Continue to Grow as a Leader

Continue to Grow as a Leader

Lesson 12

Right now, I’m extending my arm four to six years into the future and plucking something out to give you.  It's the Yellow Pages from the future.  For some people, it’s the stock exchange index or Dunn and Bradstreet directory.  For many, it’s the company organization chart.  Is your name listed?  In what capacity?  Are you surprised at what you see?  If you have a sense of urgency about growth and effectiveness as a leader, you and your organization should be in a prominent position.  If you don’t, chances are good that there won’t be a trace of you left.  Your attitude, shaped by your sense of urgency, will be largely responsible for producing the results you’re looking for.

Do you have room to grow?  Look at it this way: what are your team members saying about you to their spouses and children at home?  You're not a topic of conversation.  You're the topic of conversation.  When someone comes to work for you, he or she is essentially laying his or her life on your desk and saying, “I trust you and this organization to do right by me and my family.”  That is a heavy responsibility.  If that person wastes a year or two of his or her life, that time will never be recovered.  People’s lives should be enhanced and opportunities should abound for them and their families because they had the good sense to come to work for you.  Working successfully with you can mean a college education for the kids or simply an overall quality of life they might not otherwise enjoy.  Your effectiveness as a leader affects people’s lives. 

A strong desire to do the right thing, beginning with ourselves and permeating every personal and professional relationship we have, marks our commitment to excellence.  A healthy discontent for the way things are is like a little burr under the saddle making it slightly uncomfortable to sit back and coast.  When Walt Disney told his people not to rest on their laurels, it was because he was a leader who understood the consequences of complacency.  Constantly looking for new directions and ways to improve what we’re doing doesn’t need to spoil the pride and sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done.  But, we must continue to grow in new directions.

Walt Disney illustrated the need to constantly scan the horizon for growth opportunities when he resisted his advisers’ urging to produce a sequel to the enormously successful Three Little Pigs.  They pressured him and he reluctantly agreed.  After the sequel turned out to be a box office bust, Disney called his advisers together and announced a new law that is heard around the Disney organization to this very day.  "You can’t top pigs with pigs.”

Invest some time and energy in developing the following three important leadership characteristics:

• Develop a sense of urgency.
• Develop a healthy discontent with the way things are.
• Develop an appreciation for the awesome responsibilities of leadership.

“An organization will never rise above the quality of its leadership.”  NEVER.

Leadership When the Heat's On: 24 lessons in high-performance management

Lesson Five Develop Characteristics of Great Leaders

Here is a list of 10 characteristics that are common in high performing leaders.  They do not come naturally.  Great leaders are not born with them.  The self-developed characteristics of great leaders are universal and timeless.  They reflect what leaders choose to believe and how they decide to behave.  Great leaders demonstrate all ten characteristics--regardless of their field. 

1.     Uncompromising integrity: It's the foundation for quality and service to both internal and external customers.  The would-be leader who doesn't have this will be a "flash in the pan."

2.     Absence of pettiness: The greatest drain of energy in an organization is pettiness.  Eliminating it results in high energy.  Leaders understand the difference between interesting and important. 

3.     Works on things by priority:  This results in stability under pressure and makes for an excellent problem solver.  A leader that works priorities prepares a daily priority list and starts with #1 and doesn't deal with #2 when finished, but instead deals with the new #1, and so on.

4.     Courageous: Leaders don't lead life meekly.  They know there is a deep well of courage within each of us.  Used or unused, it's still there.  Leaders do what they fear to keep fear from taking charge.  Their credo is "It's always too soon to quit!"

5.     Committed: Leaders know that working hard in a job you love doesn't bring an early death but that working hard in a job you hate does.  They never hear low achievers saying to them, "Slow down!  You're going to ruin your health!"  Their work is a developed art form.

6.     Goal oriented: Focus is the antidote for pain in the accomplishment of stellar goals.  Leaders understand that a lack of goals starts both the physical and mental shutdown process.

7.     Unorthodox: These are the creators, the innovators, and the think out of the box types.  They learn from their successes and from their failures.  They are "originals," not "copies."

8.     Inspired enthusiasm that's contagious:  Leaders achieve this by witnessing the accomplishment of their daily goals, not just daily tasks, which are part of a larger plan.  They are acutely aware that if they don't have this contagious enthusiasm, then whatever mood they do have is also contagious.

9.     Level headed in times of crisis: These people do not get the "come aparts" or go cry in their beer.  They are steady and therefore grasp the needed facts quickly.  They know that conflict overcome is strength gained.

10.  Desire to help others grow: Leaders know there is no saturation to education and that passing along knowledge and growth experiences builds synergistic relations and camaraderie.

Here are some questions and "to dos" to start yourself on the road to greatness:

• How would you rate yourself, on a scale of 1 to 10, for each characteristic?
• How would your team members rate you on each characteristic?
• Pick out three characteristics you'd like to improve in yourself and map out a plan for that improvement.

“An organization quits improving right after the manger quits improving.”