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 »

Last week , in Why the First 100 Days Could Make or Break Leaders, I mentioned the importance of “the First 100 Days” of a leader in a new position. In today’s post I’ll map out one possible course of action that someone might take in those first 100 days, to make the most out of them. The list was thought of in a step-by-step approach, but each item can be seen as a separate idea.

1. Ask for suggestions from present employees on what are the things that must be done. This doesn’t mean you’re going to do whatever they tell you, but it will be useful information to know what are the perceived top priorities.
2. Meet with your executives, 1 or 2 per day depending on the size of your organization. Get to know who you’ll be working with.
3. Prepare a report where you gather and analyze the information that has been gathered.
4. Take your people on a get-away to collaborate on the design of a new strategy, based on the information that has been gathered. Come away with new goals and a new strategy to achieve them.
5. Focus on communicating the new strategy to your organization.
6. Ask employees if they’re willing to work and collaborate with you in reaching new goals and following a new strategy. You need only the most willing people.
7. Re-assign or fire those who aren’t compatible with your vision.
8. Hire those who need to be hired. Use this opportunity, if given, to fill in the gaps. Do you lack sales and marketing skills? Then hire people who excel at sales and marketing.
9. Take the first step in your new strategy. You were brought here for a reason, so get to work on what you have achieved in these 100 days. You have just begun.

Whatever you do in your first 100 days, my suggestion to you is to focus on gathering information and developing a plan to synthesize and utilize that information. Whichever method you choose, that should be the most important goal.

Categories : Action, Communication, General Leadership, Goals, Relationships, Success // 4 Comments »

1. Never value your journey as a success.
People who consider the achievement of the ultimate goal as the only possible way to achieve success are perfect prospects to never be good leaders. It is a perfect way to fail as a leader. Leaders, naturally, are driven and desire to accomplish the realization of a vision. That is one of the things that characterize them. But they also are set apart because they see each step in the way to realization as a small success. If you never value your journey as a success, then you’ll end up being a very unhappy person, since you’ll have to wait a long time before you can know what ’success’ feels like.

2. Never delegate.
Successful leaders know how to delegate. So it follows that if you want to suck at leadership, you can’t delegate anything. If that’s what you want, just hoard every little detail inside your circle of responsiblity and forget about the big picture. If you try to do everything by yourself, you’ll end up with so much unimportant details that you won’t have any time or energy to dedicate to the really significant stuff such as…being a leader instead of a task administrator.

3. Never point out anything positive about the people who surround you.
This is the perfect way to sink into leadership hell. So if your goal is to be a bad leader, then you absolutely need to put this principle into play. In fact, a faster way to destroying relationships is to not only withhold compliments, but express negative comments about those who surround you. This will create resentment toward you, which means that they won’t want to follow you, or do anything that you want them to do.

4. Never consider leadership as a means.
Those who most frequently fail at the game of leadership are those who see it as a material object to be attained, instead of a means to attain something that is meaningful to society or a part of it. Successful leaders, on the other hand, get to practice leadership because they want to express themselves and their vision. They aren’t leaders just for the sake of being leaders.

5. Never think of leadership as a way to serve others.
This is a very important message to those who want to fail as leaders: just serve yourself. Become a leader out of mere self-interest and you’ll be well on your way to being a perfect failure as a leader. Great leaders have a purpose that is greater than themselves. Just do the opposite if you want to be their opposite.

6. Stump whoever is beneath you.
This is another great way to destroy your chances of failure. When you get to the “top”, just start taking those “beneath” you for granted. When you come crashing down in the future, nobody will be there to help you up, since you destroyed all those meaningful relationships with people who are now on “top” of you.

7. Never read, just watch reality shows over and over again.
Great leaders don’t stop learning. They read every type of book they can get their hands on, and take a critical point of view toward them, which will help them when analyzing real-world situations. They focus on books and even art and music that expand their critical and analytical capabilities. So, if you want to fail as a leader, it’s simple: watch every reality show out there. Those are perfect to kill your brain cells, since they not only don’t require you to think, but encourage you to be dumber. There is nothing better that you can do to decrease your critical and analytical abilities than listening to Paris Hilton or Britney Spears or some random dude talk about their dog’s nails.

8. Never mold your own environment.
If you want to do everything in your power to suck at leadership, let circumstances and your environment mold you . Truly successful leaders are those who see something they don’t like and strive to change it. They aren’t bogged down by petty day-to-day events. They go out and create their own set of favorable circumstances instead of letting the likes and wants of others destroy their visions.

9. Never fail.
This may be the most important principle to follow in your quest to leadership insignificance. True leaders come to see failures and mistakes as learning vehicles. In fact, they come to look forward to these situations, because they know that in every failure, they will find an equally significant or greater success. If you want to stay stuck at where you are right now, then don’t do anything differently. Don’t risk failing, since it will only bring you unlimited opportunities, and someone who would never want to be a leader would never want that.

Categories : Communication, Failure, General Leadership, Goals, Personal Development, Recognition, Relationships // 2 Comments »

Marcel Marceau died on Saturday. He inspired awe and admiration in millions as a mime artist. Artistic savants as well as ordinary people followed him.

Why did a mime artist achieve such leadership status?

Because Marceau captured the essence of the human condition. He used only physical gestures to communicate feelings and entire dialogues. He made what he said simple to decode. In his performances he talked very clearly, without ever having to talk. He inspired millions to join his crusade.

Isn’t that what true leaders are supposed to do anyway?

Leaders don’t need positions of power. They don’t need to be elected by the people. They don’t need to be called CEO or President or Chairman or Prime Minister. They just are. Great leaders normally don’t set out to be leaders per se. They set out to achieve a mission. In Marceau’s case, he set out to bring an art form to life. It turns out that to do so, he had to become a leader along the way.

