More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
October 10 - November 3, 2021
No matter what business you’re in, your decisions are only as good as the information they’re based on. As a leader you need to know your operation as well as you know your own home, and you need to know your employees as well as you know your own children. Don’t ever get caught saying, “I wish I’d known.”
Appreciation, recognition, encouragement: ARE. Together they make up a cost-free, fully sustainable fuel, one that builds self-confidence and self-esteem, boosts individual and team performance, and keeps an organization running cleanly and smoothly. ARE is more powerful than the fuels that make engines roar and space shuttles soar, because it propels human energy and motivation.
We know exactly why it’s important to bolster a child’s confidence and self-esteem, but we often forget that grown-ups need encouragement too.
Never underestimate the emotional impact you have as a leader.
If you don’t appreciate, respect, and encourage those you lead, they’ll give you only halfhearted effort or, worse, sabotage you or leave you high and dry. Great leaders know that, and they look for opportunities to give out the free fuel of ARE in an authentic, specific, and timely manner.
Bottom line: When you’re a leader, you’re well served by being visible.
Like good parents, the best leaders accentuate the positive and reinforce it constantly. They know that people do their best work when they’re confident, and nothing fuels self-confidence like positive feedback
from a leader.
So train yourself to notice the right stuff, not just the wrong. And when you see it, reinforce it quickly—immediately, if possible—because the smaller the gap between the behavior and the appreciation, the stronger the message.
Whenever you can arrange for an employee’s spouse, children, friends, partner, or other loved ones to share in the recognition, do it.
Watch your language. Words matter. So make sure your workplace vocabulary conveys the appreciation and respect you have for your employees.
Be a knowledge sponge.
In my experience, great leaders keep up with what’s going on, not only within their own industries but also in the wider world.
So if you want a competitive edge, read, read, and read some more. Read industry publications, of course, but don’t stop there: Read a daily newspaper; subscribe to Time, Newsweek, or other newsmagazines; read novels and nonfiction books; surf the Web for blogs or articles in areas of personal interest. If your gut tells you to delve into something, go for it. You’d be surprised how information that may seem unrelated to your work can feed your mind and help you make better decisions.
If you want to keep performing better, you need to persistently upgrade your skills and knowledge, just as you need to keep sharpening a saw when you’re cutting wood. How sharp is your saw? When was the last time you sharpened it? Remember, it doesn’t make sense to sharpen a saw just once unless you plan never to use it again. It should be an ongoing process.
Master business fundamentals.
Learn from the best. Find out who are the best at doing what you do or what your team does, and study them. If, for example, you find it hard to inspire your team, find people who have great reputations as motivators, and observe them in action.
The point is, no matter what business you’re in, if it’s excellence you’re after, you have to know what it looks like, tastes like, sounds like, and feels like. By constantly observing and learning from the best of the best, you will make your own operation better and better.
wherever you go and whatever you do, pay attention. There are many ways to gather information besides crunching numbers and reading reports. Coming up with great ideas is like going fishing: The wider you cast your net, the better your chances of hooking some good ones. So expand your horizons, and always keep your eyes and ears open. Soon you will begin to find inspiration everywhere—from
Make sure your direct reports know that you consider learning one of their responsibilities, and find ways to expose them to great ideas and living examples of excellence.
Like parents, whose every word and action are lessons to their children, leaders have to model appropriate behavior at all times. Whether we like it or not, we’re always being watched and evaluated, and we’re always teaching—not just when we’re giving speeches or running meetings, but also when we’re walking down hallways, or leaving parking lots, or talking on cell phones to our kids. That is why we have to conduct ourselves impeccably at all times.
At the end of the day, there are no untold stories. If you’re a leader, the stories that are told about you matter a great deal because they determine your reputation, and, as my mother used to say, “You have to protect your reputation because it’s the only one you have.” When your reputation is tarnished, you lose your credibility, and when your credibility goes, you lose the one thing leaders need most: the trust of the people you lead. Remember also that you have a different reputation with every person who knows you. Work hard to make each one a good one.
True professionals demonstrate with their actions that they are trustworthy. That’s why it’s important to take charge of your own narrative; if you don’t write your own story, the people around you will fill in the blanks. One way to think about your professional image is this: If you were a brand, what product or service would you want to resemble?
What does your brand stand for? Excellence? Integrity? Reliability? Professionals stand for all those qualities and more—and they personify them every minute of their working lives.
True professionals love what they do so much that they get up in the morning inspired by the work that awaits them and eager to tackle the challenges of the day.
