Book

Dream Big

2 January 2018

I grew up in a small town, surrounded by adults who constantly told the community’s young people to dream big — that we could do anything we wanted and we could be anything we wanted to become.

These words of encouragement led me to dream big as I pondered what to do with my life.

Fulfilling dreams

I loved basketball and dreamed about becoming a coach. My father in his infinite wisdom told me the seemingly transient life of a coach would be difficult, and he guided me to pursue the field of finance. My father was wise indeed as, at the time, very few women were in this male-dominated space.

After about five years in banking, I switched to healthcare and over the course of time, I found myself being encouraged by mentors to seek to lead a hospital. Once again, I dreamed big, although I didn’t see this particular dream as being realistically within reach because I hadn’t followed the traditional career path of hospital CEOs.

In 2006, my dream came true as I was given the opportunity to lead a hospital. In the years that followed, I realized my role as a hospital president was actually a lot like the job of a coach. We had a clear game plan. We practiced discipline to ensure our team was “brilliant at the basics.” We celebrated great performances, and we provided constructive feedback to encourage our team members to play at the top of their game. My dream to be a coach had come true after all.

In 2015, I made a bittersweet decision to retire from hospital administration. Once again, I found myself dreaming big. After almost four decades within financial services and health care industries, I knew my true love from a professional perspective was positive leadership. I also knew that I loved to write. I wondered how I might combine my passion for respectful, effective leadership with my love of prose. I soon discerned my next big dream would be to write a book about leadership… gracious leadership.

Encouragement all around

During the past year, I have been immersed in memorializing the important lessons I have learned about leadership and life. These lessons have been gleaned from my parents, my favorite mentors and my own leadership journey. This book has been a labor of love, and I am pleased to share my dream has come true as “Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before” is being released this month.

I have been blessed throughout my life to have been surrounded by encouragers who taught me to dream big. I now encourage you to do the same. Dream big … dream far beyond what you believe is realistically possible. Take risks. Ask for opportunities. And don’t be afraid to fail as it is our mistakes that teach us the most memorable lessons of life.

You’ll never know what a positive difference you can make until you try. It all starts with a little encouragement and your own big dream.

Originally published on January 2, 2018 in Smart Business.

Are you Ready for Gracious Leadership? The Time is Now!

13 December 2017

Dear Friends,

Several years ago, I started dreaming about writing a book regarding positive leadership. I am humbled to share that this dream has now come true as Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before will be launched in January.

When I started my journey as a young leader, I was not aware of any book that defined the qualities and competencies required to achieve my personal mission as an aspiring leader – that being, to lead my team with uncompromising respect and to achieve peak performance within a work environment that my employees would revere. 

Fast forward almost 40 years… When I decided to leave my full-time role in hospital administration in 2015, I reflected upon the reality that leaders still did not have ready access to a “how to” book that might teach them to become good and gracious, peak performance leaders in a fully respectful environment. As such, I started the journey to write a book about Gracious Leadership.

My zeal for this work grew exponentially this past year as I, like you, found myself bombarded with sad-but-true stories of toxic, high profile leaders. It seems that on a daily basis we hear media accounts about bad bosses who have become known for bully behaviors including sexual harassment. 

I thought to myself,“Enough is enough.” 

Now is the time to turn the tables and focus on all the good that can be achieved, all of the joy that can be derived, and all the value that can be delivered through positive, effective leadership.

Because you are an ambassador of positive leadership, I wanted you to be aware that the Gracious Leadership website is now available awww.graciousleadershipbook.com. Through this site, I will be sharing resources and blog posts that support the Gracious Leadership Movement.

While the book and ebook will be not be available through Amazon until mid-late January,pre-orders of signed copies are now available directly through the website and should be shipped beginning the second week of January.

Please visit the Gracious Leadership website, order the book if you’d like to learn more, and share freely with your friends, family and colleagues. Come along and join me as we seek to create a world full of good and gracious, peak performance leaders. 

