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March 27, 2024 - April 12, 2025
leadership is influence. If people can increase their influence with others, they can lead more effectively.
Leadership is a process, not a position.
The challenge of leadership is to create change and facilitate growth. Those require movement, which, as you will soon see, is inherent in moving up from one level of leadership to the next.
Good leadership isn’t about advancing yourself. It’s about advancing your team.
Lead people well and help members of your team to become effective leaders, and a successful career path is almost guaranteed.
gentle answer turns away every wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger,”
When you like people and treat them like individuals who have value, you begin to develop influence with them.
You can like people without leading them, but you cannot lead people well without liking them.
Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.
Level 4 leaders reproduce themselves.
Nobody achieves anything great by giving the minimum. No teams win championships without making sacrifices and giving their best.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership states, “Leadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness.”
“If you think you’re leading but no one is following, then you are only taking a walk.”
“Leadership is accepting people where they are, then taking them somewhere.”
“Don’t tell me what you’re going to do, show me what you’re going to do!”
“No man is a leader until his appointment is ratified in the minds and the hearts of his men.”
The only way to improve an organization is to grow and improve the leaders. If you want to make an impact, start with yourself.
“Leadership is much less about what you do, and much more about who you are
Clearly, if leaders have a strong set of ethical values and live them out, then people will respect them, not just their position.
People with different personalities, different approaches, different values succeed not because one set of values or practices is superior, but because their values and practices are genuine.
Good leadership is about walking beside people and helping them to climb up the hill with you.
King-of-the-hill leaders create a negative work environment because they are insecure and easily threatened.
Good leaders leave an organization when they have to follow bad leaders. Good workers leave an organization when the work environment is poor.
“If you don’t invest very much, then defeat doesn’t hurt very much and winning is not very exciting.”
Good leaders don’t take anything for granted.
You must make it your responsibility to learn who they are, find out what they need, and help them and the team win.
Who the person is and the work he does is what really matters. If the work is significant and adds value to people, then it doesn’t need to come with a title.
prevalent attitude is one of serving others and bringing out the best in the people they work with.
an ideal leader as somebody who can develop a vision of what he or she wants their business unit, their activity to do and be. Somebody who is able to articulate to the entire unit what the business is, and gain through a sharing of discussion—listening and talking—an acceptance of the vision. And [someone who] then can relentlessly drive implementation of that vision to a successful conclusion.
“When leaders learn to see the personalities that lie behind these seemingly humble titles [drivers, guards, and servants], the people in those jobs do not just feel appreciated, they discover and walk into new horizons of their lives. They become great performers at what they do. They find personal fulfillment.”
As a leader on Level 2, your goals should be to become aware of the uniqueness of people and learn to appreciate their differences. You need to let them know that they matter, that you see them as individual human beings, not just workers. This attitude makes a positive impact on people, and it strengthens your leadership.
As a leader, my goal should have been to help people, not to make them happy.
I hope you will choose to build relationships. I made that choice early in my leadership life, and though I have been hurt and I’ve occasionally had others take advantage of me, I don’t regret it. Most people respect the relationship, treat it the right way, and add great value to me.
“Do you know how I identify someone who needs encouragement? If the person is breathing they need a pat on the back!”
If you want people to be positive and to always be glad when they see you coming, encourage them. If you become the chief encourager of the people on your team, they will work hard and strive to meet your positive expectations.
attitude. If the issue is attitude, the time to let that person know there is a problem is now, because here is the deal: we hire people for what they know and fire them for who they are.”
Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
Have I invested enough in the relationship to be candid with them? Do I truly value them as people? Am I sure this is their issue and not mine? Am I sure I’m not speaking up because I feel threatened? Is the issue more important than the relationship? Does this conversation clearly serve their interests and not just mine? Am I willing to invest time and energy to help them change? Am I willing to show them how to do something, not just say what’s wrong? Am I willing and able to set clear, specific expectations?
Do it quickly—shovel the pile while it’s small. Do it calmly, never in anger—use the caring candor checklist. Do it privately—you want to help the person, not embarrass him or her. Do it thoughtfully, in a way that minimizes embarrassment or intimidation.
“Effective leaders reward dissent, as well as encourage it. They understand that whatever momentary discomfort they experience as a result of being told from time to time that they are wrong is more than offset by the fact that ‘reflective back talk’ increases a leader’s ability to make good decisions.”
become an intentional encourager. Try it out. For the next two weeks, say something encouraging to someone on your team every day. Then watch to see how the person responds. Do that with everyone on your team, and they will not only want to work with you, but they will also get more done.
suspect that the story is apocryphal, but it still proves the point. If we do our work with excellence and help others to be productive, we gain great leadership credibility.
if you aren’t a proven producer, you won’t attract and keep other proven producers.
Good leadership is never based on what someone does by and for himself.
As a leader on Level 3, you must make the Difficult Decision to… Be successful before you try to help others be successful. Hold yourself to a higher standard than you ask of others. Make yourself accountable to others. Set tangible goals and then reach them. Accept responsibility for personal results. Admit failure and mistakes quickly and humbly. Ask from others only what you have previously asked of yourself. Gauge your success on results, not intentions. Remove yourself from situations where you are ineffective.
“Do what you do so well that those who see you do what you do are going to come back to see you do it again and tell others that they should see you do what you do.”
As individuals on the team get to experience small successes, it motivates them to keep going and reach for larger successes. If you want your people to be inspired to win, then reward and celebrate the small daily victories that they achieve. And make them part of your personal victory celebrations whenever possible, giving them as much of the credit as you can. Not only does that motivate people, but it also helps them to enjoy the journey.
Team Members Should Receive Feedback about Their Performance—Team Leaders Should Make That Happen
Believing the best in people usually has a positive return, but sometimes it doesn’t.
High faith in people is both a strength and a weakness of mine. But it’s a weakness I’m willing to live with because the usual benefits are so high. Besides, I’d rather live as a positive person and occasionally get burned than be constantly skeptical and negative. I believe that to a large extent you get what you expect in life. I don’t want to expect the worst for myself or anyone else. People need a positive environment to be productive and thrive.