At the same time, professionals understand the risk of burnout and imbalance, so they spend exactly as much time at work as they need to get the job done right—not a minute more and not a minute less. Many people talk about having a business life and a personal life, but in reality you have only one life, and the best leaders are passionate about everything in it.
Committed professionals do whatever is necessary to do the job right. This might mean going to work on a Saturday or Sunday, or staying into the night if necessary. In a crisis it could mean working day and night seven days a week. Basically, it means being fully present whenever and wherever your leadership, experience, and professional expertise are required.
And for leaders, it also means inspiring others to do the same. Remember, those you lead are always watching, and if they see you doing whatever it takes to get the job done, they will follow your example.
Set high standards. Professionals continuously raise the bar and help those they lead leap over it.
professional leaders serve as role models by setting high standards for themselves and holding themselves publicly accountable for meeting them.
You’ll never hear a true professional whine, complain, or make excuses. You’ll never see one mope, or act pessimistic or hopeless. It’s not that he or she is in denial when things aren’t going well; professionals are always grounded in reality, and while they can be visionaries, their visions are fact-based. But even when there are challenges to overcome, their attitude is always positive, and they never stop looking for solutions to problems that other people would give up on.
It’s important for you as a leader to display a positive attitude at all times, because you set the mood for your team or organization.
Modeling a positive attitude doesn’t stop with just your facial expressions and your demeanor. You should also be upbeat and positive in your dialogue with others. Professionals simply do not speak in a negative way about their colleagues or companies, and they don’t succumb to petty gossip.
Be a full-time professional—even when the curtain is down. True professionals do the right thing in the right way, even when no one is watching. That means all the time; you can’t be a part-time professional, and you can’t act professionally only when you are in the spotlight.
Professionals take their work seriously but not themselves
Don’t lose your sense of humor. Knowing that joy brings out the best in people and that tension does not, professionals try to lighten up the workplace. They are earnest but not somber, single-minded in pursuit of results but not grim. Professionals take their work very seriously, but they don’t take themselves too seriously. Supremely confident and comfortable in their skins, they have no need to posture or preen or show off their status. They enjoy seeing people have fun, as long as the work gets done.
Be a great partner. Professionals know that one big difference between those who get great results and those who fail, and between leaders who leave behind positive legacies and those who exit to sighs of relief, is being able to partner effectively with others.
Stay humble. I always loved being a leader. I loved making my influence felt and using my authority to accomplish results. But I learned along the way that great leaders are also great followers. They know when to point the way and when to step aside. No matter how high up in the company or corporation they may be, true professionals are always respectful of people who have more authority and responsibility than they do, and everyone with less. They are consummate team players who know how to put team goals ahead of their personal desires.
In other words, professionals never let their egos get in the way of what’s best for the organization. Just because you like being in charge doesn’t mean you always should be in charge, and just because you like having things your way doesn’t mean you should have everything your way. True professionals have an inner gyroscope that enables them to strike the right balance between bold self-confidence and humility.
“You’re never as good as you think you are.”
Not every professional is a leader, and not every leader is a true professional. But if you want to be a great leader, you have to look, feel, and behave professionally at every moment of every day.
Great leaders not only have the skills, attitudes, and behavioral traits I’ve discussed so far but also shine with character.
“Leadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.”
Live your values. Great leaders not only know what their values are but allow those values to guide their every decision.
Train for character, not just skill. It is imperative that, first and foremost, you as a leader solidify your own character and identify what you stand for. Your next task is to help everyone on your team to do the same.
The people you lead should understand that they undergo two very different but equally important types of training: (1) specific skills, and (2) what’s expected of them as ethical human beings. And remember, in your training people to have good values, the most important part of the curriculum is how you, the leader, live the values.
As Albert Einstein once said, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” So don’t just talk your values; walk them, visibly and consistently, day in and day out.
Depending on their company’s culture, some leaders commit their values to writing and teach them explicitly to their employees, while others communicate them mainly through example and everyday interaction. However you do it, make sure everyone in your organization knows what you stand for and is guided by the same set of principles.
If you really care about your legacy—and you should if you want to be a great leader—then take a long, close look at your values and the principles on which they are based. If your character is strong, and you build your actions faithfully on that foundation, you will be remembered as a leader worthy of being followed.
Fairness, honesty, respect for others, cooperation, integrity, courage, caring: These and similar virtues are what give you moral authority, and that is the strongest and most lasting kind of authority a leader can have. When you have that moral authority, people will trust you and believe in you, and then you can accomplish anything you dream of.
