Leadership occurs as conscious choice carried out as actions. Everyone has the ability to carry out acts of leadership. Therefore, everyone is a potential leader.

For leadership to be appropriate and effective, acts of leadership need to be tuned to the receptivity of those whose behaviour the aspiring leader seeks to influence. Tuning leadership requires the ability to perceive and discern meaningful signals from people and, more importantly, the system and environment in which they work.

As leaders, the choices we make and the actions we carry out are organic with our environment. That is, leaders are influenced by their environments (often in ways that are not easily perceived), and on the other hand influence their environments in ways that can have a powerful impact on business performance, organizational structures and the well-being of people. Leaders who are conscious of this bidirectional dynamic can greatly improve their ability to sense and respond to the needs of their customers, their organizations and the people with whom they interact in their work.

The following list is one way of describing the set of capabilities that such leaders can develop over time. They are – in short – ‘Acts of Leadership’.

Create Identity: Real leaders understand that identity rules. They work with the reality that “Who?” comes first (“Who are we?”), then “Why?” (“Why do we do what we do?”).
Focus on Customers:Real leaders help everyone in their organization focus on understanding and fulfilling the needs of customers. This is, ultimately, how “Why?” is answered.
Cultivate a Service Orientation:Real leaders design and evolve transparent systems for serving the needs of customers. A leader’s effectiveness in this dimension can be gauged both by the degree of customer satisfaction with deliverables and to the extent which those working in the system are able to self-organize around the work.
Limit Work-In-Progress: Real leaders know the limits of the capacity of systems and never allow them to become overburdened. They understand that overburdened systems also mean overburdened people and dissatisfied customers.
Manage Flow: Real leaders leverage transparency and sustainability to manage the flow of customer-recognizable value through the stages of knowledge discovery of their services. The services facilitated by such leaders is populated with work items whose value is easily recognizable by its customers and the delivery capability of the service is timely and predictable (trustworthy).
Let People Self-Organize: As per #3 above, when people doing the work of providing value to customers can be observed as self-organizing, this is a strong indication that there is a real leader doing actions 1-5 (above).
Measure the Fitness of Services (Never People):Real leaders never measure the performance of people, whether individuals, teams or any other organization structure. Rather, real leaders, practicing actions 1-6 (above) understand that the only true metrics are those that provide signals about customers’ purposes and the fitness of services for such purposes. Performance evaluation of people is a management disease that real leaders avoid like the plague.
Foster a Culture of Learning: Once a real leader has established all of the above, people involved in the work no longer need be concerned with “safe boundaries”. They understand the nature of the enterprise and the risks it takes in order to pursue certain rewards. With this understanding and the transparency and clear limits of the system in which they work, they are able to take initiative, run experiments and carry out their own acts of leadership for the benefit of customers, the organization and the people working in it. Fear of failure finds no place in environments cultivated by real leaders. Rather, systematic cycles of learning take shape in which all can participate and contribute. Feedback loop cadences enable organic organizational structures to evolve naturally towards continuous improvement of fitness for purpose.
Encourage Others to Act as Leaders: Perhaps the highest degree of leadership is when other people working with the “real leader” begin to emerge as real leaders themselves. At this level, it can be said that the culture of learning has naturally evolved into a culture of leadership.
Stay Humble:Real leaders never think that they have it all figured out or that they have reached some higher state of consciousness that somehow makes them superior to others in any way. They are open and receptive to the contributions of others and always seek ways to improve themselves. Such humility also protects them from the inevitable manipulations of charlatans who will, form time to time, present them with mechanical formulas, magic potions, palm readings and crystal ball predictions. Real leaders keep both feet on the ground and are not susceptible to the stroking of their egos.

If you live in Toronto, and you would like to join a group of people who are thinking together about these ideas, please feel welcome to join the KanbanTO Meetup.

This article was adapted from a session proposal to Toronto Agile Conference 2018.

If you found this useful, please consider contributing with our
“Value for Value” model.

Kanban System Design® (KMPI)

22 to 23 JAN 2025 (2 days) - Starting Wednesday - Online - David Vicentin
C$2150.00 Register Now
- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -

This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.

