Leaders Lead, Leaders Read with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins

The Livermore model of Cultural Intelligence is now complete: Drive, Knowledge, Strategy, and Action. Listen to the book review in season one, and then parts one and two for a deeper dive on practicing cultural intelligence. Consider adding cultural intelligence to emotional intelligence emphases and see more benefit in cross-cultural interactions. The bottom line is this, leaders: it is easy to grow. There is much we can to do improve our serve -- first to self, then to others, then to entities. A little practice consistently goes a long way. Give these thoughts a try, and add the Livermore book to your libraries. Take the quiz to determine your current CQ, practice some, and then take the quiz again. Let's plan for cross-cultural interactions and when we show up, be willing to learn and receive feedback.

Reference: Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success (2nd ed.) by David Livermore

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter.

How willing are we, leaders, to transform ourselves by addressing our biases and assumptions? This is the bottom line of our cultural competence in leadership, to work from the inside out on our views of others. In this episode, Dr. Shaunta uses David Livermore's book on cultural intelligence to discuss the first to quadrants of his CQ model: Drive and Knowledge. There are several ways to see the impact of culture in our workplaces and we are challenged to consider culture in our interactions with our teams. Cultural intelligence is not just for "overseas travel." Cultural intelligence applies to interstate travel, intrastate travel, locally in our cities, and with our next door neighbors. Let's be honest with ourselves, leaders, and push ahead in transformation. For the review of the Livermore text, see the first season of episodes.

Reference: Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success (2nd ed.) by David Livermore

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter.

All people bring baggage into the workplace. Some people manage well, disassociating to get the work done. Others have permanent baggage that cannot be resolved or escaped, and can have lingering effects in the workplace. Or, there could be simple bad habits like tardiness and a lack of consideration for others. How long do/should leaders wait to address patterns through coaching? In this episode, Dr. Shaunta presents three scenarios where team members demonstrate patterns that long term, could inhibit morale, productivity, or the team member's promotability. Keeping in mind that there are factors over which leaders have neither influence nor control, what is the best practice for action when observing patterns?

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter.

Today's topic is about pulling rank in today's work environment. When it happens, why does one pull rank? Longevity is not as big a prize as it once was in the working world. Depending on the industry, changing roles every two years or less is the norm. So then, is pulling rank a toxic behavior? Listen as Dr. Shaunta considers potential reasons why pulling rank is problematic.

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Today's topic considers whether hoarding information is a toxic behavior. Dr. Shaunta presents a few scenarios where, if leaders withhold information to sadistically experiment with teams, hoarding information is toxic. Leaders, what is your conviction about sharing information? Do you enjoy having the information simply because others do not have the information? Do you want to see how innovative your teams will be only partially informed? How open is too open to be with your teams? Has a previous experience shaped your conviction about sharing information?

References mentioned: Servant-Leadership Characteristics in Organizational Life by Don De Graaf, Colin Tilley, and Larry Neal

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Today's topic is inspired by a statement of my coworker. "Sometimes, you have to treat them like your kids." Yes, you read that right. In an intergenerational office setting, younger workers (and the rest of us too, if we're honest) act like children in the workplace. We become needy or destructively resistant: whining, excessive complaining, avoiding responsibility, making excuses, claiming a lack of understanding, and placing motivation in the same bucket as preference. Dr. Shaunta considers the question "where is the line" for accountability, policy, and action in the workplace. How long is long enough for coaching, training, and repeating? When is the right time to act -- from demotion, to work reallocation, or termination?

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Today's topic is about Marquet's idea of empowerment versus emancipation and team members who resist the challenge to autonomous work. Younger workers enter established office environments for the first time or are new to the industry. They perform well in interviews, look great on resumes, but have difficulty adjusting to a free work setting. Dr. Shaunta considers the ideas of empowerment, emancipation, accommodations, and reciprocation in the leader-teams dynamic. Why can't everyone lead?

References mentioned: Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Today's topic asks whether toxic leadership is terminal. The answer is no, toxic leadership can be addressed successfully and replaced with transformational policies and practices. Dr. Shaunta refers to Alma Ortega's six scenarios that are not toxic leadership from Ortega's book Academic Libraries and Toxic Leadership (2017). These scenarios inspire leaders to think more broadly about defining toxic leadership beyond opinions and experiences.

