Leadership Flashcards
Don’t confide in others.
The less you confide in others in the organization, the better it will go for you. What you intend as harmless chatter can do serious harm. Keep your speculations and worries to yourself.
Manage down the chain.
Be sure to manage down. Spend time with the lower-level employees in your company and try to be decent to all of them. A polite greeting to the elevator operator, a thanks to the mail delivery person and a kind word to the assistants will be appreciated. The making of reputations begins at the ground level. Similarly, keep the ugly aspects of your day to yourself. Do not shout.
Your leadership abilities are always being judged 24/7.
Leadership is a full-time job and the duty clock is never off. Every little sign is being read and your impatience, disappointment or insecurity will be magnified by those who pass along their readings of you. There is no time for casual and unplanned candor, and messages must be sent only when carefully thought out. Be especially careful about what you put in writing, especially emails—they never disappear.
Always make time to listen to advice. Show you are patient and listening.
Keep listening to and for advice. Have lunch at least once a week in the office cafeteria, or make a point of dallying near the coffee station, and listen to what others are talking about. If someone wants to speak to you, there is every reason to listen. If criticism is offered, take time to respond with care even if you don’t agree with it.
Don’t joke around. No wisecracks.
The wisecrack you believe is witty often is not. Your sense of humor is easily misread as patronizing and clumsy. If you still think that telling a joke or relating a humorous story is somehow important to making a point, run it past your spouse or a trusted friend first. Humor can be risky. Never joke about serious matters.
Always know the important things to focus on and communicate the important things to work on over and over again.
The important thing is to be sure that the important thing remains the important thing. Explain your strategy frequently and then rephrase it and repeat it.
Never complain. Never explain.
Never complain; never explain. No one listens. Take the blame if something goes wrong. Do not blame mistakes on prior administrations, the weather, bad luck or your competitors. But don’t appear defensive. Look forward—unless your resignation has been requested.
Trust your mentors and accept their expertise.
Trust your professional advisers and accept their expertise. Try not to second-guess the market. There is no such thing as perfect data about anything. Make decisions and move on.
Don’t ever focus on just the ‘average.’
Be careful about the use of the word “average”—one can drown in a river the average depth of which is six inches. Taking comfort in what’s “average” offers a false sense of security. Assume that the worst might happen, because often it will.
Never do or say anything that you would be unhappy to see written about on a newspaper front page.
It’s a cliché, but true: Never do or say anything that you would be unhappy to see written about on a newspaper front page. In dealing with the media, avoid answering hypothetical questions, remember that the microphone is never really off, and never agree to speak “off the record.” The only worthwhile public response to a crisis is honesty.
Tell the truth, at work and in public.
But also remember: One does not have to answer every question, either from a colleague or a reporter.
What Google’s best managers do?
1) Is a good coach.
2) Empowers the team and does not micromanage.
3) Expresses interest in and concern for team members’ success and personal well-being.
4) Is productive and results-oriented.
5) Is a good communicator - listens and shares information.
6) Helps with career development.
7) Has a clear vision and strategy for the team.
8) Has key technical skills that help him or her advise the team.
Question or Statements
Use questions more than statements, so that employees take ownership of their roles rather than simply take orders from the CEO.
Communication
Put a premium on direct and frank communication.
What you measure is what gets accomplished
Most businesses fail because they want the right things but measure the wrong things, and they get the wrong results.
Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.
Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. Give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. If you get the team right, chances are that they’ll get the ideas right.
When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they will be capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.
When looking to hire people, give their potential to grow more weight than their current skill level. What they will be capable of tomorrow is more important than what they can do today.
Always try to hire people who are smarter than you. Always take a chance on better, even if it seems like a potential threat.
Always try to hire people who are smarter than you. Always take a chance on better, even if it seems like a potential threat.
If there are people in your organization who feel they are not free to suggest ideas, you lose. Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can, and does, come from anywhere.
If there are people in your organization who feel they are not free to suggest ideas, you lose. Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can, and does, come from anywhere.
