01The Framework
Taking the mystery out of leadership.
Many committed leaders confess: “I don’t really know how to practice leadership.” The question they ask in every setting is, “What do I actually do to lead well?” Lead, Develop, Care answers: “What should I do today to lead well?”
02The crisis
A crisis of uncertainty and a crisis of hope.
Barna Group research on the “connected generation” found that 82% of young adults affirm that “society is facing a crisis of leadership because there are not enough good leaders right now.”
The crisis of leadership is real. But it is not hopeless.
03The fog
A thousand pieces, no picture on the box.
There is no shortage of leadership books, theories and advice. Yet leaders struggle to translate what they know into what they do, day after day.
“It was as though leaders had been handed a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle, with all the pieces scattered across a table but no picture on the box.”
04Three responsibilities
LDC is not another leadership model. It is the organizing framework that brings together everything else you know about leadership — “the foundation upon which you can build, not another room in an already crowded house.” It doesn’t ask you to throw out what you know.
- Lead
- Help people know where they are going and why.
- Develop
- Help people grow, improve, and reach their potential.
- Care
- Know people, by connecting, providing, and protecting them.
05What makes LDC different
- 01
Simple, not simplistic
Three responsibilities you can explain in five minutes and spend years mastering.
- 02
Comprehensive
Every legitimate leadership principle or practice fits somewhere within it.
- 03
Practical
A daily operating system for leaders making real decisions with real consequences. Every part translates into actions.
- 04
Universal
Fortune 500 company, non-profit, family or volunteer team: the applications change, the foundation holds.
06Three standards
- Values-based
- Culturally relevant
- Works across cultures, not built on American assumptions. The principles stay consistent; the application fits the people and culture.
- Functionally effective
- Works in the real world, with real people, facing real challenges.
07Four core values
- Intentional
- Initiate with purpose. Good leadership doesn’t happen automatically.
- Relational
- Connect with people. People are your greatest asset.
- Illustrational
- Don’t just speak the message; be the message.
- Developmental
- Lead with a developmental mindset. Help others grow, succeed and reach their potential.
08Two challenges
- 1. Rethink your thinking about leadership.
- 2. Lead intentionally — person by person, not just department by department. Are you helping each team member grow? Providing the direction they need? Investing in their development? Showing genuine care?
09Where it came from
Rooted in the shepherd.
The framework is rooted in the image of the shepherd, who guides, protects, provides for and cares for those entrusted to him — an image of leadership found in ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon and Greece, and in Psalm 23.
Paul Stanley, a West Point graduate, author and international leader developer, identified the three responsibilities in the mid-1980s. Tom Yeakley and Terry Cook joined him to build them into a full framework with tools, exercises, seminars and coaching, while studying leaders from Lincoln and Churchill to Covey, Collins, Greenleaf, and Kouzes & Posner.
Taught for more than twenty years, the framework has reached more than 20,000 leaders from over 90 countries on all six inhabited continents — from Kenya to Korea, the US and Europe.
The crisis of leadership is real.
The uncertainty is real.
The need for hope is real.
But so is the opportunity to make a difference.
Let’s take the mystery out of leadership — and equip more leaders to lead well.