the art of leading

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Why is it that time passes by so fast when we’re reading a great book? There’s something about it that just enthralls you into a hypnotic state of mind and sort of fall into a deep trance. When you wake up, you’re done with the book. Time was accelerated. You rode a spaceship through a black hole and ended up somewhere else, and someTIME else.

The same thing can be said about exceptional leaders. You are embedded within their ideas. You are invited to capture those ideas. A short time later you find yourself totally entranced by the shadow that they cast.

You feel what the leader feels, in the same way that a great author makes you feel what a character in the book is feeling. Or what the author himself is feeling. You let yourself go, and the leader, or the author, catches you in his or her arms to direct you. To direct you with your permission. To direct you with your complete willingness. Because you’re in their trance.

Just ask the following question to anyone who has followed such a unique leader, especially in the workplace: What was it like to work for him? I’m pretty sure a big chunk will automatically enter a trance-like state and start reminiscing of the time they spent under the leader’s wings.

They will smile and tell you, “Time passed so quickly. I would’ve loved to work for her for a longer time.”

Leaders are like books. The great ones will make time pass quickly. They will teach you life-changing lessons. They will leave you yearning for more. Poor ones will be a bore. You’ll find them tedious and insignificant. They will leave you in a state of exhaustion.

Readers will create very vivid images in their minds as the book develops. Authors created those images. Followers of a great leader will be full of creative ideas that solve problems for an organization. Leaders created those ideas.

The reason why so many authors have created revolutions, trends, and movements, I believe is due to their ability to create images in the minds of readers. They may be violent, or enjoyable, or sad, or happy, or peaceful, or calm, or quiet, or loud. But readers act out, sometimes in a subconscious way, these ideas and images. And as a result, revolutions happen. Or inventions are inspired. Or  controversies are sparked.

So to become a great leader, become a great author first. Create images in the minds of followers that will move them to act. Move people through ideas, as an author does. Make time pass by in the blink of an eye. Be an author of greatness.

Categories : Confidence, General Leadership, Goals, Personal Development, Relationships // Add Comment »

Previously I wrote a post called Self Confidence to be a Leader. This article, Leadership by Hypothesis, by Pete Pande of Forbes.com, summarizes that importance of self confidence in a leader. Here is an excerpt:

“Why “leadership by hypothesis?” Two simple answers: 

–Every decision a leader makes–every goal set, target defined, strategy developed–is fundamentally a hypothesis, a more or less educated guess about the future and the correct path to success.

–The more conscious you are of your hypotheses, the better you can manage the inherent uncertainties and risks every leader and organization faces—and in many cases, use those uncertainties to your advantage.

The best leaders are comfortable with hypotheses.”     Keep reading!

Categories : Action, Confidence, Courage, General Leadership // Add Comment »

“Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a leader. He was a leader because he had the courage to fight for what he believed in, regardless of the obstacles that he faced. He knew that he would be subject to backlash.

He withstood jail, hate, criticism, threats, and death. He kept his back straight, vigilant of the next rock in his journey, but aware of the ultimate goal: equality. In this context he said what appears at the beginning of this article. He knew that if he bent his back, all the naysayers would pounce and try to go for the kill. They would try to ride his back. But he wasn’t willing to do that, because he knew what he wanted.

This doesn’t mean that he was stubborn. Perhaps he detoured, and certainly he had doubts about his vocation, as every human being does. But he didn’t bend his back.

As a leader, you should be prepared to be countered by many situations. But leaders are leaders because they are convinced of a vision, and are driven almost obsessively by that vision. This obsession is strong enough to ward off these obstacles. It permits you to face these obstacles with a straight back. That’s the only way that you can walk toward your goal.

Now, I’m not condoning “macho-ness”. Sensibility and tact are always valuable tools for the leader. But giving in, bending your back, will never get you to your proposed destination. You’ll be too worn out from all the weight you’ve carried.

