My business “LE.A.F” (Leaders & Followers)
This article is all about the top-20 lessons I’ve learned in my career so far and hopefully will become a useful road map for those who would like to think about it.
1. Leadership is a psychology ‘institute’
Leadership demands information about what is really going in the organization. Managers who never leave the office and who rely on formal communication channels may receive only the information that places by subordinates in a favorable light. The gap between the true leader and the administrator who is leading mostly by micromanagement, without leaving space to people with talent to flourish and deliver unexpected high results, is big and difficult to be bridged without huge personal effort and self-knowledge.
Often you take important decisions based on instinct, passion and experience without having hard facts on your hands but based on the information at that precise time. No way to pass by if you like to be considered as a true leader. It’s your own decision, think and decide for your own path forward and how you want to lead your teams.
2. Good leadership is contagious
Be a fun of a sense and response leadership rather than command and control. Only then you can reveal untapped talents and achieve exceptional performances. Growth demands a scalped and steady hand in order to prevail. Without the right driver in any position you cannot make eye contact with anyone.
No way to make people with talent to follow you if you just track them and don’t giving them space to perform. Contrarian with common understanding and perception there is plenty of room at the top for anyone is willing to try but no one is sitting there, all moving and are willing to work out of boundaries and aim beyond and above they think they could make.
3. Make the really tough decisions
You have to take or give the poison pill. People have to fish otherwise you have to cut the bait. Being a troubleshooter adds to your magnetism. Always find a positive slant in every question you ask and display a positive outlook. Then, you will find that people, although bad news, will gravitate towards you and in other cases they go out of their way to help you succeed.
4. Dream job? Next exit!
Sun is not brighter on the other side. Embrace good practices in your current job and use it at your next assignment. ‘Steal’ with proud and glory if you can copy and implement good success stories and tools from others.
5. I need new haters. The old ones became my fans
Managing involves coping by embracing dynamism and change. This cannot be welcomed by all so keep experimenting without based on decisions driven by your need to be liked by others
If you are a good manager and you give the signal by example you will see during the years that the false inhibitors will be gone, the gloves are off.
6. A team is a group of people who trust each other
Find or create dissenting views. Team work is not a group of individuals happened to gather at the same office. Synergistic cooperation between members that count on each other differs from defensive behaviors and could multiply the results.
7. It’s always seems impossible until it’s done
Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings. Be a cheer-leader for ambitious deal making because progress beats the crap out of fear. Every-Single-Time! Avoid anchoring bias and tunnel visions.
8. Consumers are statistics — Customers are People
Do not suffer nonperformance. Customers are first priority but should not come always first without reason. Employees should come first and they should always have the customer in the core of their business not just a five minutes break to their daily operations. In business nothing is happen until a sale is made.
9. The reality is in markets not in conference calls
Stay connected with customers while growing in size. Becoming fatter is different from becoming bigger. In the meetings we can really see a ‘star trek’ future but the bad side would be ‘mad max’ if you don’t listen the messages what the markets convey.
10. Attitude makes the difference
Don’t get inhibited or slow down by negative people and defensive behaviors. When resistance is ‘teflon coated’ remove yourself from toxic persons and focus on the important things.
11. Ask questions, be passionately curious, be persistence
Curiosity is one of the humanity’s most healthy instincts.
Believe in values not in stereotypes and dogmas.
The problematic individuals can be easily spotted as they always talk about the past. Focus in present and future not in status quo. Be curious, question everything, listen, ask questions and encourage debate.
12. Make cooperation and customers not sales
Customers in the modern era are making business don’t just buy products and services but actually they ‘hire’ you for a job. Transfer knowledge and information to your customers for making them to always be one step ahead of competition.
13. Culture eats strategy for breakfast (lunch, dinner…)
This famous phrase of Peter Drucker really counts for any successful organization and especially for transitional management during unstable periods. Bad culture in an organization can easily destroy the most creative strategy.
14. No matter how good you are but how good you want to be
Innovation, many times, may lays on your desk, find your strategic sweet spot of competitiveness and dare to dream big. Don’t neglect any opportunity to improve yourself, every single day.
15. Purpose and commitment matters
Stay tuned. If you have problems with your strategy then map it, forging opportunities from uncertainties without padding your projections.
16. Build a strong management team
A recipe for rabbit stew begins: First catch a rabbit. Similarly the first step in operating a successful force is to select the right people. Do not afraid to push the button to the ground floor again when the elevator –with you inside- has reached the top. Avoid the ‘too many buddies’ atmosphere as well.
Establish an entrepreneurship environment and leave your team to take important decisions.
You demand to be updated regularly about the progress of each phase, remove inhibitors and generate resources to empower your teams. They will ‘return the favor to you’ with exceptional results with moderate exposure because entrepreneurial approach is risk adverse not risk taking process unlike many people believe. Be clever to hire smarter persons than you; they will help you to improve the weaknesses you have. Give them direction, remove the bottlenecks from them, demand regular follow up and let them do their job.
17. Reward the exceptional performances and give space to people with passion and talent
There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise. Reward with generosity the exceptional performance.
The full potential and capability of really talented people never be accomplished with the strict authoritarian & micro management style which implies insecurity and false sense of control. People usually don’t leave bad companies but bad managers instead.
18. Put sustainability at the heart of your job
It pays off! Don’t be distracted by small, temporary wins which are based on low value bars or external circumstances. Focus how to detect, capture and maintain the true added value by improving your performance and the performance of others.
19. Business differs Busyness
Filling hours in the office is not the same as working.
Be productive and prioritize your main obligations each day, spare the others for a second time’s duty.
20. Aim = I am
You have the true power to accomplish great things, go for much bigger than you think you can do and you will discover that you can exceed your limits, you thought that you initially had, by setting new, higher edges to grasp. «Me» Ltd has happiness at the bottom of its P+L.
