When you "Save your drama for your Mama" you don't take it past the
front door of your workplace. Charlie Sheppard has written a great book
on the two triangles that leaders can find themselves in - the Drama
Triangle and the Leadership Triangle. "By being determined, by being a
leader, you stay out of the world of the Drama Triangle. When you are
out of drama, so is the world around you. When you are in the
Leadership Triangle, you can be a leader, and create more leaders,
directly impacting the world around you." Sheppard discusses the
various roles we play - the Rescuer, the Victim, the Coach, the
Visionary. No doubt it's pretty obvious where you want to be just from
reading the classifications. But Sheppard makes the point that our
choices are reflected in our behaviors from the roles we adopt in life.
He writes "When you fully embrace a role, you embrace its power - or its
lack of power. You embrace its potential - or its limitation. You
eventually embody the role." He goes into great detail about our
motivations - are they internal or external (locus of control)? One of
the most important points is that leaders make choices. Leaders don't
lead because they have to, but because they want to, they choose to and
they are constantly developing themselves over the years. Leaders have
vision which makes them catalysts for change, for progress, and are
constantly coaching others to become leaders too. There is so much
wisdom, common sense and information that hits home in this work that it
is worth reading again; it should even be required. Sheppard presents
concepts in his work which are seeds to be planted in our life, teams
and community and "stored within these ideas is vast potential." You
won't be able to read this book without getting at least one great idea
or thought you can implement to make yourself a better leader.
