~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP WIRED John C. Maxwell's FREE Semimonthly Newsletter Designed To Maximize Your Leadership Potential. June 2003 - Volume 6, Issue 12 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Issue: * Maxwell Moment - Leadership Landmines, Part 2 * Leadership@Large - Surveying the Leadership Landscape * Book Review - Leadership, "Dubya" Style * Quick Quotes - Bright Ideas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Maxwell Moment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP LANDMINES, PART 2 By Dr. John C. Maxwell Have you stepped on a leadership landmine lately? If you read the last issue of "Leadership Wired," you know I'm talking about those problems--usually of our own making--that seem to come out of nowhere, blow up in our faces and sabotage our leadership. All leaders who are moving and growing step on landmines occasionally, but some are definitely more dangerous than others. Last time we talked about the landmine of losing touch with your people. In this installment, we'll cover three more subtle traps that can seriously damage your work as a leader if you don't take special care to avoid them. Let's start with the failure to think realistically. Max Depree was absolutely right when he said, "The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality." Unfortunately, many leaders don't do this. Instead, they either ignore problems or view them through rose-colored glasses. They don't intentionally deceive anyone about what's going on; they're just out of touch with reality. Here are three ways to keep yourself from falling victim to the "failure to think realistically" landmine. 1. Make realism the foundation of your organization. Focus on three levels of achievement: What you have to achieve to stay in business, what you think you will achieve and what you hope to achieve. 2. Look at realism as a friend, not a foe. It's amazing what happens when you tell the truth. It's not easy to look an employee in the eye and say, "You're not any good at that," or "We're not going to do that anymore." But if you really want to develop and equip your people, you have to be honest with them. Don't enable them; help them overcome their ineffectiveness. 3. Give others permission to be realistic. The more successful you become, the more you have to look at people and say, "Be honest with me. Be realistic with me. Tell me what I need to work on." Otherwise, people start telling you only what they think you want to hear, which keeps you from getting the good, honest feedback that you need. The next landmine we need to address is poor timing. This is an easy one to step on because timing is very difficult to understand. Here's one way to look at it: The wrong action at the wrong time equals disaster; the wrong action at the right time equals a mistake; the right action at the wrong time equals resistance; and the right action at the right time equals success. It's easy to see why timing is so complicated. The good news is that even though timing is often confusing, you can get it right more often if you follow these guidelines. 1. See the big picture. Most cases of bad timing happen because somebody failed to look at the whole picture. 2. Know the seasons of timing. When it comes to change, there are three seasons of timing: People change when they hurt enough that they have to, when they learn enough that they want to and when they receive enough that they are able to. As a leader, you need to understand these seasons and constantly monitor where you, your people and your organization are in relation to the timing of various endeavors. 3. Seek advice from successful, mature leaders. I've been around the block as a leader long enough to know--in most cases--when a decision is right. Now, when I sit down with a seasoned leader who has been where I'm headed, my main question is not, "Am I making the right decision?" Instead, I want to know, "Is now the time? Is the timing right?" The final landmine I want to cover is the failure to develop leaders. Harvey Firestone once said, "It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed." When I was young, I didn't know this, and as a result, I didn't develop a single leader. I didn't train, equip, or mentor anyone because I didn't know how to do any of those things. So how do you keep from making the same mistake I made as a young leader? Let me offer three suggestions. 1. Understand the value of leadership. Once you truly understand this, you'll pour time, energy and money into developing leaders. 2. Develop yourself as a leader. You cannot take people where you have not gone yourself. 3. Recruit potential leaders. It's much easier to develop a potential leader than someone who's not a potential leader, so figure out what a potential leader looks like and make a concerted effort to hire people who fit that description. And don't forget to give them the freedom and latitude to lead as they become ready. I could go on all day about other leadership landmines that have the potential to blow up in the faces of unsuspecting leaders. I hope what we have covered in these last few issues of "Leadership Wired" has made you aware that these traps do exist and that you need to be on the lookout for them. That awareness will go a long way towards helping you avoid these deadly landmines in your own life as a leader. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leadership@Large ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MANAGING THE E-MAIL MONSTER In a survey of more than 500 individuals, the Center for Creative Leadership discovered that e-mail has surpassed the telephone and face-to-face interaction as the mode of communication used most frequently by leaders across a wide range of industries. As useful as e-mail is, however, it can strain a busy leader's time and attention if it's not managed properly. To combat this problem, the CCL recommends establishing e-mail guidelines for your team or department to streamline communication and ensure basic courtesy. Here are a few issues to include in your plan: 1. Think before you hit "Send." Reply or forward only to the people who need to know the material in the message, and clearly state why they are receiving it. Develop protocols for using "priority" flags and acknowledging receipt of various messages. 2. Make your e-mails "scan-able." Keep messages short and to the point, and if you want people to pay attention, don't forget to proofread. According to the CCL, "Poor writing is equivalent to someone speaking with spinach stuck between their teeth. Listeners and readers concentrate on the spinach; not what is being said." 3. Be polite. Don't let the "distancing effect" of e-mail tempt you to be rude or disrespectful. Always keep in mind that you are communicating with another person. 