Categories : Confidence, Courage, Failure, General Leadership, Goals // 2 Comments »

Let’s face it. Leadership is not an overnight thing. Very few of us are handed the power to influence large masses or even small corporate departments. But we can do small, simple things each day to put our leadership skills to practice, and develop those that we need to improve. Here are some of those things:

1. Persuade a friend to do the right thing.
2. Praise your kids for things well done.
3. Find support for that special project at work you’ve always thought about.
4. Join the Toastmasters, Rotary, Lions, etc.
5. Speak up at class, if you’re a student.
6. Start a non-profit in support of your cause.
7. Start a business.
8. Speak up on behalf of someone who can’t.
9. Recommend something to someone.
10. Give thanks to someone for something.
11. Volunteer to give a speech, and give.
12. Start a blog.
13. Send a letter to your newspaper.
14. Meet someone. new.
15. Learn something new about someone you already know.
16. Teach something you know to someone who doesn’t.
17. Volunteer to be the team leader at school or work, when asked.
18. Build something without following instructions.
19. Pick the restaurant for your date tonight.
20. Run for office in you community.
21. Turn off the TV, so you can read more.
22. Stand up straight.
23. Act confidence when you interact with others.
24. Offer to help around the house.
25. Help an old lady cross the street.

Categories : Action, Confidence, General Leadership, Personal Development // Add Comment »

Brains, Guts, and the Capacity to Act

By Stephen H. Baum

author of What Made jack welch Jack Welch

What allows a leader to take the steps needed to solve a problem or master a
difficult situation? What keeps the desire to act from being impetuous and
uninformed, as in “ready, fire, aim” behavior? The answer is that the
capacity to act effectively and decisively is a complex mixture of brain and
gut, a combination I call threads in thinking. It includes these qualities:

* An ability to distill a situation to its simplest dynamics; to
understand the issues and the consequences of doing nothing; and to
formulate a specific plan.

* Being extro-spective: seeing the business in the larger context of
the industry and in the marketplace; seeing a situation from a high-altitude
view and making sense of it on the ground.

* For opportunities, an ability to see the true benefits and risks,
which are not always obvious.

* Possession of a mental library of truly relevant analogies and other
mental models that can be applied to characterize the situation in a way
helpful for making a choice.

* An ability to identify valuable sources of advice, experience, and
wisdom (inside the company and out); to elicit information and know when to
do so.

* An instinct for calibrating the value of and motive for facts and
information people are giving you, the subtext of real agendas.

* An ability to discern both financial and nonfinancial impacts and
include them in the calculus (company reputation, morale, future business
options), then weigh the risks.

* An ability to anticipate issues and define a point of view so you
don’t have to do it for the first time under crisis.

* Being able to think a couple of moves ahead, as in chess, or as
Steve Kaufman put it: “the ability to look around the corner and see what’s
coming.” This ability and most of the others can be tested and developed.

It’s a tall order, but remember that no one starts out with all of these
abilities. You develop these threads and judgment only with experience. This
is done mainly through on-the-job training. Just remember how many of the
leaders we’ve been discussing failed in school, how many were far from the
top of their class, how none were rocket scientists. Only by working through
major challenges in the first place do you develop and nurture these
abilities until they become part of you and part of your instinct.

In the Eye of the Storm

Deciding that you must act, and then acting, is not as straightforward as it
seems. Circumstances will often make your decision to take action in the
first place very challenging. Remember [Read more →]

Categories : Action, Communication, Confidence, General Leadership, Loyalty, Personal Development, Proactivity, Relationships, Responsibility // Add Comment »

There are multiple traits, characteristics, skills, and abilities that you should develop to discover your leadership. There are many ways to go about this growth process. But whatever method you use, you should first take care of yourself. In other words, you should lead yourself before you lead others.

How do you lead yourself? Well, the most sensible way to get on the right track is to ‘put your house in order’. Simply feel good about yourself. Feel confident about your abilities. Convince yourself that you have the capacity to lead, and that you ought to be a leader. It is only with self-confidence that you will be able to provide a foundation for your followers. Leaders are supposed to provide stability to followers; perhaps a stability that those followers don’t have. Many are counting on their leaders to facilitate that foundation that they haven’t been able to create for themselves. So if the leader doesn’t have that strong foundation, it is impossible to transmit it to anyone else. Perhaps you’re a good actor and attract a following at first, by making people believe that you do have self-confidence. But that building without a foundation will soon crumble.

