In my last role, we had a very young team and some cultural confusion on how a good leader acted and carried themselves. It was not that we had poor performances as much as so many of them had not been invested in and needed to be educated on some of the basics. It’s much like when your kids play basketball. If they don’t have the fundamentals like dribbling, shooting, passing, then they will be sub-optimal at game time and even worse they will unwittingly hinder their progress. It’s the same in your career, if you don’t have a clear foundation then you will slow or even grind to a halt your progression.
The following summary is taken from some of the leadership education that we did. Much of this is directly taken from my good friend and mentor Darren Thomas who is a legend in the storage technology space and has led at an executive level for several of the world’s largest technology companies (Dell, Compaq/HP, Micron) as well as the US military and his own startups. This is good stuff right from an expert who has seen it all.
Leadership is about your Thought, Word and Deed
- FAIL FAST Good leaders take risks
- LEADERS ARE GOOD FOLLOWERS, TOO
- LEAVE EMOTIONS in your CAR Take some crap and smile
- CHARACTER MATTERS All the time
- HUMILITY Be approachable, not high minded
- FIRM and FAIR NOT Politically correct and nice
- SPEND SOME TIME reviewing success and failure
- MAJOR ON MAJORS Don’t sweat small stuff
- NEVER GET PULLED INTO ARGUMENTS Enter on your terms
Leadership has a set of Rules of Engagement that you must follow
- STAY ON TRACK Execute or Escalate
- ACCOUNTABLE Make your word mean something
- ESCALATE Early enough to matter
- BUY IN Believe or leave
- TEAM over INDIVIDUAL SPOCK
- GIVE MORE THAN YOU TAKE Add value
- KNOW IMPACTS Know your Jetwash
- BE THE EXAMPLE Ethics, Attitude, Team Player
- PLAY TO WIN for Micron (not you)
- SOME CANNOT BE TRAINED Motivate or move on
The Roles and Responsibilities of a manager at a higher level
- BE INFORMED No Excuses
- COMMUNICATE Be on message
- SOLVE PROBLEMS Use your team
- BE A CULTURE CHAMPION Be an example (a good one)
- OWN THE OUTCOME Don’t have a victim mentality
- KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
- BUILD THE RIGHT TEAM Like you own it and pay them personally
Hearing this presented with examples brings it to life, but even the words alone get across a framework for a high-functioning organization. I would love to hear what you have seen or been through.