More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Learning the lesson - This section focuses on a definition of the principle and some root causes as to why leaders fail at the principle. Adding it up - This section focuses on at least three helpful tips which you as a leader can use to improve your leadership skills. Graduating with honors - This section gives you a summary of the leadership lesson and gives final tips on how to avoid screw-ups of your own.
My goal in writing this book was to make it easy to understand the lesson and take away some valuable nuggets so you can apply lessons FAST!
Credibility breeds acceptance, humor fosters inspiration.
I've had many people in my career try to cozy up to me using humor when I thought they were being insincere. It felt like they just wanted to sell me something and really didn't care about me or my needs.
Use a bit of self-deprecating humor
This works, just don't undercut your own credibility by incessantly telling others what a loser you are.
Explain the reasons when you choose not to take action
Team members deserve to understand the "why" behind how you think a certain way. In the end they may not be happy with your point of view, but at least they will understand why you chose the path you did.
Do what you say, say what you do –
Super important. Don't be all talk and no (or sometimes) action. If you say you're going to do something, follow through 100% of the time.
Beware of “shiny objects” –
Your team needs to know where you want to go and has to have the confidence that you are going to draw as straight of a line as possible to help them get there. Being distracted by shiny objects not only wastes time but creates frustration with the team.
Not wanting an experienced mentor to provide counsel –
This was me earlier in my career. I felt like I knew it all and didn't need nor want others to impart their wisdom. It took several beatings where I got my butt handed to me to get me to think differently. Sadly, the only way some will learn the lesson is to do like I did.
This one is easy; there is truly no such thing as a free lunch; whatever you do is going to take hard work, perseverance, and willingness to achieve your goal.
In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule to gain world-class expertise. The point being that you have to put the work in to really master something and be viewed as a credible expert.
the ability to inspire a team to deliver.
Can't underscore this enough. Leaders have to inspire people to WANT to perform. They can't force it or demand it. This is a key differentiator between great leaders and merely average administrators.
First, he needs to articulate his job-related principles.
Your team needs to understand your principles and needs to see them adhered to in your daily leadership walk. Saying thinks like "Work/Life Balance is the most important thing" then expecting people to chronically work 60-hour weeks just doesn't square.
The leader becomes emotionally tied to a solution
A leader who doesn't know when to abandon a bad idea not only goes down with the ship, but takes the team with him/her.
“direction du jour syndrome,”
Be deliberate when changing direction and have a good rationale for why a direction needs to change.
There’s more to the story
I hate it when I see a leader state a position on something and give a very weak excuse for why the decision was taken because there's something else behind the decision they don't want to talk about.
This CEO decided, however, to take on the task himself. Even though he was delivering bad news, his courage as a CEO coupled with his empathy in his communication massively raised his credibility as a leader.
My stock in this leader went way up after this happened. His balance of empathy and decisiveness was one of the best examples of empathic leadership I've ever witnessed.
Don’t read this once and put it on a shelf, never to see light again. Refer back to it occasionally to help you re-ground your leadership skills and get back to basics.
Keep the book handy. I've referred to it plenty of times since I've written it as a reminder to me about what a good leader looks like :-).
If you’ve got a lot of things to work on, don’t try to do it all at once. Take no more than three things at a time; don’t overwhelm yourself with too many things to do.
Focus on doing a few things great versus a lot of things only OK.
Make frequent use of coaches or mentors. To this day I still use coaches to help me when writing books, articles, or seminars. Having someone tell you that you are moving in the right direction (or that you’re way out in left field) is very valuable and something that you’ll never outgrow.
I still use coaches and mentors. It's always great to get another perspective.
Remember to have fun and laugh along the way. Leadership is tough stuff, but it’s not something that should wreck your life or you should stress about. Relax and treat your leadership journey as a never-ending lesson.
It truly is never-ending. While the principles stay pretty much the same, people change. What motivated team members 30 years ago is not the same as what motivates them now.
More Books by Lonnie Pacelli
Do check out my other books. My Amazon backlist is at www.lpacelli.com. Thanks!
