SUCCEEDING WITH THREE CHALLENGES THAT DERAIL LEADERS

A Great post by Dan Rockwell

Three Challenges that Derail Leaders:

Challenge #1: Self-development during seasons of success.

Talent’s halo makes you over-estimate your abilities and under-estimate your need for growth.

I often ask audiences to raise their hands if they’re smarter than the person sitting beside them. We all laugh, but there’s a hint of truth behind the smiles.

Leaders who do everything well are confused.

Challenge #2: Living by priorities rather than urgencies.

Urgencies make you feel important, but sticking to priorities makes you a leader.

Three things that obscure priorities:

1. Pressure.
2. Problems.
3. Opportunity.

The most dangerous urgency is opportunity. Priorities enable “no.”

Challenge #3: Pouring into yourself as you pour out for others.

You ran out of steam because you poured out but didn’t pour in.

Warning phrases include:

1. “I’ll take time off after…”
2. “Just this time.”
3. “I just need to finish this, before…”

Don’t justify poor decisions by suggesting you’ll do it right next time.

An excuse is permission for failure to continue.

Succeeding with the three challenges:

Jim Parker, retired CEO of Southwest Airlines, gave me a surprising answer to winning at leadership’s challenges. He was CEO during 9/11.

It’s been five years since we talked, but I still remember him saying, “Be yourself.”

I keep relearning the wisdom behind those underwhelming words.

1. Frequently reflect on yourself and your journey.
2. Define your values.
3. Connect with mentors and coaches who help you find and express your best self. Avoid mentors who pressure you to be like them.
4. Define yourself by who you are, not who others expect you to be. This is the leaders journey.

Being yourself is never an excuse for laziness, indulgence, or flaunting weaknesses.

Be yourself or someone else will define you.

What derailing challenges might you add to my list of three?

Tem Leadership lessons I learned from George Washington by Tony Morgan

A Great Post by Tony!

Over the holidays, I had the opportunity to read Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. This biography of our first president won a Pulitzer Prize.

As you might imagine, there are many leadership lessons to be learned from studying the life of George Washington. These are ten that stood out to me:

1. My character and integrity, good or bad, will shape the culture of the entire organization.

   “Washington believed that courage and cowardice originated from the top of an army. As he wrote during the American Revolution: ‘This is the true secret . . . that wherever a regiment is well officered, the men have behaved well—when otherwise, ill—the [misconduct]or cowardly behavior always originating with the officers, who have set the example.’”

2. Don’t pursue leadership, let it come to me.

   “The hallmark of Washington’s career was that he didn’t seek power but let it come to him.”

3. People are watching for my reaction.

   “One lesson he had learned from the French and Indian War was that fear was contagious in battle, especially among inexperienced troops.”

4. Seek the counsel of other wise leaders.

   “Equipped with keen powers of judgment rather than originality, he was at his best when reacting to options presented by others. Once he made up his mind, it was difficult to dislodge him from his opinion, so thoroughly had he plumbed things through to the bottom.”

5. Embrace contrary opinions.

   “It was true that Washington surrounded himself with loyal men, but he never walled himself off from contrary opinion or tried to force his views on his generals.”

6. Freely acknowledge the contributions of others.

   “Never loath to credit his officers, Washington trumpeted Wayne’s virtues to Congress: ‘He improved upon the plan recommended by me and executed it in a manner that does signal honor to his judgment and to his bravery.’”

7. Believe the best in others.

   “As a stalwart realist, he thought it dangerous to demand perfection from any human production and questioned ‘the propriety of preventing men from doing good, because there is a possibility of their doing evil.’”

8. Expect unity from the team.

   “Through his tolerant attitude, he created a protective canopy under which subordinates could argue freely, but once decisions were made, he wanted the administration to speak with one voice.”

9. Don’t make decisions too quickly.

   “Hamilton concurred that the president ‘consulted much, pondered much; resolved slowly, resolved surely.’ By delaying decisions, he made sure that his better judgment prevailed over his temper.”

10. Stay focused.

    Washington had a “tenacity of purpose, his singular ability to stalk a goal with all the resources at his disposal,” and “George Washington possessed the gift of inspired simplicity, a clarity and purity of vision that never failed him.”

What you may not know about me is that I’m a political junkie. Even though I have a business degree, my Master of Public Administration was obtained through the School of Political Science. In particular, I love presidential politics. The history. The strategy. The leadership. The personalities. It’s all fascinating to me.

WHEN TO BRING IT UP – WHEN TO LET IT GO

A great post by Dan Rockwell!

Leaders who bring up every little failure, issue, or shortcoming are irritating nags. They can’t let it go. 

When you blab on about trivialities, talented people want to pull their hair out. Or they want to grab yours.

Let it go:

Leaders who dig into small issues waste their talent on trivialities.

1. Mind your business.
   • Insecurity expresses itself as a need to know everything.
   • Arrogance makes you believe you can fix people.
   • Meddling inspire apprehension – apprehension slows progress.
2. Establish priorities. Leaders without priorities chase rabbits and discourage teams. The only way to let go of insignificant behaviors is to do what matters now. You aren’t worthy to lead until you know what  matters now.
3. Lean toward silence with a smile. Most extroverted leaders talk too much. The only thing worse than an excited extrovert is a cloistered introvert. At least you know what the extrovert thinks. Both create anxiety.
4. Establish reporting only where issues matter.
5. Protect your headspace. On a scale of 1-10, how much does this issue matter?Let others worry about 6’s or 7’s.

Bring it up if:

1. The failure is about character. Being on time doesn’t take a high IQ.
2. You expect others to take action. Stop expressing opinions. Are you simply blabbing on because you’re in love with your own voice, or do you expect something to change?
3. You hear excuses, rather than responsibility.
4. It’s a pattern. Once is fine – three times, it’s time to talk.
5. Others fall below their capabilities.
   • What are their strengths?
   • Are they able?
   • How much improvement is possible?
6. They aspire to be better? Don’t pour yourself into those who don’t care.
7. You can adjust their role away from failure or weakness.

Bonus: Bring it up, if they’re working to improve, but persistently frustrated.