The Simple Truths of Leadership and how to practice them with Ken Blanchard & Randy Conley

Throughout the hustle and bustle of leading an organization, oftentimes the fundamentals of leadership can take a back seat or in some cases, become completely forgotten. Today’s guests are saying that it’s perfectly ok to get back to the basics.

Today on Inside Automotive, we’re pleased to welcome the co-authors of “Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to be a Servant Leader and Build Trust”, Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley. Blanchard is one of the world’s most influential leadership experts, author of over 65 books, and co-founder of the Ken Blanchard Companies. Conley is an Inc. Magazine top 100 leadership speaker, author, and trust practice leader for the Ken Blanchard Companies. Randy’s award-winning blog, Leading with Trust, has influenced over 4 million viewers.

Blanchard and Conley are both big proponents of servant leadership. There are two parts to servant leadership. The first is the vision, or the direction, values, and goals, of your organization. This is the responsibility that all leaders have. The second is realizing your job is to work for your people. Help them win, and help them live according to the vision and values shared throughout the organization. If you’re a great servant leader, you build trust. In “Simple Truths of Leadership: 52 Ways to be a Servant Leader and Build Trust,” Blanchard and Conley have written 26 simple truths on servant leadership and 26 on trust.

Our approach to leadership is to get people focused on the simple truths, says Conley. Leadership is a very complex field, and we tend to overcomplicate it. One of his favorite simple truths from the book is building trust is a skill that can be learned and developed. Research shows that there are four core elements of trust: ability, believability, care, and dependability. If leaders engage in behaviors that align with those four elements, they’ll build trust. It’s not easy, but it is simple and straightforward.

To learn more about leadership from Ken Blanchard and Randy Conley, be sure to watch our entire interview above.