No Cat Posters (& Other Leadership Beliefs)
With apologies to "Crash" Davis and the rest of the characters in Bull Durham - I'd like to tell you my Leadership (and other topical) Beliefs in bullet form:
I believe that life is not a cat poster - if you need a cat poster to get you motivated, you may want to look internally at what you are doing and pick a new career.
I believe you put people first - always.
I believe you take complete accountability when your team messes up and you give all the credit when they do well.
I believe that Lee Harvey was part of a bigger conspiracy. Yeah I said it...
I believe that your people do not need to hate you or fear you to perform for you. I have always done better because people WANT to do well for me rather than HAVE to do well to keep their jobs.
I believe in raises for a job well done, no limit to how many people in a dept get bonuses or raises - if they all deserve them they all get 'em, and performance appraisals in unusual places instead of the office,
I believe that the secret to great leadership is to be out front and pulling people with you rather than being behind and pushing people.
I believe that flip flops should never be worn in a work place unless you are a lifeguard. And never with Jeans. Stop it right now...
I believe you should have lunch with your team at least once a month and coffee or other beverage with them more often than that.
Some of you already know that I believe the abbreviation LOL should not be used unless you are actually laughing out loud. Otherwise, CQTM is probably more appropriate (Chuckling Quietly To Myself).
I believe that you hire for personality and team fit - you can always train skills.
While we are on the subject of training - I believe everyone learns differently and deserves the right to consume information in the way that they best learn. That means we must be on our game when it comes to one-size-fits-one training.
I believe that Rambo was one of the few times the sequel was better than the first movie.
I believe that you should be nice to everyone. Not because you are worried about who they may turn out to be or how they can help your career, but rather because it's the right thing to do.
I believe that the phrase "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" is the most over-used, albeit true, cliche in the business world. Besides, everyone knows the true definition of insanity is running around in a public place with your pants over your head yelling "Mustard is the route of all evil!" Especially if they do it over and over again and expect not to get arrested each time...
Lastly - I believe too many people have leadership roles for the wrong reason - they were good at something so someone thought they'd be good leading others to do the same thing. If you don't have a passion for leading people, making a team better all around, and working with others toward a common goal of getting better every single day - you should probably not be leading people at all. Perhaps try another line of work...like lion tamer, unicycle racer, fisherman, professional solitaire player, or...consultant (oh stop it fellow consultants, I'm mostly just kidding).
Well that's it for today. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. Visit johnisbelltraining.com if you want to read more or are looking for a speaker for your next event. Thanks and make it a great day!