1. Dynamic leaders with high and reasonable expectations
2. Self-starters who value discipline and set realistic deadlines
3. Absences for good reasons, such as overlapping duties on committees
4. Leaders who ask for transparency when teams do not fulfill responsibilities
5. Personality clashes
6. Incompetence

References mentioned: Academic Libraries and Toxic Leadership by Alma Ortega; Transforming Toxic Leaders by Alan Goldman

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Today's topic is addressing toxic leadership. It's best done from a systemic approach, and not an individual one. Leaders can be distracted from addressing toxic systems for two reasons: 1) individuals seem more controllable so resources are directed toward specific cases and 2) there are so many factors at play that nurture toxic behaviors that leaders can cave to the overwhelm and not know where to begin. What are you doing to change the system that enables and emboldens toxic behaviors?

References mentioned: Transforming Toxic Leaders by Alan Goldman

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

Welcome back Leaders! It's season five of the Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins. 

There'll be more commentary than book review this season, with discussions on toxic leadership, crafting a philosophy of leadership, what our experiences and opinions need to ground our leadership practice, and possible gaps in the literature observed in leadership practice. Let's continue growing together! 

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership. Sharing the language of leadership through toxic leadership awareness and prevention, and leader development. Follow us on social media @legacyleadershipcenter. 

We made it to the end of season 4! This is a recap episode.

• When the Gift of Giving Leaves You Empty by Aaron Hinkston, III
• Comandante by Rory Carroll
• Night, Dawn, and Day (trilogy) by Elie Wiesel
• Turn the Ship Around! by L. David Marquet
• Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D.

Seven different books with wonderful themes of personal experience, processing, and responsibility. There are leadership nuggets to stretch us as we work out our leadership evolutions. Thank you for listening and sharing and reading, leaders. Thanks for taking a chance on books new to you. Thank you for your leadership. 

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership, LLC.

~Sharing the language of leadership and training the future through theory-driven leader development and toxic leadership awareness.~

Let's stay connected: @LegacyLeadershipCenter on IG, Facebook, and YouTube

In this episode, Dr. Shaunta Scroggins reviews Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. This tome is organized in four parts: The Problem, Prison Thought Reform of Westerners, Thought Reform of Chinese Intellectuals, and Totalism and its Alternatives. Dr. Robert Lifton met with 25 Western and 15 Chinese subjects in 1954-55, and had some follow-ups in 1958. Thought reform consists of two basic elements: confession and re-education. This book is laid out in such an orderly way for readers. Listen to learn about Dr. Lifton's book and let us know what you think when you read it!

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership, LLC.

~Sharing the language of leadership and training the future through  theory-driven leader development and toxic leadership awareness.~

Let's stay connected: @LegacyLeadershipCenter on IG, Facebook, and YouTube

In this episode, Dr. Shaunta Scroggins reviews Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders by retired Navy Captain L. David Marquet. Learn more about the process of moving people from followers to leaders. Learn more about Captain Marquet's work at https://davidmarquet.com/.

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership, LLC.

~Sharing the language of leadership and training the future through  theory-driven leader development and toxic leadership awareness.~

Let's stay connected: @LegacyLeadershipCenter on IG, Facebook, and YouTube

Elie Wiesel is the author and was a journalist, professor, Congressional Gold Medalist in 1985 and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. Night, Dawn, and Day (formerly titled The Accident) are a trilogy with the first being a memoir and the remaining two as fiction books. Listen as Dr. Scroggins shares her appreciation for and insights from these books. Consider adding them to your library and sharing your opinion with us. 

The Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership, LLC.

~Sharing the language of leadership and training the future through theory-driven leader development and toxic leadership awareness.~

Let's stay connected: @LegacyLeadershipCenter on IG, Facebook, and YouTube

Take a wild ride through the world of Hugo Chávez's Venezuela, subtitle for the book Comandante by Rory Carroll (2013). 

Not quite a dictator, but definitely a toxic leader, learn the lessons Dr. Shaunta extracts from the final chapter of the book and scholarly research. 

The Leaders Lead Leaders Read Podcast with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins is sponsored by the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership, LLC.
~Sharing the language of leadership and training the future through  theory-driven leader development and toxic leadership awareness~

IG, Facebook, & YouTube: @LegacyLeadershipCenter

Season 4 is coming October 1st!

New reads, new insights, and better leaders -- these are the goals!

Listen to seasons 1-3 now and mark your calendars for the upcoming season. 

LEADERS LEAD, LEADERS READ with Dr. Shaunta Scroggins!

This book is a challenging read primarily because the reader must confront his/her/their feelings on faith, oppressed peoples, and several closely related topics. It is a heady and helpful read, like a guided tour through history and faith, on the theme of a connection between the cross of Jesus Christ and the lynching tree of Black Americans. In this review, we consider every chapter. 