This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.

Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)

EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!

Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed

Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read More

Location:

Online

Date:

Wed 22-Jan-2025
Thu 23-Jan-2025

Time:

09:00 AM to 04:30 PM (EST)
Trainer:
David Vicentin

Senior Agile/Lean Consultant
About Trainer

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from operatives to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing personal performance for coaches and improving their business environment, overall.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

High profile clients include Scotiabank, Honda, Volkswagen, Saint Gobain, Nortel Networks, Sherwin Williams, Coca-Cola, SITA, HSBC, Four Seasons and Rolls Royce. David has lead projects and workshops in materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas.

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from staff to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing performance and improving business results. David is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and trainer at all organizational levels.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

Recently, David has increased his focus on business results with coaching and training on design thinking, lean startup, marketing, sales, product management and business strategy.

David has lead projects and workshops in marketing, materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas. David specializes in Productivity Techniques, Management Systems and, Finance focused to increase business results.

David coordinates and leads projects in many countries as he is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

David joined BERTEIG in July 2017.

Select Client List:

Financial Services: HSBC, Mastercard, Scotiabank, Great West Life, Concentra, BMO

Automotive: Honda, Volkswagon, Rolls Royce, Trader.ca, Alberta Motor Association (AMA)

Healthcare: Sick Kids Foundation, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Other: Coca-Cola, LoyaltyOne, SITA, HOOPP

Certifications and Accreditations:

Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT), Team Kanban Practitioner (TKP), Kanban Management Professional (KMP)

Certified Scrum Professional (CSP-SM), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Product Owner (CSPO)

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (LSSMBB), Design Thinking Trainer (DTT)

Leadership Circle Profile (LCP), Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), ICAgile Certified Trainer

BSc. Production Engineering (POLI-USP), Master in Finance and Economics (Fundacao Getulio Vargas – FGV)

Experience Summary:

Over 20 years’ experience in designing and delivering training, coaching, consulting and mentoring on business topics, Lean Six Sigma and Agile Methods.

Testimonials:

“Derived from the fact that our organization has approximately 100,000 employees, it is an organization with a lot of structure, processes, protocols, therefore the projects carried out have long and bureaucratic project flows, however, due to needs and priorities we challenge ourselves to be able to perform a disruptive technological tool, with the objective that thousands of our employees are empowered and have a virtual library of contents and information that will help them to fulfill their roles.
With this Agile accompaniment we have broken paradigms, in this specific project, Agile techniques (Scrum) has given us the necessary support to convince employees that change of mentality, mainly with a collaboration approach, incremental deliveries, better way in the form of negotiation with internal clients, external (suppliers) and the most important thing as we do from day 1 more tangible results.
Thanks to Coach David we have found the right paths in the way that intervenes and guides us promptly in the project.” (translated from Spanish) – Andrés L Nava, Talent Development Leader, Coca-Cola
Kanban System Design® (KMPI)

18 to 19 FEB 2025 (2 days) - Starting Tuesday - Online - David Vicentin
Early-bird Discount! C$2150.00 C$1827.50 Until 04-Feb Register Now
- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -

This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.

This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.

Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)

EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!

Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed

Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read More

Location:

Online

Date:

Tue 18-Feb-2025
Wed 19-Feb-2025

Time:

09:00 AM to 04:30 PM (EST)
Trainer:
David Vicentin

Senior Agile/Lean Consultant
About Trainer

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from operatives to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing personal performance for coaches and improving their business environment, overall.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

High profile clients include Scotiabank, Honda, Volkswagen, Saint Gobain, Nortel Networks, Sherwin Williams, Coca-Cola, SITA, HSBC, Four Seasons and Rolls Royce. David has lead projects and workshops in materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas.

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from staff to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing performance and improving business results. David is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and trainer at all organizational levels.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

Recently, David has increased his focus on business results with coaching and training on design thinking, lean startup, marketing, sales, product management and business strategy.

David has lead projects and workshops in marketing, materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas. David specializes in Productivity Techniques, Management Systems and, Finance focused to increase business results.

