In a casual conversation this morning, Jenny Pratt told about her daughter Madison’s current third grade English assignment, which included writing Cinquain poetry*.  Not knowing anything about this type of poetry I was intrigued and thought it might be fun to write some for a blog post.

Leadership
responsibility opportunity
communicating inspiring encouraging
Making a difference today
Possible

Leader
servant collaborator
developing focusing learning
Skills for greater results
You

I found writing these to be fun and instructive.  The exercise required me to think about how I feel and what I believe about leadership and leaders.  because of my experience, I encourage you to make this exercise one of your next leadership activities.

Here are a couple of ways to do that:

– Send a note to all of the members of your leadership development program to read this and even write one themselves – to share at the next leadership team meeting or training session.

– Write yours and share it here as a comment to this blog post!

Not only is the exercise creative (and who can’t benefit from exercising their creativity?), but it will help us all develop the leadership skills of reflection and learning.

*From reading Wikipedia, it appears that there are many varations of cinquain.  I chose the type above because that is what I learned from Madison (through Jenny).

Want more articles like this?

Subscribe to any of our e-newsletters to get them delivered directly to your inbox.

Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

Share your thoughts

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}