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 organizaton 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.

Great Leaders Are Stewards And Servants

Great Leaders Think Strategy First

Great Leaders Take Cues From Reality

Great Leaders Are Often Lost And Lonely

Great Leaders Maintain Perspective

Great Leaders Foster Constructive Argument

Great Leaders Take Risks

Great Leaders Can Identify Bricks And Mortar

Great Leaders Are In Sales

Great Leaders Celebrate In Public And Remediate In Private

Great Leaders Insipire People Beyond Their Boundaries

Great Leaders Are Whole People

Copyright And Licensing

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

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