Musings on Leadership

This week's post comes from Tim Kight of the Focus 3 blog . Change is inescapable. It’s going to happen. It’s just a fact of life. You have two options. You can resist change, fight it, try to avoid it – and you’ll find that things become increasingly difficult for you. Or, you can adjust and adapt to the change in a positive and proactive way. Given the pace of change in today’s world, this is an essential skill to develop. The difficult part about change is that it asks you to forget old ways of doing things and learn and embrace new ways that are going to feel foreign and uncomfortable at first. Today I want to talk about the 6 mistakes you should strive to avoid when faced with change. Mistake #1 – Expecting things to stay the same. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where things turn out the way we expect. If we did I’d be writing this from my 200-foot yacht somewhere in the south Pacific. The world is unpredictable and constantly changes. So expect, and be prepared for, ...

Last week I mentioned delegation as one of the four "ations" of being a good leader. I thought this week I might go into further detail. To recap a bit about delegation in last week'e email, you have a LOT on your plate as a leader. There are a lot of things for which you are responsible for making sure get done. The demands on your time never seem to end while you only have 24 hours every day. I would like to point out that just because you're "responsible for" making sure something gets done, that doesn't mean you necessarily HAVE to do it YOURSELF!  As the leader, there are always going to be some things that you absolutely have to do yourself, you can't delegate them. But a LOT of what you're "responsible for" are things you CAN delegate to team members. With that in mind, here are the 4 parts to effective delegation: What gets delegated? Anything you don't HAVE to do yourself should be delegated. To whom does it get delegated? ...

I've said before that leadership, at its very core, isn't that difficult. It's having a vision of where you'd like to go and being able to communicate that vision to others so that they buy into it. With that in mind, here are four "ations" you need to be a good leader. Delegation As a leader you have a lot on your plate. You should make it a priority to delegate EVERYTHING that you don't absolutely, positively HAVE to do yourself. This doesn't make you lazy. This doesn't mean you're trying to get out of doing your job. As a leader, your job is to make decisions, to make sure your team is doing their jobs. Your scarcest resource is time. Delegating that which you don't HAVE to do, frees up time to do the things you must do. Not only that, it helps build new leaders by giving them greater responsibilities. Communication Communication is probably the most important part of being a leader. Your team wants to do a good job for you. In order to ...

Today's tip is very short - just a link really. Simon Sinek is a British-American author, motivational speaker, and organizational consultant. You can find many of his talks on YouTube but I want to direct you to his TED Talk that, in my opinion, "launched" him. It's called "How great leaders inspire action" and he introduces the concept of the "Golden Circle". The talk is less than 20-minutes long and I think you'll find it eye-opening. You can find it  here .

One of my favorite quotes from General Colin Powell is, " Leadership is the art of accomplishment more than the science of management says is possible. " With that said, here are General Powell's 13 Rules of Leadership: It ain't as bad as you think! It will look better in the morning. Leaving the office, at night, with a winning attitude affects more than you alone; it conveys that attitude to your followers. Get mad, then get over it. Instead of letting anger destroy you, use it to make constructive changes. Avoid having your ego so close to your position that when your position falls, your ego goes with it. Keep your ego in check and know that you can lead from wherever you are. It can be done. Leaders make things happen. If one approach doesn't work, find another. Be careful what you choose. You may get it. Your team will have to live with your choice, so don't rush. Don't let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision. Superb leadership is often...

  Today's tip comes from an article in the Harvard Business Review. Peter Bregman's son was a downhill skier. His son complained that he always seemed to finish up solidly in the middle of the pack. Mr. Bregman was an executive and leadership coach. He coached skiing on the weekends and had been a ski racer himself at his son's age. He didn't give him any advice right  then and there. We've all been there. At that moment, when we haven't achieved what we thought we could, what we really need is a hug and to know that someone loves us! Later though, after the disappointment had worn off. Mr. Bregman talked to his son and asked him how he felt about the race. " I never get in the top 10. ", he complained. Mr. Bregman then asked his son two questions. Two questions that can help YOU decide if you want to get better at something. Do you want to do better? Are you willing to feel the discomfort of putting in more effort, and trying new things that will feel...

  I do a lot of reading on leadership, management, and motivation (and HIGHLY encourage you to do the same). The current book I'm reading is Simon Sinek's "Leaders Eat Last". This week's tip comes from this book. Remember the ancient Spartans? (From the movie, "The 300", about the Battle of Thermopylae?) The Spartans were the special forces of their day. If a Spartan soldier lost his shield he would be severely punished. He could lose his helmet or breastplate and no one cared. But lose that shield and he would be stripped of his Spartan citizenship. Why? The reason is that the Spartans viewed the helmet and breastplate as providing personal protection. The shield? The shield was viewed as protection for the entire line. Remember the scenes in the movie where they locked their shields together to form the phalanx? Lose one shield and now there's a weak link in the line. If you were able to ask a Spartan soldier why they fought, I doubt they'd tel...