About Leadership Dispatch

I’m Josh Doody, and these are my leadership principles that I’ve developed over years of leading teams, advising clients through difficult negotiations, building organizations, and working with volunteers.

Sometimes, I had a formal title that included the word “Leader”. Other times it would sort of slowly dawn on me that “Huh, I guess I’m in charge here?”

I am naturally both introverted and introspective, which means I spend a lot of time thinking about what motivates people, but also what de-motivates them. Every now and then I’ll realize that I do something a certain way for a specific reason, usually after trying other ways that just didn’t work.

Once I figure something out, I sort of lock it in as a leadership principle. Leadership Dispatch is where I share these principles with others and keep track of them myself.

Why Leadership Dispatch

I believe that most people will end up leading things without even realizing they are leaders. Everyone knows a CEO or the head of a political party is a leader. But so is the guy who organizes the fantasy football league, or the person who corrals volunteers for the monthly trash pickup team to keep a local road clean. The difference is that the latter examples may not even realize they are leading.

Yet they are leading: they’re guiding or influencing other people to try to achieve something.

Some people intuitively know how to guide their compatriots to get a desired result. They’re natural leaders just like some folks are natural athletes, natural musicians, naturally funny, etc.

But for most people—for the rest of us—leadership does not come naturally and is instead a skill which they may choose to hone over time.

Leadership Dispatch is for the rest of us.

It’s a simple set of principles that anyone can use to lead more effectively.

How to use Leadership Dispatch

This is a leadership reference, not a guide or a textbook. There are no stories here because this is meant to be something you can quickly refer to for a new idea or clarity on an idea you already have. If you see a principle that makes you go, “Huh. Interesting.”, read it and see if maybe you can apply it in your next meeting or to help complete your next task.

These principles are also designed to be easily shared in context, especially with other leaders you might be training or mentoring. “The other day I mentioned this and thought it might help to see what I have in mind…” And you can share a link to one principle knowing it’ll take the recipient 20 seconds to read and digest it.

While it would be amazing if someone says, “I read the Leadership Dispatch and it totally changed my leadership philosophy!”, that’s not what it’s for. I’m hoping for something more like, “I saw this principle on Leadership Dispatch and I realized I had never really thought about that before.”