Lessons For Leaders
===================

In the course of a multi-decade career, it has been my privilege to
work with- and for some terrific leaders.  These people demonstrated
the essential behaviors that make leaders great.  They were generous
with their time, but more importantly, they taught by example.

Leadership roles are now transitioning to the next generation.  I see
so many younger people thrust into these roles without having had the
benefit of this kind of mentoring that was once so common.  So, I
decided to write this to try and distill the core principles that have
served me so well over the years.

I claim none of this as my own.  I'm just a scribbler that took
time to format the great notes given to me ...


Acknowledgements
----------------

**Don Stuart**, Manager, Radar Alaska - Who taught me that the work isn't done
until you're proud of it.

**Zvie Liberman**, President, Talk-A-Phone - Who taught me the centrality of
work discipline.

**Richard Brander**, Director Of Research, Beltone - Who taught me to focus
on very hard problems for long periods of time.

**David Cornwall**, Sr. Architect, United Airlines - Who taught me to integrate
technology and business and then lead upward.

**Mark Teflian**, CTO Nets Inc., President Time0 - Who taught me to be a
relentless advocate for my people.

**Jim Manzi**, President Net Inc. - Who taught me that doing well includes
doing good.

**H. Ross Perot**, EDS and Perot Systems - Who taught me that leaders
begin and end with unimpeachable integrity.


Who Is A Leader?
----------------

We've come to think of leaders as people who are *CEOs* or *Senior
Vice President Of Nothing Important* or some other lofty title.
Implicit in every young person's first promotion to *Manager 1st
Class* is the message, "NOW, you are a leader."

This is nonsense.  In fact, it's a corrosive idea.  First of all, you
manage *things*, but you lead *people, ideas, and strategies*.
Management - even when done at the highest levels - is essentially
glorified bookkeeping.  Yes, it's necessary bookkeeping, but that's
all it is.  It has been my misfortune to see more than a few "great"
managers who were fundamentally lousy leaders.  This ends up being
destructive to the organization and bad for that manager's professional
development.

Secondly, title and pecking order do not correlate directly with
leadership.  It is certainly true that the higher up you move in an
organization, the more "leadership" responsibility accrues to you.
But it does not follow that your new title magically makes you a
leader, let alone a good one.

The truth is that leaders are people that ... exhibit leadership
behaviors.  And here's the great thing, *they exist at every level of
the organization*.  There are leaders to be found among administrative
assistants, bookkeepers, engineers, teachers, soccer moms, and retail
clerks.

The point is that your title doesn't make you a leader.  *Your title
sets the expectation that you will exhibit the behaviors of a leader*.


The Lessons
-----------

Great Leaders Have Permission
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Whatever your title, past accomplishments or educational pedigree,
your people have to give you their permission to be led. This is a
matter of trust.  The Board Of Directors may have just annointed you
CEO and Chairman, but if your people do not find you worthy of their
trust, you will fail.

Trust is not built all at once, but great leaders exhibit daily
behaviors that - over time - create a deep reservoir of trust.  This
is incredibly important when times are bad.  People will hang in there
with you if you've proven yourself to be trustworthy.  They'll do this
even if their jobs are horrible at the moment, or the raises are
lousy, or there have been RIFs and so on.

The inverse is really terrible.  When people do not trust their
leaders, they don't necessarily quit.  More usually, they just take
their foot off the gas, or in the most pathological cases, they will
practice what I call "Malicious Obedience".  They will do *exactly*
what they are told, even though it's the wrong thing.  The feedback
paths every leader needs to succeed will dry up and the wheels will
come off the organization.

I've seen more than one putative leader - even some fairly good ones -
watch their organizaton implode because their behaviors did not
instill trust.


Great Leaders Have Unimpeachable Integrity
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Trust begins with one thing: Integrity.  Leaders usually cannot say
everything people want to know.  But when great leaders speak, you
always know it is the truth, or at least the truth as they understand
it.  People will forgive mistakes, but they will not forgive a lack
of integrity.

Our larger culture is adrift exactly because there has been so much
lying, cheating, and stealing going on that people don't trust the
leadership of our core institutions.  We are in the tragic situation
of people questioning the integrity of their government, their
business leaders, their legal institutions, and even their clergy.

Great leaders shine precisely because they will never, ever stoop to
these behaviors.  They are tough and relentless in their demands on
their people, but those people know - without a doubt - that the
leader in question is indisputably honest.  Large or small, anything
less than this will destroy anyone who aspires to lead.