The remainder of this post will concentrate on some tactics that you should put into practice if you want to be self-confident:

• Set a goal or purpose- If you don’t know what you want, you will never have self-confidence. Self-confidence is all about believing that you are capable of achieving something. But you have to know what that something is. If you don’t, then you have nothing to be confident about! First outline a strong purpose, a ‘North Star’ that you can look towards so you know where you’re headed. This may be as simple (but supremely important) as raising a loving family or as complex as changing the way the world communicates. Nevertheless, it should have some specificity to it, so that you can direct your energy and efforts. Bill Gates didn’t just say “My goal is to change the world”, but “I want every household to have a personal computer.” That certainly changed the world, but in a much more targeted way.

• Prepare- Simply, you should know what you’re talking about. Knowing that you dominate your area will give you the feeling that you have the power to talk authoritatively about anything that involves your scope of influence. Now, I’m not saying you can learn everything there is to know, since you should always strive to know more than the day before. But if you get to a point where you can reasonably say that you dominate your field more than most people, you will have the right to consider yourself an authority. You will have the right to be sure that whatever you say is correct. Now that is self-confidence!

• Practice- Your have multiple scopes of influence. You influence your family, your classmates, your work buddies, your students, your mentors, your bosses, and even complete strangers that you meet in the street. In other words, you have many opportunities to develop your leadership skills. Practice by cheering up a work companion. Propose a cost-cutting process at work. Get involved in clubs and devise initiatives. Take advantage of all those opportunities and use them to consciously practice being a leader.

• Achieve small victories- Some time back I started a short-lived sports tournament business. It failed disastrously. But I did learn many lessons out of that ‘failure’, if you can call it that. One that will especially stick with me is the impact that small victories may have on my confidence levels. A central part of the business depended on raising sponsorship money to cover costs. It is definitely not an easy task, but when I raised my first $50, I felt I was capable of finding $100, and so on. That venture later ‘failed’, but I have nothing to be ashamed of if just because I learned this lesson.

• Talk to yourself- I once thought that I was crazy because I talked to myself. I had these wild pep talks while I was alone in the car or in the shower. But I later found out that many positive and confident people do this. It’s a great way to foster a positive attitude. I feel that after having a solo pep talk, that ‘fake’ or ‘built-up’ confidence carries on to the street. It goes without saying that this should be a positive talk, not a negative one. It works either way.

• Act confident- A variation of the ’solo pep talk’ is to act confident. It has been proven that physical actions and emotions go hand in hand. It was commonly believed that actions always follow emotions. But it is now accepted that your physical acts have an effect in your emotional state. If you feel sad, smile. Maybe you feel weird at first, but that simple act may put you on your way to a more positive attitude. In the same way, if you feel unsure about yourself, act as if you were confident. Stand up, put your shoulders back, smile, and talk authoritatively. You may start feeling truly self-confident in a while. Now, this tactic shouldn’t be used by itself, but when you don’t have any more time to prepare or practice, it is all you can do. And it works.

• TRUST YOURSELF- If you have done everything that I described, there is absolutely no reason at all to feel down on yourself. Simply let go of all mental barriers and go on with your mission!

By now the importance of self-confidence should be obvious. Do you want to project confidence? Do you want to gain a loyal following? Then you should start by gaining self-confidence. You should lead yourself so that you can lead others.

Categories : Communication, Confidence, Personal Development, Relationships // Add Comment »

Analytical people are those that need to think long and hard about every decision they make before they finally make it. There’s nothing wrong with that, but as a true leader you need to know how to get to them if you want to influence them.

They want four main things to make them feel O.K. about making the right decision:
1. Answers - These people are great questioners, so you need to be prepared to answer.

2. Facts - Their analytical minds want to base their decisions on facts, not mushy emotional stuff. Give them what they want.

3. Options - By nature, an analytical process frequently contains more than one option so that a comparison can be done. Giving them multiple options assures this process.

4. Time - This is perhaps the most important. They need time to make the decisions that they’ll be confident about. Obviously time may be tight, but try to grant them this space so that they’re able to complete their mental process.

