In Monday's Leadership Tip, Dr. William Cummings experimented in cloning. Leadership cloning, that is.
He said, "I'm fascinated by the way children learn to speak the most complicated languages by the time they're 3-years-old: Japanese, Chinese, Pakistani, Arabic and Russian. How can they do this? They can't read; they can't sit still in a classroom. How do they learn the past plu-perfect of a greek verb? How do they learn the exact musical note that changes one Thai word into another?
"I call this phenomonon "leadership cloning". These little kids are cloned by their leaders: Parents, grandparents, relatives, friends - all acting in the role of leader to this little child.
He then explained, the cloning process continues when we go to work. "Now, instead of language," he said, "It's attitude. And the most obvious attitude that everyone notices right away is respect. When you walk into any business, big or small, you can tell immediately if management respects the employees.
"If management truly respects the people they hire, these employees will respect both management and their customers. It will show. It will show in the policies that are made like the Waffle House shouts of 'Good morning!'
"We can't hide management cloning, any more than we can hide language cloning. Kids learn a language from their leaders. Workers learn an attitude from their leaders," Dr. C. said. "If you're a leader today - what kind of cloning are you doing?"
You can find more Leadership Tips from Dr. C. by searching 13wmaz.com.