MORE THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP
Don’t let others decide what and where you spend your time. When you do, you will only know what they think you need to know NOT what you need to know.
Be consistent but be ready to change. Organizations don’t grow or innovate unless the leaders at every level act like they are open to change and that they seriously want bottom-up feedback by doing more listening than talking. Too many leaders say they are open to feedback and change, but don’t act that way or, they don’t put themselves in uncomfortable situations where they will get honest, thoughtful, meaningful input. Or they fail in one of the basic tenets of leadership: Give credit for everything that goes right, but, take responsibility for everything that goes wrong.
Be fair but stand by your principles. What you tolerate is what the organization tolerates and is who you are- people do, see that. Don’t complain or hold others responsible for failures as a result of things you tolerate, directly or indirectly. Fix it by fixing yourself.
Your opinion of people is not always the right one. It’s critically important for you to not have “your people.” People in the organization know who is pulling their weight and contributing and who is not. If you hang onto these folks, then others will assume that is the way you are also, and your word will carry no weight.
RLTW!
mike