Categories : Communication, Confidence, Mentorship, Negotiation, Personal Development, Proactivity, Relationships // 1 Comment »

It’s nice to meet people who get the job done. You can rely on them for many things. But don’t count on ‘responsible’ people when you need true change. People who are merely ‘responsible’ strive to maintain the status quo. Granted, they do it in the best way possible, and run the present state of affairs in a reasonably effective manner. But they will not be too enthused about jumping out of that ever-comfortable box. When faced with opportunities to do so, they will resist change. “Minimum effort” is their maxim. You might spot them because they’re usually the ones who say, “Change isn’t worth it, we’re O.K. as it is”.

Leadership entails another layer above the “responsibility” level. That layer is “proactivity”. Yes, I know it may be an overly used word. But it involves qualities that are important for leadership and change. Proactive people are the ones who will see things based on their potential instead of their present. When faced with a challenge, they will think about what step they might take to overcome it, instead of putting it off. Most importantly, they will not stop at “getting things done”. They will go above the threshold of minimum effort, since it’s obvious to them that change requires maximum effort and creative thinking. It requires initiative.

As a leader, make sure that you are proactive and not just a responsible guy or gal. Develop the mindset that is necessary for change and improvement instead of comfort. Also seek to attract people of that same mentality into your team. They will not only get things done, but contribute to the evolution and realization of your vision as a leader.

Categories : Change, Confidence, General Leadership, Goals, Proactivity, Relationships, Responsibility // Add Comment »

Contradiction #6

Have a general vision
All leaders have a vision which they want to communicate, so that others will also share that vision. In fact, having a vision and the capacity to transmit it can be considered the defining element of what true leadership is. With that said, part of its effective transmission is the potential of resonating in a wide array of circumstances, time periods, and places. The Constitution of the United States is a great example of a timeless vision statement. Its content is true for practically most of humanity, since it covers basic human needs and rights. It is also written in a way which makes it nimble and able to withstand countless shifts of circumstances. It might be interpreted differently in different moments, but the content that is being interpreted remains the same. All that changes is the context.

Have a specific vision
When you have and communicate a short and straight-to-the-point vision, prospective followers will remember it more easily. It also doesn’t confuse them. Think about it: do you remember 27 phone numbers more easily than 2 phone numbers? Also, a specific vision will allow you to gather a group of loyal followers. Face it: not everyone will be interested in joining your cause. But your vision, if specific enough, will attract a group of people who also believe in what you believe. That will not happen if you try to appeal to all of humanity. For example, as the manager of a manufacturing division in your company, your vision needs to be specific enough that the manufacturing people will feel identified with it.

Contradiction #7

Try to become a leader
This one is similar in some respect to Contradiction #1, from the first installment of this topic. If you are eager to communicate a vision and purpose to everyone out there that might be interested to listen to you, then that involves developing leadership skills. You will want to influence others so that they will share your goals and work toward them. For that reason, becoming a leader will be of the utmost priority. It will be the only reason to achieve it. Work on skills that will enable you to showcase whatever you’re trying to get across. Improve your relationship skills. Practice your motivation techniques. You will need that and more. Be mindful of the influence you might have on others, and try to improve the effectiveness of it.

Don’t try to become a leader
Many times, leaders become leaders as a side-effect of their eagerness to go out and turn something into reality. They aren’t consciously thinking about themselves as leaders, but just as messengers that want to get a message across. As a result, that energy and excitement boils over and infects other people, who are then willing to work toward the same goal. For this “messengers”, leadership just happens. People just automatically gravitate toward them as a byproduct of enthusiasm.

Contradiction #8

Go with your instinct
Your gut is very intelligent. Don’t you remember when you were in school (or perhaps you still are), and changed the answer to a question just to find out later that the original one was correct? That proves that many times your initial instinct is smarter than your logical reasoning. You have to admit: there are many things in life which we cannot explain logically, but just trust in its truth. Leadership is no different, particularly when making tough decisions, which is basically always. Learning to trust this gut instinct is part of learning to trust yourself. Learning to trust yourself is part of building self-confidence. Building self-confidence will make you a better leader.

