Friends of Dave #326: the most boring number
Revisiting the key attributes of leadership.
March madness is squarely upon us. If you are a college basketball fan, you and your busted brackets know what I mean by now…
Along those lines, if you enjoyed reading last week’s preamble, please take some time to watch this clip about the role of “agape” and family, courage and vulnerability forwarded to me by longtime FoD Christian Eidt (who hosts the NCAA tournament brackets I have played for at least the last 10 years now). Well worth the 27 minutes if you have it.
Now, on to this week…
I had a great conversation about leadership with relatively new FoD Hugh McEvoy (who also happened to provide the inspiration for the “If you stop pushing, it stops moving” quote mentioned a few months back).
Hugh mentioned a book entitled “The Art of Alignment” and we discussed how important alignment was in leadership and team dynamics. It immediately reminded me of the preamble we had here from a few years ago, framed by the story of my son’s challenges learning to drive, that covered the same topic of alignment.
One of the benefits of writing a weekly preamble is that I get to chronicle my thoughts in real time and share my point of view on a variety of topics.
If you have been reading this newsletter for a while, you know that leadership happens to be frequently discussed. In many ways this is a direct result of me having been fortunate to see and be close to a number of exceptional leaders, teachers and mentors over the course of my career.
Sadly, I can also say I have also been witness to a few unexceptional ones as well.
My conversation with Hugh this week got me to revisit some key components of effective leadership that have been covered here over the six plus years of FoD.
Some of them are:
The importance of empathy — emotional intelligence in a leader and being able to connect with others is a huge advantage.
Ability to manage the ego — the most effective leaders are the ones who can not only influence others, but can master their feelings in such a way that their ego does not play too large a part in how they regularly operate.
Humility — I have found that some of the best leaders not the ones who profess to have all of the answers. They are the ones who are willing, and have the courage, to invite those that choose to follow to be invested as equal stakeholders in the team's success.
Putting a premium on accountability — strong leaders make accountability an always thing, not a sometime thing.
Understanding the difference between being a “manager” and being a “leader” — most companies are over managed and underled. They tend to put more value on having people managing tasks versus leading others to outcomes.
Sometimes you have to be okay being the a**hole — we all have a need to be liked. But sometimes what is best for a team is to be told the hard truths and to be pushed through discomfort and get things done. That takes broad shoulders and a willingness to be the a**hole.
Fostering collaboration — an effective leader needs to be able to be more of guide in the process than a commander.
Leaders can spot leaders — leaders can appreciate good leadership when they see it.
When in doubt, lead by example — people get caught up by titles and job descriptions. Good leaders, regardless of title or role, see past that and, when the going gets tough, just get their hands dirty and lead by doing.
Understanding the power of self awareness — the best leaders are the ones that are most comfortable in their own skin.
I know this sort of turned into a “greatest hits” compilation intro this week, but I thought it might be worth the look back. Hopefully the increased volume of links above doesn’t mess with your spam filters — I know I enjoyed going back and reading them myself.
The fact is, the world can certainly use more effective leaders right now (and this transcends our own corporate lives) — not a bad thing for us all to think about and share what traits we think are most valued.
Let me know if anything in particular resonated or if you think there are other areas of leadership you think I should cover. You know I always welcome your input, Friends.
Have a good weekend everyone.
XOXO
Dave
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