Leadership Lessons

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has become a go to resource for other CEOs looking for tips on how to turn around their organizations. When asked, he offers four simple but important lessons he's learned and suggests others apply: 

1. Don't be a "know it all," be a "learn it all." 

2. Bring clarity, not confusion. 

3. Create energy. 

4. No excuses. 

As a leader do you model these? Are you continually looking for new ideas, new approaches and new perspectives even if they challenge what you think you already know? Do you simplify things and create laser like focus for your teams?  Do you inspire and energize your team?  Do you help your team overcome barriers and find creative ways to get things done? 

Walking Backwards

Almost every day I take a walk around the neighborhood where I live. I have a regular route I take. It feels comfortable and predictable. I know the sights and sounds I'll encounter along the way. 

A couple of days ago, for no real reason, I turned the opposite direction when I got to the end of my driveway. I found myself traveling my normal route "backwards." Initially it was a little disorienting. The farther I went, however, the more I recognized the difference it was making. I was noticing things I had not seen before even though I have walked by them hundreds of times. I was taking things in from a new perspective. Things looked different. Not better or worse, but different. After the initial disorientation it was exciting and refreshing to see things in a new way. 

In what ways as leaders do we often find ourselves operating in routines? We get comfortable with the familiar. We like the predictability. We develop unintentional habits. We find what works in one situation and stick with it. 

How much more effective might we be if we occasionally stepped outside our routines? What new perspectives might be get? What might we see that we've been missing? Could we reinvigorate some of what we do with some exciting and refreshing new ideas?  What would happen if we walked the route we walk each day as a leader, but did it "backwards?" 

Four Most Important Words

 

Being Respected Rather Than Being Liked

Writing on INC.com  Deborah Grayson Riegel highlights the important distinction between the behaviors of leaders who want to be liked vs. those who want to be respected. 

Leaders who want (and often need) to feel liked tend to: 

• Seek attention and approval
• Engage in gossip rather than giving direct feedback
• Try to please everyone
• Make promises they can't keep
• Keep strong opinions to themselves
• Flood people with credit, compliments and praise
• Play favorites but pretend they don't
• Use information as leverage
• Assign people tasks they enjoy rather than assignments that stretch and challenge them. 
• Focus more on how people feel than on achieving outcomes.

Leaders who recognize the importance of being respected, with or without being liked, tend to: 

• Tell the truth even when it's unpopular 
• Explain their thinking behind difficult decisions
• Acknowledge the elephant in the room, even if they can't fix it
• Say no when they need to
• Be open-minded and decisive
• Give credit to others when its due
• Tolerate feelings of disappointment, frustration and anger in themselves and others
• Hold people accountable for their results
• Be consistent and fair in setting rules and expectations
• Set and honor boundaries for themselves and others
• Deliver negative feedback directly and in a timely manner
• Apologize when they make mistakes and move on  
• Model the behavior they expect from others

Take a look at the list and identify which behaviors most reflect who you are as a leader. Are you more interested in being liked or respected? If you find yourself with more of the behaviors in the "liked" list, could you be more effective if you focused more on respect? 

Thinking About Failure

Most of us thrive on optimism. We look at situations and try to imagine the best possible outcomes. If we constantly focused on what could go wrong we'd live a pretty gloomy life. We'd also be a person others would not want to be around. Our life would be filled with anxiety and we'd likely be too afraid to act. You certainly don't want to go there but there are times, however, when thinking about failure and what might go wrong can be helpful. 

Next time you plan a project, whether it be a facility upgrade, a new activity or some other change, take just a few minutes to consider the worst case scenario. You've looked at what could go right. It's why you're moving ahead with the project. Spend a few minutes considering what if your assumptions are wrong. What if things don't work out. 

It's easy to get caught up in the positive side of a project in an effort to sell yourself or others on it. There's an excitement to something new that leads us to look at the upside while ignoring the potential pitfalls. Considering what could go wrong offers the following advantages: 

1. If you anticipate problems you may be able to make adjustments to prevent them or at least create a contingency plan. 

2. When you look at both the positive and negative sides of a project there are opportunities to learn. Assessing the potential risks might uncover potential problems whose solutions may actually improve the project. 

3. Considering the potential for failure might make you realize the risk vs. reward of a project just doesn't make sense and maybe it's not worth doing. It's easy sometimes to fall in love with an idea and overlook the negative. Force yourself to be a pessimist for just a little while and ask some hard questions. 

4. By looking at both sides of a potential project, you'll be prepared for questions, for doubters, for those who don't think it will work. Whether you have to sell the project to others to get permission and/or funding or you just want to get them excited about it, looking at the potential problems keeps you from being surprised by other people's doubts.