.ca