Posts Tagged ‘Dan Rockwell’
Top Ten Marks of Lousy Leaders
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David Lewis, co-author of The Pin Drop Principle, told me he was exposed to poor leadership when he was in his early twenties.
“Back then everything was a race and all that mattered was the numbers. In that context customers are statistics.” Lewis explained.
It’s been over a month since our conversation and I’m still thinking about the damage poor leaders wreak on others. David said, “They didn’t teach me the importance of working together.”
It’s about attitude:
Lousy leadership begins with self-protective attitudes not lack of skills, intelligence, or talent.
Lousy leaders:
- Need to know more than others.
- Can’t explore for fear of being wrong.
- Won’t ask obvious questions for fear of looking dumb.
- Need their egos stroked.
- Wonder who’s out to get them.
- Fear high performers; they need the spotlight.
- Struggle to collaborate.
- Won’t change their minds.
- Feel isolated and alone.
- Sacrifice long-term success for short-term profits.
Lousy leaders can’t serve others because they serve themselves.
Hope:
All leaders screw up. But great leaders possess right attitudes even when they fall short.
- Humility.
- Optimism.
- Curiosity.
- Endurance.
- Tenacity.
- Compassion.
- Responsibility.
Leaders matter most when they help others learn to help others.
Lewis said he’d learned that “success is not just about the numbers.” It’s a challenging statement because numbers matter. Skill, talent, and intelligence also matter. Attitude matters most.
What bad attitudes do bad leaders possess?
Do we really need cures for pessimism? Like what and for resolving what?
By Dan Rockwell?
I’m a huge fan of “just go do something,” but this world filled with options and uncertainty is paralyzing.
When fear prevents the next step, pessimism prevails. Pessimists can’t lead.
“The more fearful we are the more pessimistic we grow about the future,” Soren Kaplan, author of, Leapfrogging: Harnessing the Power of Surprise for Business Breakthroughs.
The cure for pessimism:
Refusing to take the next step because you fear failure creates pessimism. On the other hand, anticipating and preparing for contingencies is wisdom, not pessimism.
Churchill put it this way, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
I asked Soren for a cure to fearful pessimism. He said, “It doesn’t matter what you do next as long as you do something and learn.” The worst thing you can do is sit and stew.
Kaplan said, “Do something you believe is right – that aligns with values and makes sense – and you create optimism. The exciting thing about optimism is it fuels action.” But how?
Choosing the next step:
During our conversation we explored strategies for identifying the next “best” step.
Soren suggested three questions:
- Where is the opportunity for biggest impact? Prioritize.
- What must be done? Urgency is determined by threats and opportunities.
- What are the abilities of the team? Where can the horses in the barn take you?
Expert opinions, data, and research are helpful but not necessary. Just go do something.
Soren said, “Mitigate risk by asking, what’s the smallest step you can take that gives the biggest impact.”
The only thing remaining is the courage and resolve to step out and learn.
“To achieve greatness: start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” Arthur Ashe
In a world of options and uncertainty, how can leaders identify the next “best” step?
Let failure stew: Resist helping until proper attitudes reached..
By Dan Rockwell?
Peter Jenson, Ph.D., author, coach, and Olympic sports psychology consultant, said many things during our conversation but one most gripped me.
“I let them stew in their failure for a while.”
Peter Jenson Ph.D.
A team Jenson worked with suffered a disappointing loss. He let them sleep on it. I’ve been mulling over Jenson’s strategy.
Resist the impulse to help when not helping is helpful.
- Struggle strengthens.
- Failure humbles.
- Defeat opens hearts and minds.
Resist the impulse to help when helping in the past didn’t help.
The goal of helping is less helping not more. Repeated helping suggests deeper issues, stop it.
An inability to stop helping
is about you.
The longer you help the more painful the stop. If you’ve been carrying someone, it’s going to hurt when you drop them.
The pain of dropping them now will be less than the pain you cause by helping too much. The painful truth is helping isn’t always helpful.
A history of helping – helps. Be certain you have a history of helping before resisting the impulse to help.
I’ve often been hands off too soon. It makes me seem distant, disconnected, and uncaring. My objective is noble but my method ineffective.
To me, staying back expresses respect. Build a base of support before resisting the impulse to help.
The goal of not helping is the same as helping.
The goal of pulling back or stepping in is always development. The simple question is, “Will pulling back aid development?” It’s never personal.
Don’t pull back to prove a point. Anger suggests pulling back is about you not them.
Bonus tip: Don’t help those with bad attitudes. Deal with attitudes before behaviors.
Pulling back isn’t permanent. Jensen called a team meeting the next day to discuss their disappointing loss.
When/how do you resist the impulse to help?
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