David coordinates and leads projects in many countries as he is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

David joined BERTEIG in July 2017.

Select Client List:

Financial Services: HSBC, Mastercard, Scotiabank, Great West Life, Concentra, BMO

Automotive: Honda, Volkswagon, Rolls Royce, Trader.ca, Alberta Motor Association (AMA)

Healthcare: Sick Kids Foundation, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Other: Coca-Cola, LoyaltyOne, SITA, HOOPP

Certifications and Accreditations:

Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT), Team Kanban Practitioner (TKP), Kanban Management Professional (KMP)

Certified Scrum Professional (CSP-SM), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Product Owner (CSPO)

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (LSSMBB), Design Thinking Trainer (DTT)

Leadership Circle Profile (LCP), Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), ICAgile Certified Trainer

BSc. Production Engineering (POLI-USP), Master in Finance and Economics (Fundacao Getulio Vargas – FGV)

Experience Summary:

Over 20 years’ experience in designing and delivering training, coaching, consulting and mentoring on business topics, Lean Six Sigma and Agile Methods.

Testimonials:

“Derived from the fact that our organization has approximately 100,000 employees, it is an organization with a lot of structure, processes, protocols, therefore the projects carried out have long and bureaucratic project flows, however, due to needs and priorities we challenge ourselves to be able to perform a disruptive technological tool, with the objective that thousands of our employees are empowered and have a virtual library of contents and information that will help them to fulfill their roles.
With this Agile accompaniment we have broken paradigms, in this specific project, Agile techniques (Scrum) has given us the necessary support to convince employees that change of mentality, mainly with a collaboration approach, incremental deliveries, better way in the form of negotiation with internal clients, external (suppliers) and the most important thing as we do from day 1 more tangible results.
Thanks to Coach David we have found the right paths in the way that intervenes and guides us promptly in the project.” (translated from Spanish) – Andrés L Nava, Talent Development Leader, Coca-Cola
Kanban System Design® (KMPI)

11 to 12 MAR 2025 (2 days) - Starting Tuesday - Online - David Vicentin
Early-bird Discount! C$2150.00 C$1827.50 Until 25-Feb Register Now
- Improve Knowledge Work Productivity -

This 2-day workshop - Kanban System Design (KSD) - also known as 'Kanban for Real Agility®' - provides you with the fundamentals of the Kanban Method® . It is designed specifically for leaders starting their organization on the gentler path towards Real Agility™. This learning event is ideal for you if you are responsible for the delivery of a service. Learn the concepts of flow, pull, classes of service, and learn to deal with interruptions and multi-tasking. Learn the Systems Thinking Approach To Implementing Kanban (STATIK) through a multi-step interactive case study review.

This KSD course, (formerly known as Kanban Management Professional 1 - KMP I), is the first of two courses towards the Kanban Management Professional (KMP) credential. The KSD is the prerequisite to the Kanban Systems Improvement course (KSI). By completing both this course (KSD) and the KSI, participants can earn their KMP credential with Kanban University®.

Key Benefits
- Participate in a Kanban simulation for immersive learning
- Design your service's Kanban board with guidance from our Kanban experts
- Start your Kanban adoption and in evolving your system
- Earn 16 PDUs | 16 SEUs
- Obtain your Kanban University® KSD certificate
- Completion of this and the KSI class will earn you the Kanban University® KMP credential
- Get a profile listing on the Kanban University® alumni page
- We are a Registered Education Provider with Kanban University® and PMI®
- Taught by and overseen by Accredited Kanban Trainers (AKT's)

EXCLUSIVE: Free "Kanban for Managers" e-book written by BERTEIG consultants!

Download the recommended reading by "David J. Anderson and Andy Carmichael":
Essential Kanban Condensed

Please register using a corporate email address, for corporate loyalty program discounts.
Read More

Location:

Online

Date:

Tue 11-Mar-2025
Wed 12-Mar-2025

Time:

09:00 AM to 04:30 PM (EST)
Trainer:
David Vicentin

Senior Agile/Lean Consultant
About Trainer

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from operatives to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing personal performance for coaches and improving their business environment, overall.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

High profile clients include Scotiabank, Honda, Volkswagen, Saint Gobain, Nortel Networks, Sherwin Williams, Coca-Cola, SITA, HSBC, Four Seasons and Rolls Royce. David has lead projects and workshops in materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas.

