Leadership and Main: A Blog on Leadership in Local Communities

The Ungratefulness of Leadership

James Albright 11.29.2021

A blog post title of Ungratefulness of Leadership could be misleading to the reader. When you first read it, your mind will go one of two ways. It may go in the direction of ungratefulness you feel from the people you lead or the ungratefulness from those we follow. Neither of these apply to the direction we are going to go. A few years back, we were studying a book with our leadership team. I do not recall the specific book, but I do recall a moment from a follow up group discussion that stuck with me. Whatever the topic was, we were on our high horse as

The Power of Stories

James Albright 11.22.2021

We can easily underestimate the power of stories in leadership. We all have a story, they just read differently. Our stories are written in different fonts, sentence structures, and lengths. Some are written in blogs, told in front of audiences, or shared over a campfire. Our stories are one of the most powerful tools we have in connecting with another human being. My first job was at Media Play. Media Play was a retail store with a computer section, CD section (compact disk for the younger readers), toy section, and a book section. They no longer exist, and I think I know why. Their hiring practices were highly

Stewardship of the Seat

James Albright 11.15.2021

Leaders are responsible for the stewardship of the seat they sit in. Every leader currently occupies a seat in their leadership journey in the form of a position. Stewardship in leadership is taking good care of the people and the organization while you are serving in that seat. Do not confuse it for ownership. Ownership is more permanent and possessive. We do not own the seat, we are simply stewards of it. My first seat in leadership was as the Director of Parks, Recreation, and Community Resources for the City of Acworth. I served in that role for more than sixteen years before being appointed City Manager back

What Champions Are Made Of

James Albright 11.08.2021

Ever wanted to know what champions are made of? Look no further than the 2021 Atlanta Braves who just won the Major League Baseball World Series. If you are a fan of one of the twenty-nine other teams who did not win it, just bear with me. There are plenty of lessons packed into the Braves championship run that will benefit you in your season of leadership. Being a Georgia native, I have been a Braves fan all my life. I watched them go from worst to first in 1991, win 14 consecutive division titles, come up short in four World Series (1991,1992,1996,1999), and win our last World

What Is Serendipity?

James Albright 10.31.2021

What is serendipity? I would venture to bet that most people cannot rattle off the definition of this word without looking it up or using the Google. My vocabulary may not be the most expansive, but I have known this definition by heart since the age of sixteen. In the rare circumstance the word comes up in conversation, I end up seeming smarter than I really am for knowing it! I started playing football and baseball at a young age. In middle school I picked up a basketball and started wrestling. I was able to catch onto both sports pretty quickly. The problem was that these two sports

Unconditional Service

James Albright 10.25.2021

Unconditional service is the mark of a great leader. According to Webster’s Dictionary the word unconditional is defined as, “not conditional or limited.” Therefore, the concept of unconditional service comes with no strings attached. Nothing is expected in return. Serving others who can do nothing at all for you in return is the ultimate form of unconditional service. A few weeks ago, I got to attend one of my favorite events of the year, the Cobb Chamber of Commerce’s Public Safety Breakfast. At the event, the best of the best in public safety are celebrated. The event recognizes the extraordinary service of individuals and teams in the world

Landscaping and Leadership

James Albright 10.18.2021

Landscaping and leadership both require growth. I had the opportunity to connect over Coffee with Reagan Hines last week. Reagan owns Lakewood Landscape Management in the community and has followed Leadership and Main since the beginning. We share a mutual interest in landscaping. His business is landscaping. My career started in that world with the maintenance of parks and sports fields. That experience gave me a decent understanding of what goes into landscaping. It grew my understanding of turf grass management, irrigation, fertilization and weed control. In my early twenties, I tried to attend every Georgia Recreation and Parks Association training that I could and worked to create

How Great Coaches Win

James Albright 10.11.2021

Want to know how great coaches win? Styles vary, but they all have several things in common. Key factors that separate good coaches and great ones. One thing has been consistent in my thirty-nine years of existence on planet earth, sports. Either as a player or a coach, sports has always been a part of my life. As a player and coach, our teams played against great teams which were led by great coaches. Ones that knew how to win. Since it is Fall, we will focus this post on the sport of football. One that I am extremely familiar with as I spent twenty-one years of

Driving While Influencing

James Albright 10.03.2021

Great leaders could get busted driving while influencing every day. I caught my grandfather doing this in one of the most influential car rides in my life. The moment took place as a nine-year-old in the back of his extended cab Ford Ranger. I don’t mean the spacious crew cabs of today, but where the seats faced each other and shoulder room was limited! Paw Paw and his friend Billy were having a conversation in the front seat as if I did not exist. He was telling his friend that I was going to make something of myself. I remember the words clear as day. Those words would

Leaders Should Vacation Well

James Albright 09.27.2021

Leaders should vacation well. I regularly write about a group I am in with some leaders in our local community. In one of our discussions over lunch, we talked about this concept that leaders should vacation well. We work hard to perform well in our career, but do we apply the same effort to vacation well? Our work worlds move fast. We run ourselves in the ground to a point where we desire and look forward to a vacation. In those moments, the upcoming vacation can never get here soon enough. The intent of this blog is to help leaders make the turn from ordinary to extraordinary.