Great Leaders Are Stewards And Servants
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We think of leaders as being "The Boss" ... and they often are.  But
no matter how senior, how important, how accomplished, or how wealthy
they are, the greatest leaders I've ever worked with see their jobs as
being stewards of their organizations.  They *serve* their company,
their stockholders, and their employees.

These things show up in small ways.  I've had the President of the
company - whom I worked for at the time - offer to get me coffee
because I was nose down in a hard problem.  I've seen one of the most
powerful business execs on the planet pick up the phone to call the
wife of an employee who was very ill - even though that employee was 5
levels down the organization.  This wasn't gladhanding or for PR.  It
was done in private because the CEO knew that they were a steward and
servant and that lady needed comfort.

There is no more repulsive a corporate hack than the person who thinks
they're more important because they have a title or the corner office
or whatever other trappings of power they possess.  *Title gives you
more responsibility, it doesn't make you more important.*

Oh, that reservoir of trust?  It gets deep really fast when people see
their leaders acting like stewards and servants.



Great Leaders Think Strategy First
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Great leaders tend to naturally bubble up in organizations,
incrementally taking on more and more responsibility.  As this
happens, they start offloading the day-to-day minutae of the work and
start focusing on larger, systemic issues.  Instead of focusing on
"Why didn't we ship that on time?", they work on things like, "How do
we improve our processes?" or "Are we structured for success?" or
"With whom should we partner?"

Steve Case at AOL famously said words to the effect of "Vision without
execution is an hallucination."  There is no question that execution
has to be the bedrock of any organizaton.  But great leaders focus on
the larger, meta issues that impede execution systemically.

How much time are your people spending on needless paperwork? Have you
even asked them?  How many of your processes are masking
accountability?  Can you even tell?  How much time do people spend
positioning politically?  Have you noticed? These are the kinds of
larger process and structural issues that great leaders focus on
first.



Great Leaders Are In Sales
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If a great leader has a strategic mind, they have the heartbeat of a
salesperson.  Whether it's the CEO trying to grow customer revenue,
the CTO trying to implement a new mission critical system, or the VP
of HR trying to get an employee wellness program funded, *real leaders
are always selling something.*

Many people are of the opinion that sales is about taking people to
ball games, wining and dining them, slapping them on the back, and
getting them to buy something.  Nothing could be further from the
truth.  Just like buildings or computer systems, effective sales has
an "architecture" to it.  Central to that architecture is that *a sale
can only be made when both parties realize significant value from the
deal.*  Great leaders - at every level - know this.  Their strategic
thinking sets the direction, but their salesmanship exposes the value
of their ideas.

Show me a CEO who isn't constantly in front of customers and I'll show
you a failing CEO.  That's sort of obvious.  But how about the VP Of
Technology who isn't bothering to explain the value of a new system to
their most junior engineers?  How about the Director Of Finance who
never explains the difference between expense and capital burn - and why
it matters how people report their time?  Silly?  Perhaps.  But these
are all "selling" and they're fundamentally important.



Great Leaders Change Direction
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

We all have some philosophy of life, work, politics, and so on.  One
of the hallmarks of great leaders is that they don't get stuck in
their own philosophical rut.  *Great leaders allow Reality to intrude
upon their ideas.* You may have the greatest strategic vision since
Eisenhower invaded Normandy, but if it's not getting traction, it's
time to let Reality modify your vision and direction.

You see this all the time in politics.  People get elected by
identifying with some party or ideological stance.  They get into
office and just cling to that ideology even when it's not remotely
working.  It's a kind of leadership arrogance to believe that your
ideas are more powerful than Reality.

I have watched more than one organization fail because it's leaders
clung to their vision, refused to change direction, and lost entire
markets and new opportunities.  Ask any good investor and they'll
tell you, "You have to shoot your dogs."  You get rid of underperforming
investments.  Great leaders shoot their dog ideas.


Great Leaders Are Often Lost And Lonely
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Leaders carry a mantle of great responsibility.  With it comes a large
body of information.  Leaders know things other people don't ... and
it gets lonely.  That employee everyone is complaining about?  The
one that used to do such good work and now is late all the time?  You
can't tell everyone he's dying of incurable cancer.  The big merger that
will cause you to have to RIF 20% of the workforce?  You can't say a
word.  Great leaders understand that loneliness is a cost of leadership.
They balance it with other behaviors like mentoring and community outreach,
but they never complain about the burden.  It goes with the territory.