David Vicentin has delivered Operational Excellence and Agile implementation for the past 20 years as a management consultant. His clients come from diverse industries in North America, South America and Europe.

Working at different organizational levels from staff to senior management, his focus is to achieve sustainably higher results. David has trained, mentored and coached thousands of people for many businesses, with a focus on increasing performance and improving business results. David is a consultant, coach, facilitator, and trainer at all organizational levels.

As an Industrial Engineer, Master in Economics and Finance and Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma, his ability to evolve people results in service delivery which increases value, reduces cost and improves both quality and productivity for his clients.

Facilitator of more than 250 projects using DMAIC, DMADV, RCA, Kaizen, FMEA and SCRUM, he focuses on cost reduction, quality and productivity improvements, cash flow improvement and customer satisfaction.

Recently, David has increased his focus on business results with coaching and training on design thinking, lean startup, marketing, sales, product management and business strategy.

David has lead projects and workshops in marketing, materials/logistics, manufacturing, purchases, finance, sales, R&D and information technology areas. David specializes in Productivity Techniques, Management Systems and, Finance focused to increase business results.

David coordinates and leads projects in many countries as he is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

David joined BERTEIG in July 2017.

Select Client List:

Financial Services: HSBC, Mastercard, Scotiabank, Great West Life, Concentra, BMO

Automotive: Honda, Volkswagon, Rolls Royce, Trader.ca, Alberta Motor Association (AMA)

Healthcare: Sick Kids Foundation, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Other: Coca-Cola, LoyaltyOne, SITA, HOOPP

Certifications and Accreditations:

Accredited Kanban Trainer (AKT), Team Kanban Practitioner (TKP), Kanban Management Professional (KMP)

Certified Scrum Professional (CSP-SM), Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO), Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Product Owner (CSPO)

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt (LSSMBB), Design Thinking Trainer (DTT)

Leadership Circle Profile (LCP), Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP), ICAgile Certified Trainer

BSc. Production Engineering (POLI-USP), Master in Finance and Economics (Fundacao Getulio Vargas – FGV)

Experience Summary:

Over 20 years’ experience in designing and delivering training, coaching, consulting and mentoring on business topics, Lean Six Sigma and Agile Methods.

Testimonials:

“Derived from the fact that our organization has approximately 100,000 employees, it is an organization with a lot of structure, processes, protocols, therefore the projects carried out have long and bureaucratic project flows, however, due to needs and priorities we challenge ourselves to be able to perform a disruptive technological tool, with the objective that thousands of our employees are empowered and have a virtual library of contents and information that will help them to fulfill their roles.
With this Agile accompaniment we have broken paradigms, in this specific project, Agile techniques (Scrum) has given us the necessary support to convince employees that change of mentality, mainly with a collaboration approach, incremental deliveries, better way in the form of negotiation with internal clients, external (suppliers) and the most important thing as we do from day 1 more tangible results.
Thanks to Coach David we have found the right paths in the way that intervenes and guides us promptly in the project.” (translated from Spanish) – Andrés L Nava, Talent Development Leader, Coca-Cola

Berteig is a Canadian education development and delivery firm specializing in helping your company develop knowledge, motivation and skills leading to measurable improvements in quality, speed and happiness.

Acts of Leadership: 10 Things Real Leaders Do (and So Can You)

Travis Birch

If you found this useful, please consider contributing with our
“Value for Value” model.

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Berteig Consulting

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Acts of Leadership: 10 Things Real Leaders Do (and So Can You)

Travis Birch

If you found this useful, please consider contributing with our “Value for Value” model.

Location:

Date:

Time:

Trainer:

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

Location:

Date:

Time:

Trainer:

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

Location:

Date:

Time:

Trainer:

David Vicentin Senior Agile/Lean Consultant

Travis Birch

Berteig Consulting