So what can you learn from Marceau? Well, I’m sure there are plenty of lessons to learn from such a man. But chew on these two for the time being:

1. Find and use the communication method that you’re most good at. It doesn’t have to be the spoken word, as you can see. But whatever method you choose, you must talk clearly.
2. You don’t need a special title to achieve leadership status.Look at Marcel Marceau.

P.S. Seth Godin wrote a post called Marcel Marceau died. It talks about another of his traits that might be very useful for leaders.

Categories : Communication, General Leadership, Goals, Relationships // 2 Comments »

Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone in the team you lead was happy to complete their tasks instead of doing them grudgingly? Well, I think that might be possible. Remember, a true leader finds the way to keep people excited about what they do. So how do you do that? Here are some ideas:

1. Tell them the result you want, and let them come up with the process to get there.
2. Offer resources, then get out of the way.
3. Contribute to the project in some way, at the same level than the rest of the team.
4. Do NOT dictate pre-assigned tasks.
5. Talk about every task that needs to be completed first, before assigning.
6. Ask who is interested in doing what.
7. If more than one person is interested in doing the same task, let them collaborate.

No checklist will ever assure you perfect team synergy. But if you do at least one of these things, you’ll probably improve the chances of it happening.

Categories : Communication, Relationships, Teamwork // Add Comment »

Many people don’t want you to be successful. They cannot deal with the fact that someone other than themselves is the center of attention. Call it envy, jealousy, or whatever you want. Some people will just be unhappy when you develop as a leader.

You, as a leader, need to know how to deal with this type of situation. Don’t turn you back from it, because sooner or later these disgruntled people will be obstacles in your way to realize your vision. Here are some ways you can cope:

1. Approach - Sometimes personal insecurity stops people from recognizing the success of others. This may be solved by just approaching them and “talking things out”. Who knows? Maybe they’ll feel you’re a nice guy after all.

2. Listen - Envy and jealousy is usually accompanied by criticism. Maybe some of these criticisms are in fact based on sound reasoning. Listen to them and find out if they’re right, or if the criticism has no base. If they’re right, work toward improvement. Perhaps that won’t stop you from being the object of envy, but at least you’d be able to get something out of it. It the criticism is unfounded, skip to #5.

3. Clarify - Many people may feel threatened by your intentions. They may feel that you harbor secret plans to destroy their worlds. If they’re wrong, just go and establish your real intentions. Try to release the guard of these people and make them know that you’re being straightforward. If you do plan to change many things, you have to persuade them and make them feel like going “out of the box” is the best thing. After all, persuasion is what leadership is all about, isn’t it?

4. Involve - A lot of people who dedicate their lives to fretting about the success of others really just want a piece of the action. Make these people feel like they’re part of the reason why you’re mission is being carried out. In fact, actually make them a part. Their supposed “envy” may just be their way to say, “Hey, I feel excluded!” Remember many people are driven by recognition, and if you give it to them you may create a more productive, clutter-free environment.

5. Ignore - Let’s face it: Many people are just jealous of you, and nothing you do will change them. You may try, as well you should, but in the end real change is in the hands of the person who needs to change. Internal roadblocks may have to be eliminated so that their exterior reflections are eliminated also. If, after a risk-benefit analysis, you feel that trying to persuade someone isn’t worth it, then don’t. Just ignore, and focus on the important stuff.

Categories : Communication, Envy, General Leadership, Goals, Recognition, Relationships // 1 Comment »

Imagine a full-grown, 6′3″ 200 lb. man weeping like a baby. Doesn’t sound right, huh? Well that was me a couple of years ago. What made me cry for the first of two times in my life, you ask? In short, my Architecture Design 202 professor. Why? Well, that’s a somewhat longer story.

For those of you who don’t know, architecture is normally taught by critizicing. You draw a design, and a jury composed of architects trashes it. They tell you everything that is wrong with your design. They tell you how you were supposed to do better. They tell you what you can do to make it better.

But believe me, they don’t have to be nice about it. Some try to be tactful. Others just make you feel like you are the single most disgusting human being in this Planet Earth.

After this dehumanizing process, then it starts all over again. New drawing, new jury, same criticism, same professors trying to make you cry (many succeed, by the way).

Then you build the model. A group of professors gathers around you, in front of your peers, and criticize you, and trash your design, and…Well, you get the point.

So it turns out that my specific design for this class went through this same process 11 times in one semester, without counting the dozen or so informal meetings with my professor where he tore apart my model and used it as his little doll house.

The last day of the semester was here. [Read more →]

Categories : Failure, Relationships // 1 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 »

Treatment that produces an emotional and psychological impact is said to have therapeutic effects. Therapists dedicate themselves to help patients reach states of positive emotions and psychological well-being. Leaders can exert those therapeutic effects through their leadership methods. I would call that therapeutic leadership.

Leadership is a social force with concrete consequences. When the level of influence of one person reaches respectable heights, whatever that person does may determine the feelings of an anonymous follower.

Leaders have the capacity to impact people in an emotional and psychological way. I don’t know if this has any scientific value, since I’m neither a psychologist nor a psychiatrist. But it seems to me that leaders may be able to exert a very specific emotional or mental impact on any one individual who happens to listen or follow them.

What’s the point, you ask? Well, I’d like for you as a leader to be accountable for what you say and do. You should be aware of the impact that you may have on your followers. I’m not implying that you should be paternalistic and that you should be everyone’s therapist.

At least be conscious of your actions. The shadow that those actions throw over your followers may be bigger than you thought. The first step toward practicing therapeutic leadership, then, is to simply be aware.

Categories : Change, Communication, Personal Development, 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 »