1. The Cross and the Lynching Tree in the Black Experience
2. A Reflection on Reinhold Niebuhr
3. Martin Luther King Jr.'s Struggle to Redeem the Soul of America
4. The Recrucified Christ in Black Literary Imagination
5. "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep"
6. Conclusion: Legacies of the Cross and the Lynching Tree

I encourage every thinking reader to purchase and read -- no, savor -- this book. This is not a book to read for an escape. This is the best kind of self-help book, to help us search our hearts in safety and examine our stances on several topics. You can do it... we can do the work of introspection, reflection, and application for growth and positive change. Faith or no faith, racial tensions or not, there's reality in this book for us all and the levels of empathy that can be born from doing the internal work are amazing to consider. Let me know what you think!

Follow the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram @LegacyLeadershipCenter. Join our e-mail list at www.legacydrivenleaders.com. 

Hello Leaders!

This is an episode with commentary. I feel like this may be a running theme where on occasion, I will share my evolving ideas about building one's own table. In this episode, I share three thoughts that came to me during another phase of assessment. 

1. If the table is crowded, it's because the table is known. 
2. The inclusion discussion still exists when one builds his/her/their own tables. 
3. If one has rights to the table, then one needs rights to the room. 

The considerations are still many when one builds his/her/their own table. That's all I'm saying. There's a request for you in this episode. Make sure you reply. 

Join our email list at the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership: www.legacydrivenleaders.com.

Follow us on Facebook, IG, and YouTube: @LegacyLeadershipCenter.

Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Get the Most Out of Their Relationships by Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy (2005)

This is the book we are discussing, and the ins and outs of power mentoring. The two biggest things that distinguish power mentoring from traditional mentoring is 1) reciprocity and 2) the networking approach. In the power mentoring construct, we can have as many mentors as we have needs or opportunities to grow. 

The book outlines 10 types of power mentoring. This makes room for broadening our network and our perspective on our growth paths. Think of how much we can gain by seeking out the expertise of others to help us grow, and at the same time practice presenting our abilities to help a mentor. I wish I'd known about power mentoring during the days I worked in corporate. I hope you discern the value in the power mentoring model and make use of it in your varied contexts. Let us know if you do and how it works out!

Join our email list at the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership: www.legacydrivenleaders.com. 

Follow us on Facebook, IG, and YouTube: @LegacyLeadershipCenter. 

Dr. Frank Dikötter is the author of How to Be a Dictator: The Cult of Personality in the Twentieth Century (2019). Students and scholars of toxic leadership and despots need this book. The cult of personality is one of the tactics in the dictator's playbook. Dictators gain the adoration of the masses to ensure no resistance to their policies. 

Travel around the world and learn detailed insights about the dictator's world. Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Duvalier, Ceausescu, and Mengistu have overlapping themes of practice as despots. The personal quirks and patterns offer us some much needed backstory into their regimes and styles of rule. 

Leaders!

Chime in -- what are the factors you consider to give an up-and-coming leader a chance for development? Is networking really such a critical component? If so, why? What causes you to say, "No, not yet" or "I don't want to invest there"? 

 Does any of our leadership reading provoke us to grow outside of ourselves as mentors and coaches? Let's chat about it. 

Congratulations Leaders on getting to the end of a serious growth year! There have been plenty of experiences to challenge and reward us through development, flexibility, and mindset shifting. Good for us. This final episode of season two is my thank you card to each listener. It's been a great set of books and discussions we've had in season two, and I hope there is something for everyone to apply. 

We've got a great lineup planned for season three and invite you to stick around, keep listening, and bring/share with friends!

Dr. Scroggins and the team at the Leaders Lead, Leaders Read Podcast wish you the happiest of holidays and a wonderful new year!

Where You Are Is Not Who You Are by Ursula M. Burns is advice from the life and times of Ms. Burns on mentoring, coaching, modeling for one's team, leader and leadership development, and preparing to serve on a board of directors. This is a book for women and for everyone else. Ms. Burns, I feel, fairly presents her life to us: where at fault, where learning, where succeeding, where influenced, where another gets the credit, she tells us just that. Reading this book was like a conversation with Ms. Burns. For those of us who have big dreams but small exposure, the path of Ursula Burns is inspiring and instructional; we get lessons in how to adjust mentally, show up and perform, and then accept the wonderful experiences that working hard affords. I hope you'll enjoy this review. Let me know when you read the book and what you think!

I read All About Love by Bell Hooks and started thinking about leadership. Spiritual leadership, to be exact. Then I wondered about leader evolutions because of the comprehensive way Bell Hooks talks about love. Spiritual leadership theory posits that the intrinsically motivated leader through his/her values, beliefs, and attitudes will engage followers through a sense of calling and memberships toward a result of organizational commitment and performance. 

