the art of leading

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“Rules are made to be broken”

I can think of many interpretations and questions about that somewhat “cliched” phrase, but one stands out: Who makes the rules? You may know the answer already: Leaders. In every aspect of life, be it politics, religion, or business, leaders make the rules. Leaders are the ones who blaze the paths. And leaders are the ones who make the rules once they’re finished blazing the paths.

So where am I going with this?

You need to break some rules and create new ones. Leadership requires trailblazing, and the only way to do that is by believing in the “Rules are made to be broken” maxim. This way, you’ll be leading from a position of increased leverage. This will sometimes require that you knock down a few obstacles in the way. Facebook has had to do this in the social network field, with MySpace as the dominant player. But it has to be done if you want to be the leader and believe you have better solutions.

Sometimes you, as a leader, might navigate territories that have never been navigated before. In this case, there won’t be any rules in place, so you’ll have the opportunity to make them from scratch. Make everyone else follow your rules. That’s what, for example, Microsoft did with software. Everyone in the software field has had to follow Microsoft’s rules for the last couple of decades. Microsoft’s position as the pioneer has blocked entry to a great amount of potential competitors.

So go out and break the rules that need to be broken.

Categories : General Leadership //