While I served as governor of South Carolina and then later as United States Secretary of Education, I found that my own education as a leader was continuing. I learned many valuable lessons of what makes a leader effective, but I will mention just two here.

The path to empowering leadership is a journey of discovery. It is a journey to discover who we are, what our gifts are, and how we can leverage our gifts to maximize our effectiveness. The purpose of the journey isn’t just to improve ourselves, however. It is to improve those who work with us, too. This journey toward becoming the best version of ourselves allows us to find ways to bring...

We are all the sum of what has touched us, and anything I might do is the result of what others have done for me. There are far too many to mention. I would like to thank my father, who grounded my spiritual beliefs with a sense of grace and generosity. He was the best Christian I have ever known because he got the “word” and made it “flesh.” My mother gave me my warrior...

The Empowering Leader is organized into twelve chapters, one chapter for each of the twelve core values designed to supercharge your leadership skills, and two bonus chapters! Bonus chapter 1 is The Gift of Synchronicity—Our Hidden Guidance System. The second bonus chapter is The Gift of Syntropy—Constructive Action. We call these two gifts because understanding them has...

First, it was fingerprints, then voiceprints and retinal scans, and now DNA that shows that each human being is truly unique—a one-of-a-kind original. Yet that uniqueness is not just physical. Minds are unique and so are spirits. But uniqueness extends even further—each person has unique gifts and talents.

Leaders confront endless challenges and opportunities as they chart the future for their organizations. One of the most powerful tools you have at your disposal is your own intention. Knowing that your intention is a powerful force allows you to focus in ways that will help you translate your ideas into reality and bring about the positive changes you envision.

Affirmations come in all shapes and sizes. They range from simple declarations that you will do something like take out the trash or lose weight to written affidavits and sworn testimony under oath. Your signature on a check or contract is an affirmation that you are bound by law to honor its terms. Legal and religious institutions make extensive use of affirmations in various forms. Beyond their...

Having a sense of purpose drives us toward our best destiny. Having a clear connection to your purpose gathers energy that can be focused on the outcomes. We all have many potential destinies, but there should be one that is most appropriate for each of us. We have many choices we can make in life, but there are certain ones that lead us to the place we need to be.

Empowering leaders are leaders who have a strong sense of their work, how it can be improved, and most important, how they can help those around them be more efficient and effective. They have the skills and knowledge to lead. However, if a leader does not operate from an open heart, the “head” part of their work will be for naught. Often, it is hard for a leader to acknowledge that...

The interesting thing about vision is how many people lack it. Even if they have a sense of a vision, it is often lacking coherence and it is difficult for them to describe their vision to others. Further, in today’s self-centered world, far too many individual visions are just that—serving only the individual. The first thing a leader needs to do is develop a personal sense of vision...

~It has been said that if~ you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Empowering leaders know which roads to take. More important, they know which roads to create for others. They visualize where they want to go with their organizations and then formulate plans and...

We have all seen leaders who are clear about their expectations, and the organization seems to rise or fall to meet them. People adjust their behavior to meet the leader’s expectations. It is important for the leader to understand the power of expectations and to understand that her expectations will set the bar for the organization.

Accepting intuition as a part of your life is taking a leap into the unknown. To truly be an empowering leader, you have to be prepared to lead into the void between what you know and what you feel. You have to go beyond what is logical and rational and acknowledge there is more than we can know with our conscious mind.

We live in an age of information overload. As a leader, what must you be aware of as you lead? What requires your attention and when? What information do you need? What information must you pay attention to, and what can you ignore, and for how long? We not only have to be aware of what’s happening in our organization and what external changes may affect it, but we also have to be aware of...

Are you aware that you have what we and others call a higher self? It is active when you are at your very best. It’s the best version of you. It’s the you that you strive to become. It’s the you that whispers in your ear. It’s the you that you experience when you are at peak performance. It’s the you that knows what’s right. It’s the you that you...

Empowering leaders understand and recognize the power of openness for effective leadership. Openness is an attitude that allows the best possibilities to emerge from the individuals in the organization and from the organizations themselves. Closed minds and systems lead to stagnation and a withering of potential. When you are open, you see, hear, and experience things that raise questions or lead...

There is a hidden guidance system operating in the world. It is operating in plain sight, but most people are unaware of its existence. The world-renowned psychologist Carl Jung observed this universal phenomenon and named it synchronicity. Jung found that, contrary to what most people thought, there seemed to be two types of coincidences operating in the world: those that were...

We suspect only a handful of leaders have ever come across the term syntropy. Some of us may remember its counterpart, entropy, from our high school science classes. There are many ways of viewing entropy, but essentially it is that systems tend to move toward a state of low energy and disorder over time. There are countless examples throughout the universe where things break down,...

We hope you found The Empowering Leader enlightening, engaging, and empowering. The following twelve core values are seeds of empowerment.

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