Don’t go with your instinct
Your gut doesn’t always have all the information necessary to make a good decision about something. Therefore, your “logical reasoning” side has to gather that information, process it, and use it to arrive at an appropriate outcome. Instinct, if deprived of this information will not be trustworthy. A better way to go about it would be for you to at least plan a little bit. Leave as little as possible to uninformed decision-making.

Contradiction #9

Encourage agreement
A big part of leadership is the process of creating consensus among followers. In this particular time period, due to many advances in technology and science, effective collaboration is central to a leader’s job. Finding points of agreement fosters an environment of common aspiration. It contributes to the creation of a smooth ride toward the collective vision, instead of everyone rowing in their own directions, neutralizing the efforts of everyone else.

Encourage disagreement
Dissent is the only thing that will point towards areas of improvement. Having an organization exclusively full of “yes” people, who are merely trying to please you as a leader, will trump progress. Let’s be realistic: your organization has flaws. If nobody points them out, you won’t notice them, and therefore you won’t fix them. While many corporate meetings take place just to talk about how wonderful things are going, Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world and leader of one of the most powerful and most effective organizations, is known to ask outright for dissenting opinions. This generates an environment of continuous improvement, where every stone is turned. You can start by not punishing people who point problems out. In fact, it might be a good idea to provide incentives for finding solutions to the problems they point out. Develop an attitude of constructive criticism and promote the creation of multiple points of views.

Contradiction #10

Try to be flawless
In a competitive environment, which most areas have, the person or organization who has the fewest flaws and commits the fewest errors will win. The athletic world is a great example of this. The difference between 1st and 2nd in a 100-meter race might be fractions of one second. That means that at some point in the previous 10 seconds, one of them saved that tiny fraction by being more efficient in performing a specific action. That action might have been a 1-degree difference in the angle of the torso. Note that it doesn’t mean that the 2nd-place runner was bad. It just means that the 1st-place runner committed fewer errors. Strive to be perfect in every way possible by attending to every potential area of improvement, big or small.

Don’t try to be flawless
A flawless leader does not exist. Everyone has strengths and also weaknesses. Striving to continuously improve in the personal, professional, mental, and spiritual levels is always worthy, but there will always be something new to learn. When you try to be too perfect, you will frequently find yourself being too careful also. This will impede necessary risk-taking, at the expense of many learning opportunities. Leadership, as you know, entails risking failure to find success. When you do fail, just pick yourself up, learn what needs to be learned, and go on your merry way. Being too careful will not let you do that.

Categories : Confidence, General Leadership, Goals, Loyalty, Personal Development, Relationships // 3 Comments »

Be confident, not arrogant

Self-confidence is an important part of being a leader. It enables you to act with security and convey authority. It also comes in handy when making tough decisions, since having confidence in your skills and abilities will reassure you about what you are undergoing. Nevertheless, there’s a fine line between self-confidence and outright arrogance. Self-confidence: good. Arrogance: bad. John Gotti learned that lesson the hard way.

After rising to the top of the Gambino Family, he amassed considerable power in the underworld. For a while, Family members liked the fact that the boss exuded an air of “movie-star” quality. He was ‘cool’ and confident. But the ‘coolness’ and confidence went over the fine line. With TV news cameras in front of him day and night because of the different high-profile cases against him, Gotti paraded his handmade suits and always attempted to be the center of attention. The increased publicity, by many accounts, made him a bigger target, subsequently bringing him and the Gambino Family down. Even his own underboss, Sammy Gravano, and many of his capos, later expressed that the correct strategy was to maintain a low profile and not bring too much attention. Gotti didn’t agree, and he payed the price.

Maybe in the personal and corporate worlds arrogance won’t bring you as much visible trouble as the Gambino Family had. But crossing the line over from self-confidence to arrogance and cockiness may no doubt bring harmful consequences. For one, most people don’t enjoy being around someone whose main objective is to exalt him or herself. Relationships suffer as a result of those kinds of attitudes, and therefore leadership suffers, since it is based in many ways on quality relationships. In fact, the person who ratted on Gotti, leading him to a life sentence, was his best buddy and underboss Sammy Gravano. So there’s no need to exagerate your ‘confidence’. Just be reasonably sure of yourself and trust in your capacity. But there’s no need to be arrogant. It could lead you into trouble.

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