4. Be prudent. If you receive a nasty e-mail or one that is difficult to address, you don't have to respond immediately. Think it over, and then answer in a timely manner. And remember--never "write anything in an e-mail that you aren't willing to defend publicly." For more information, see: http://www.ccl.org/connected/enews/articles/0503email.htm. _________________________________________________________________ CLEANING HOUSE One of the jobs of a leader is to make tough calls about firing employees. Nobody likes to make such decisions, but if they are not made in a timely manner, the results can be harmful--perhaps even disastrous--to an organization. Charlie Crystle, co-founder of a software company called Chili!Soft, learned this the hard way when he was building his startup's management team. As he explained to BusinessWeek Online's Alison Ogden, he and his partners failed to vet the proposed team well enough, so they wound up hiring people whose performance was mediocre. Although Chili!Soft was eventually sold, first to Cobalt Networks and then to Sun Microsystems, Crystle believes the problems that stemmed from hiring the wrong people cost the company its chance at an IPO. In hindsight, he realizes that he should have "just cleaned house" when he first "recognized the mediocrity and the selfishness" of some of Chili!Soft's employees. "The No. 1 thing you need to understand about building a company is that mediocre [people] drag down excellent people--they are cancer and you need to cut them out as fast as possible," he said. "Don't worry about creating holes in the company-- excellent people are much more productive when mediocre people are removed from their environment." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Book Review ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEADERSHIP, "DUBYA" STYLE It's not often that a brief note on the "Acknowledgements" page compels me to read a book, but that's exactly what happened with "The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush." Apparently, one of the co-authors has been a daily exerciser for years, but "under amazing deadline pressures" has occasionally skipped a workout. That didn't happen when Carolyn B. Thompson and James W. Ware were working on their book about Bush, however. "You just can't write about the kind of discipline that George exhibits and skip your exercise routine," they write in their acknowledgements. That statement grabbed my attention. If what the authors had learned about Bush--the president who "loves to be underestimated"--was inspiring enough to make one of them keep exercising on even the most grueling days, I figured it would be worth my time to read their book. It was. "The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush" not only provides an intriguing look at what makes Bush an effective leader, but it also offers many practical suggestions for how leaders at any level can improve by following his example. The authors' comprehensive research revealed two key factors that they say explain Bush's success as a leader. He has "horse sense," and he consistently employs what Ware and Thompson call the "timeless principles of leadership," which include identifying core values (for Bush, these are family, faith and integrity), inspiring through vision, building trust, bringing in the right people, allowing those hired to do their jobs, building alliances, communication, discipline, intuition and getting results. Each chapter in "The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush" is devoted to one of these principles. The authors describe each concept using examples from Bush's political, professional and personal life, including his work as owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, Governor of Texas and President of the United States. They illustrate each principle further with examples from the business world and conclude each chapter with a helpful how-to section. Ware and Thompson argue that a person doesn't have to have Bush's personality or his position to implement elements of his leadership style. They substantiate this belief in the how-to sections, which are comprised of practical recommendations about everything from creating an inspiring vision and using your day productively to engaging in "straight talk" and developing intuition. Without this kind of advice, "The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush" would just be an informative look at a president's leadership style. With it, the book is both interesting and useful. While the material Ware and Thompson present is user-friendly and often entertaining, this book is definitely not a quick read. The authors pack a tremendous amount of information into 279 pages, and to get the full benefit of the material, readers will want to study each chapter slowly so they can digest the content completely. A separate book could have been written about each of the ten leadership principles, but the authors do a fairly good job of hitting the highlights and moving on to the next topic. One exception to this is their discussion about "Bringing in the Right People," which they split into two chapters covering a total of sixty-six pages. The concepts they address in these chapters ("Don't be afraid to hire people smarter than you" and "Leave 'em alone") are important, but by the middle of "Bringing in the Right People, Part Two," I was ready to move on to something else. No matter which side of the political aisle you're on, "The Leadership Genius of George W. Bush" will give you fresh insight into the beliefs and values that guide the 43rd President of the United States. More importantly, it will equip you to be a better leader. And who knows? It might even motivate you to dust off the old treadmill and start exercising again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Quick Quotes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BRIGHT IDEAS "Your most brilliant ideas come in a flash, but the flash comes only after a lot of hard work. Nobody gets a big idea when he is not relaxed, and nobody gets a big idea when he is relaxed all the time." - Edward Blakeslee "A man would do well to carry a pencil in his pocket and write down the thoughts of the moment. Those that come unsought for are commonly the most valuable, and should be secured, because they seldom return." - Francis Bacon "Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprang up." - Oliver Wendell Holmes _________________________________________________________________ Leadership Wired is written by Dr. John C. Maxwell and is available via e-mail on a free subscription basis. 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