Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Wess Roberts
Read between
May 18 - November 10, 2018
New attitudes about family also affect women who have the potential to become senior executives but who are reluctant to be—or are even opposed to being—deprived of the deep satisfaction of active motherhood. Concurrently, men who missed a strong relationship and shared time with their fathers now focus significant time and attention on their own families.
The second term is loyalty. Loyalty is not mindless obedience. The best leaders, in fact, suspect anyone who thoughtlessly obeys. Loyalty involves choosing sides and issues you can support. You choose to follow those who lead you because they deserve to be followed. You do the best you can in all aspects of your work. You don’t get in your colleagues’ way. And when you need help, you ask for it; when you’re asked for help, you give it. If you can no longer be loyal in these ways, you need the courage to choose another side. Nothing is worse for a leader than the presence of disloyal followers.
You have to learn as chieftains that some things are worth a warrior’s efforts and some are not. Warriors work in positions of responsibility and visibility that can contribute to the future wealth of our tribes and nation only if they fight for us alone.
Warriors and Huns are wise to turn down assignments they don’t believe they can handle—no matter how great the booty promised by the chieftain.
Warriors with high potential turn down assignments that don’t offer an opportunity for them to learn and grow.
A chieftain who can’t find meaningful work for a warrior or Hun does not find a trivial assignment instead. Rather, the chieftain trades unneeded warriors and Huns to a tribe where they can be productive.
Rebels and grumblers must be chastened or they will undermine tribal unity.
If a chieftain ignores top performers, they lose their winning edge. If a chieftain ignores weak performers, they never develop a winning edge.
Chieftains realize that the success of one warrior or Hun in no way diminishes the achievement of another. Warriors and Huns do well to recognize this fact as well.
A wise chieftain reserves some of the booty from rich victories to sustain the tribe during times when booty is less abundant.
Winning chieftains employ only those resources necessary to achieve their goals. Conservation is a cardinal rule for leaders of robust tribes.
Enlightened chieftains never acquire more warriors and Huns than they can afford to feed. The same goes for horses. And enlightened chieftains never accumulate more tools or weapons than their warriors and Huns can properly use and maintain.
Leading is an honor accessible to all, but leadership positions are granted only to those who earn them.
Beware of chieftains who either take or fail to give credit for their subordinates’ accomplishments. Such chieftains are quick to find a scapegoat when they make even a minor mistake.
• The best chieftain a warrior can fight for is the one who accepts both accountability and responsibility for the duties of office—and expects the same from all subordinates.
Acting on dumb decisions doesn’t improve them. Competent warriors avoid acting on a chieftain’s dumb decisions, because following through only makes matters worse.
the young Hunnic prince was too self-assured to be influenced by others’ views of what is possible.
Not for long would the Empire enlist Hunnic warriors as mercenaries to fight for a nation whose prosperity they could never share.
Attila believed nothing is impossible. But to become successful as a nation, the Huns first had to heal any division among them.
Yet war must be fought without restraint and, indeed, with enough cruelty and viciousness to discourage future enemies and to ensure a Hunnic victory.
Huns readily follow a chieftain who improves the quality of their lives; there is no compelling reason to follow one who doesn’t.
Civil wars brought the best units back from the frontiers to defend the throne from usurpers. A decline in the birthrate and an increase in the demand for Roman peasants to do the work once performed by slaves created a shortage of recruits.
• Because an ignored ally becomes indifferent or hostile, the best chieftains nourish even well-established relationships.
Opportunities for turning enemies into allies are ephemeral. Chieftains are sensitive to such moments and take advantage of them.
During the years when Attila was forming his confederacy of Huns, the greatest challenge to the Western Roman Empire was to endure internal wars. An organization’s worst enemies are seldom external. Rather, the most deadly and damaging threats come from those who are so driven toward power that their political maneuvering can destroy the very group in which they seek authority. Power-hungry people distract colleagues from their duties, use institutional resources to gain personal power, and very often create dire outcomes for themselves as well as for innocent bystanders. And so it was even in
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He also understood that many of the attributes that make a warrior great can also cause his or her downfall.
While jealousy is inevitable among chieftains, warriors, and Huns, any Hun’s own personal achievement is demeaned when she or he is tormented by another’s accomplishments or acquisitions.
Anyone who doesn’t make mistakes isn’t trying hard enough.
Chieftains who believe their position is secure don’t comprehend the subtle risks inherent in leadership. You chieftains and warriors must avoid falling victim to your own weaknesses.
In troubled times, a chieftain who shows compassion for the Huns gains their cooperation and support.
Chieftains who extend common courtesy to their warriors and Huns find themselves receiving uncommon loyalty and respect in return.
Chieftains, warriors, and Huns do not expect to be rewarded for every accomplishment, but they expect to be criticized for every mistake.
In times of scarcity, Huns will work for meager booty. The same cannot be said about times of plenty.
Chieftains who themselves desire admiration liberally applaud deserving warriors and Huns.
Every warrior and Hun has not only the right but also the obligation to improve on past performance. Chieftains must honor this right.
Weak chieftains also take advantage of warriors and Huns
Only those Huns who are mediocre are always at their best. Favoritism encourages mediocrity and discourages talent.
Well-qualified candidates alone are to be considered for positions of power.
Huns low in potential but high in ambition are likely to suck up to their chieftain.
Risk-taking is intrinsic to leadership.
I believe that the degree of risk one is expected to take should be commensurate with his or her office.
Chieftains who expect warriors or Huns to take arrows for them breed corruption. No chieftain has the right to blame subordinates for his or her mistakes.
When chieftains punish their warriors and Huns for honest mistakes, they accomplish at least two bad things: First, they kill initiative; second, they discourage future risk-taking.
Early success as a risk-taker is dangerous if it leads a chieftain to be overconfident in taking greater risks in the future.
A chieftain who focuses more sharply on blame for the creation of a problem than on its solution teaches warriors and Huns to avoid responsibility.
Attila recognized the importance of trust in building both solid personal relationships and winning organizations. The king of Huns wished his warriors to be successful as chieftains, so he taught them the meaning of trust.
He was wrong to judge Edecon, a Hun, by the low standards of conduct the Romans hold for themselves.
To be trusted is to be honored. Trust is the basis of strong relationships between friends and colleagues alike.
Chieftains who expect their warriors and Huns to trust them should first trust their warriors and Huns.
Although a well-trained Hun won’t always make the best choice, an untrained Hun is not likely to know a good choice from a bad one. Chieftains who don’t train Huns to make wise choices suffer the consequences.
