This is trying to. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. You do not have to management title to be one leaders in your workplace. That is at the center of the message of spark a new book and a leadership training project. The idea comes from three veterans who were teaching people that their qualities and abilities have more to do with the influence at work than the title under their names. 20 me is Angie Morgan and author of SPARK. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. It is interesting that three veterans came up with this idea about leading without a title because the military is all about titles defining leadership. How did you come up with this idea? We often get that. We spent a lot of time working with businesses and organizations and talk about creativity, innovation, leading without a job title, empowering leaders and people say you are coming from this large bureaucracy that stone for its higher Arcuri -- hierarchy and then existed for managerial purposes in the military but everyone in the military birds leadership and how it's expressed. When I think about my time in the Marine Corps I was given a lot of freedom for innovation, problem solving, feeling empowered, making decisions without having to run up the chain. So it's very interesting the reality is that the structure is in place to help manage the organization and relies upon the leaders within the organization to see results. Pima County to find a SPARK? It is a concept and we came out of once we started developing leaders and organizations. We would meet people who were strong communicators, great contributors, credible in their organization but never develop their leadership skills. Once he started to, their success accelerated. These were sparks. These were the two words and the thinkers and with a ounce of leadership could transform a team in a department and the organization they were part of. Most universities and colleges don't teach leadership or at least to the extent that we have learned in the military, yet when people learn it, they start to see the practicality to all the roles and responsibilities. How do you see trying 19 benefiting? They start introducing leadership development and when people get promoted with the managerial positions when in all actuality leadership skills should be developed from day one and organization. We been working with businesses to introduce professionals and then every employment level giving them some type of skill development so they can learn how to lead whether they are just leading themselves were small team. By the time they get to that management role they know how to lead through influence versus through job title. They can be more reliant. Cannot also cause destruction if let's a designated leaders in a company or organization don't necessarily like the challenge of people who are sparking all over the place with their leadership skills. I think that managers were confident in their own abilities can be intimidated by the success of the SPARKS around the but what I have found working with organizations as the talented managers get delighted when the teams are developing their leadership skills because they realize that they can take a vacation without electronics or having to check in all the time because they have such talented capable people around them. They start to see the initiative and the encouragement from their team and that is rewarding. I think many things do find great reward in improving and enhancing the life of others. Payment in the book it says that leadership is one of the most miss understood concepts. We talk right up front about three miss related to -- myths related to leadership. We are born with about 30% of our leadership abilities related to being of influence. The remaining 70% we can develop throughout time. There is a high priority on the need component. We also think that leaders are titleholders. If you ever had a bad boss you recognize that that boss did not know how to lead. They were not a bad person they were just very limited in their leadership skills. You can be a boss without being a leader and you can be a leader without being a boss. One of the last myths is that leaders trust her instincts and that is just not true. A lot of her instincts are counter leadership behavior. I think about my children there might leadership laboratory in my hope and I think the are young and still developing. Their instincts are to steal that last cookie without offering to share or lying or throwing their sibling under the bus when a problem pops up. So their instincts are consistent with the behaviors that I've learned to develop over time. So what we help professionals understand that leadership is about behavior, choice and takes time to grow and develop. Not everybody wants to be a leader, do they? Don't leaders need followers question mark Certainly not everyone wants to be a manager, but most people want to have a better life and better relationships. They want to have more influence over the groups they are part of want to be part of a team. The leadership behaviors that we promote help you achieve that. If you are not going to rise up the corporate ladder, that is okay but if you are interested in thinking about how you can lead yourself and others to greater success or contribute more and how you can be more of a team player then SPARK will give you an idea. I've been speaking with Angie Morgan, co-author, "SPARK: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success". Thank you. Thank you very much. Be sure to watch evening addition at 5:00 and 6:30 tonight. Join us again tomorrow for KPBS Midday Edition at noon. If you ever miss a show, check out the podcast at KPBS.org. I'm Maureen Cavanaugh. Thank you for listening.
You don't have to have a management title to be one of the leaders in your workplace.
That's the message of the new book "SPARK: How to Lead Yourself and Others to Greater Success."
The book is written by three military veterans turned leadership experts — Angie Morgan, Courtney Lynch and Sean Lynch.
Morgan said that SPARK is a concept she and her co-authors came up with when training leaders in businesses. She said SPARKS were strong communicators, great contributors and credible within their organizations, but had not developed their leadership skills. Once they started developing those skills, their success accelerated.
"These were SPARKS. These were the doers. They were the thinkers, that with just an ounce of leadership could transform a team, a department, the organization they were part of," Morgan said.
The authors say that leadership is one of the most misunderstood concepts in society.
Morgan said, one myth about leadership is that you must have a title to exercise it.
"You can be a boss without being a leader, and you can be a leader without being a boss," she said.
Morgan joined Midday Edition on Monday to talk about the concepts behind the book.