***THIS IS A FAITH-BASED BOOK.***

I personally don't like disclaimers, but I want to give you a fair warning in case your leadership and your faith don't mix. 

This book is based on the account of Nehemiah the cupbearer and his leadership journey to rebuild the wall. There are distracting enemies, strategic movements, wise responses, and of course navigating communication with the people. There are lessons on competent leading, diligence, wisdom, faith, and finishing strong.

If you are not a person of faith, but you can appreciate the principles, then try this book out. If you are a person of faith, consider a small group study and discussion of the principles in this book. The process of leadership is emphasized in this book -- how one builds character development toward improved leadership, and how one learns to lead. 

The title is explained by Dr. Swindoll in the very early pages. "Good leaders are made, not born; they are built, shaped, and tested by God -- brick by brick -- over time."

This book! I was happy, sad, angry, surprised, and disappointed. Geesh, the leadership examples abound. Historians may appreciate this read, as well as students of leadership. I learned after I finished this book that some in the medical field had this book as required reading while they trained. 

The important spotlight of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is the placement and application of ethics in an institution. I think (but I tend to think this way!) the ethics discussion that can be sparked from this book can also fit many institutional contexts -- medicine, education, religion, entertainment, government, etc. 

Leave a message with your review of the book, if you read it before or when you complete it. 

Follow the Center for Legacy Driven Leadership (podcast sponsor) on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube @legacyleadershipcenter. 

This book is famous as a memoir. There are also some leadership lessons from Mrs. Obama's career search, discovery, and connection with "doing something immediately meaningful, directly impacting the lives of others" (p. 180). I know many who own the book and have either not read it or not finished it yet. Please make it a point to do so! If you remain on the fence about purchasing Becoming, please jump that fence, buy the book, and read it all! This episode emphasizes the three career lessons we can learn from Mrs. Obama's professional journey. 

Feel free to send me a message and let me know what messages from Becoming resonate with you. 

I am a FAN of Leslie Odom, Jr.! Oddly, I first learned about him when I heard his interview on NPR promoting his album Simply Christmas. Then I learned he wrote a book. Yay. 

If you are risk-averse or afraid of failure, then you want to consider this book. You do not need to be a singer, performer, or creative to read this book. The application is human. When you read it, come back and leave me a message. I'd like to hear your review!

Leaders! Can you believe we made it to season two?! 

How exciting. There's a link for you to leave me messages. Please, let me know when you've read a book reviewed on this podcast. Also, make suggestions about leadership books to read -- especially from independent and unknown authors. 

I want to make sure you understand that the faith-based books to be reviewed in this second season have some universal leadership principles that apply to everyone. Don't skip an episode!

Thank you for your support in season one. Now, let's keep reading!

Leaders! This is a check-in. How are you all doing? 

I want to remind you, with a fabulous quote from Leslie Odom, Jr.'s Failing Up, that your resilience is shining through. 

You are taking your challenges to task and you are emerging intact! 

Season 2 is coming in the fall; I look forward to sharing another set of great books with you.

Livermore, D. (2015). Leading with cultural intelligence: The real secret to success (2nd edition). American Management Association. 

This book is GREAT for people whose work has an international reach. You work with or in other cultures and on a very diverse team, or you desire to build a cross-cultural business and team. 

Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter (2015)

This book is reader-friendly, easy to follow, and a mirror for personal assessment. the five disciplines of multiplier leadership are

1. Talent Magnet
2. Liberator
3. Challenger
4. Debate Maker
5. Investor

Wiseman says a leader needs strength in only three of the above-named disciplines to be a Multiplier. Each form of multiplier leader has a diminishing leader counterpart. This book is worth your time and needs to be in your library!

This is pretty much part three – the final episode about Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception (2020) by communications expert Dr. Tim Levine.

In this episode I review the book, and share my experience interviewing Dr. Levine.

We pick up where we left off in the last episode, with Dr. Levine's comments on research methodology...replication, specifically. Enjoy Dr. Levine completes the journey through his new book Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception. 

Communications expert Dr. Tim Levine is the author of the newly released called Duped: Truth-Default Theory and the Social Science of Lying and Deception (2020). Scholars, prepare to be inspired!

On a recent trip to Birmingham, Alabama, I met with Dr. Levine at the Audio 55 Recording Studio to discuss his book. I learned about his theory, truth-default theory, from a bonus episode from the Malcolm Gladwell podcast, Revisionist History. The bonus episode is called "Queen of Cuba," and is the audio version of a book chapter in Gladwell's Talking to Strangers (2019).

Enamored with the possible overlap between truth-default and leadership theories, I reached out to Dr. Levine to schedule time to visit. He graciously consented to let me interview him, and we had a ball!