Together we can lead like we’ve never led before.

With gratitude,
Janet Meeks

Gracious Leadership Pre-Sales Now Available

7 December 2017

We’re excited to announce that Gracious Leadership: Lead Like You’ve Never Led Before is now available via pre-sale through our website!

A limited supply is available and orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis. The books will be shipped beginning the second week of January.

Please provide special instructions in your order if you would like a signed copy of the book.

Order now!

Why Gracious Leadership?

6 December 2017

You might wonder why it was important to me that I write a book about Gracious Leadership.

There are two primary reasons. When I started my journey as a young leader, I could not find any book that readily defined the specific qualities and competencies required to achieve my personal mission as an aspiring leader – that being, to lead my teams with uncompromising respect to achieve peak performance results within a work environment that they revered.

As a new MBA in 1978, I simply did the best I could to be a respectful leader who guided my teams to achieve the right results. Thankfully, I was blessed to work for some incredible mentors who showed me the way by the great examples they set.

Fast forward almost 40 years… When I decided to leave my full time role in hospital administration in 2015, I reflected a lot about my journey as a leader and those mentors who had inspired me.

I was struck with the reality that four decades later, we still did not have ready access to a “how to” book about becoming a good and gracious, peak performance leader in a fully respectful environment.

As a result, I found myself becoming intrigued about writing such a book to memorialize the important lessons of respect in leadership and life that I had been blessed to learn throughout the years.

In the spirit of transparency, my passion to pursue this work grew exponentially in 2016 – 2017 as I, like you, found myself bombarded by the media with a seemingly endless proliferation of sad, but true stories of toxic and negative, high profile leaders. I thought to myself, “Enough is enough.”

I decided that remaining silent on the issue of negative leadership was not an option. Instead of falling prey to the adverse impact of highly visible, toxic leaders, it was time to turn the tables and to focus on all the good that can be achieved, all of the joy that can be derived, and all the value that can be delivered through positive, effective leadership.

In short, I wrote this book to inspire a movement of positive leadership… indeed to create a world full of good and gracious, effective and respectful leaders…the type of leaders that inspire teams to achieve greatness. And equally as important, my big dream is to fill our world with role model leaders that we want our children, our grandchildren and the leaders of the future to emulate.

The second reason I wrote Gracious Leadership is both personal and pragmatic. Simply put, books last longer than people, and because the key ingredients of Gracious Leadership are timeless, I wanted to leave these lessons of respectful leadership and life for the generations that will follow.

At a time in our history when civility and decency have been significantly diminished within many environments, aspiring leaders now have an opportunity to step up and serve as fully respectful, peak performance leaders.

 Now is the time for Gracious Leadership, a positive leadership movement – and now is your time to make a profound difference as a good and gracious leader! Come along with us. Join us today and lead like you’ve never led before!

What is Gracious Leadership?

30 November 2017

In today’s cut-throat, get-ahead-at-all-costs world, the idea of showing basic decency towards one another has sadly been pushed to the side. Yet, the power of respectful, positive and gracious leadership can be more impactful now than ever before.

Gracious leaders stand apart because they have a better way. Leaders who listen with purpose, recognize they don’t have all the answers, and demonstrate uncompromising respect to all are better equipped to lead their teams to peak performance.

Let’s get real. Great employees want to work for positive, gracious leaders because they want to feel respected, they want to know their work is meaningful and they want to feel appreciated for the value they are providing. Simply put, they want to know they are making a difference! This is true for employees of all ages, and it’s especially a priority for millennials.

Gracious Leadership is not soft stuff. Much to the contrary, Gracious Leadership is a proven, strategic approach through which you can lead your team to peak performance through being fully respectful in how you lead.

Gracious Leadership includes 13 key ingredients. All of the key ingredients are required, and no shortcuts are allowed.

Come along with us in this positive leadership movement and lead like you’ve never led before… starting today!