Monday, March 10, 2014

Monday Morning Advice for Leaders



  • If you are not going to be pleasant then you'd better be ultra-competent.
  • If you think you have all of the answers that is a sign that you do not have all of the answers.
  • Before you hammer a change through the organization, use the hammer on your ego and listen to more people.
  • Beware of simple explanations for human behavior. Beware of the complicated ones too.
  • At least once a week, have coffee or lunch with someone who is not in your usual circle.
  • Contacts are nice, but relationships are better.
  • Be forgiving but also be alert.
  • People need to be studied in order to be understood and the knowledge which is obtained may have a short expiration date.
  • Evaluate your work for its effectiveness today and for how you are likely to regard it ten years from now.
  • You can focus on some subjects only by not focusing on them.
  • Organizations don't make decisions. People do.
  • A major decision that may be slept on, should be slept on.
  • Keep track of your organization's history. It is not a "nice to know' but a "need to know."

4 comments:

CincyCat said...

That last point is so important! (They all are, really.) It's amazing how difficult it is to step into a leadership role at an organization where no one has kept track of past decisions, lessons learned or even "tribal knowledge" over the years.

Michael Wade said...

CincyCat,

I believe that is one of the most overlooked responsibilities in organizations.

Michael

Kurt Harden said...

Great points, Michael.

I am amazed by the number of "important" decisions arrived at and delivered instantly to meet a truly fictional deadline, only to be modified within a day or two (or worse, left unmodified for fear of waffling).

There is usually time to sleep on an important decision.

Michael Wade said...

Kurt,

Thanks.

I think that Sam Rayburn was onto something when he said that "The three most important words in the world are 'Wait a minute.'"

Michael