It's worth noting that bad leaders crack under the pressure and start
sharing these confidences with their inner circle to try and relieve
the stress of it all.  When they do this, that reservoir of trust
starts to drain pretty quickly.  If the CEO shares some personal
matter about one of your peers with you, what confidence do you have
that he won't share *your* details with someone else?

Great leaders are often lost.  I once had my boss tell me, "I feel so
lost most of the time.  All these people depend on me and I often
haven't got a clue."  That's perfect!  It's exactly where you're
ought to be.  Remember that strategic mind?  By the very definition
of leading to new places, leaders *are* lost.  They're supposed to be.
Great leaders embrace the fact that they're lost in the woods.  In
fact, they'll tell you they are not remotely lost.  They're just
exploring.


Great Leaders Foster Constructive Argument
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In my early career, the corporate culture was "We know what we're
doing.  We have policies and processes.  Do as you're told."
(Everyone chomped at the bit to become a manager so they could be the
ones doing the telling.)  This central command and control model nearly
obliterated a lot of top tier corporate brands in the next several
decades.  A lot of bottom up intelligence wasn't making into
the hands of the leadership.

Great leaders encourage vigorous, constructive confrontation at all
levels of the organization.  They see themselves as referees ensuring
that the prcoess is fair and productive.  They intervene when the
conflict becomes personal or otherwise unprofessional.  This is not to
say that everyone gets a vote.  But confrontation with integrity
creates a much larger marketplace of ideas from which to draw.

This has another huge benefit.  When you watch people in a conflict
of ideas, *the next generation of leaders is showing up*.  Great leaders
are passionate.  "Put me in coach.  Give me the ball."  When you
foster responsible organizational conflict, these people appear
naturally because smart, driven people want to be part of the
discussion.



Great Leaders Can Identify Bricks And Mortar
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

There are generally two kinds of people in any organization.  Some
people are "bricks".  They are the foundation upon which the
organization is built.  They are the day-to-day workers who get their
jobs done well with a minumum of delay or drama.  Like bricks, they
are durable, they are dependable, and they require minimal
maintenance.

Then there are the "mortar" employees.  They hold things together.
Mortar employees are organizational glue.  They cross corporate boundaries
effortlessly.  They move both across and up- and down the org chart.
They are every command and control manager's worst nightmare.  A good
part of the time, you have no idea what they're actually doing.
Like mortar in a wall, there are far fewer of these than bricks and
they can be much higher maintenance.

Great leaders can identify these kinds of people instinctively.  They
groom the bricks for more and more execution responsibility.  They
cling to the mortar as the next generation of leadership. Great
leaders invest especially heavily in their mortar employees.  They
mentor them, they push their boundaries, and they place higher demands
upon them.  Usually, mortar folks are given leadership long before
they're ready for it ... but that's exactly what they thrive on.


Great Leaders Share Success But Take The Blame
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Leadership is fundamentally about getting people to follow you as your
make decisions over incomplete information.  You're asking the
organization to take risk with you.  Since great leaders have that
reservoir of trust, they get to ask for this and they usually get it.

When the risk pays off, *great leaders shine the light on their
people, not themselves.*.  "We took a risk, and YOU people made it pay
off."  One of the signs of a great leader is their language.  They use
the word "we" a lot.  Lousy leaders say "I" when explaining their
organization's successes.  Oh, and that integrity thing?  People can
spot insincere gladhanding in a heartbeat.  When a great leader says
"Good Job!", people warm to it.  When an insincere corporate drone
does it, people snicker behind their backs.

When risk taking fails, great leaders take the blame.  They do not
yell at their people, they do not scream, they do not curse.  They sit
down with their teams and ask "Why did this fail?  What can we learn
from this? What should we do differently next time?"  Great leaders
understand that failure can be a prelude to success because it is a
learning moment.  Their strategic thinking begins to recalculate that
new direction based on the learning the failure brings.





Copyright And Licensing
-----------------------

**Lessons For Leaders** is Copyright (c) 2015 TundraWare Inc., Des Plaines, IL 60018 USA

Permission for unlimited distribution and use of this document is
hereby given so long as this document is reproduced in full.  This
article may also be quoted in any part so long as original attribution
is provided with the quoted material.

Author
------

::

   Tim Daneliuk
   tundra@tundraware.com


Document Revision Information
-----------------------------

::

  $Id: lessons_for_leaders.rst,v 1.106 2015/03/06 23:28:35 tundra Exp $

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