Archive for Leadership Gold
The joy of not knowing…
Posted by: | CommentsSome people believe that great leaders have all the answers. Not true. Successful leaders don’t know everything. But they know people who do. If you ask me a question related to one of my organizations and I don’t know the answer, I know which person in the organization does. If you ask about my profession, I may not know the answer, but with a phone call or two, I can talk to someone who can answer the question. And if you ask about the details of my life and schedule and I don’t know the answer, I guarantee you there’s someone who does – my assistant.
For leaders, it’s okay not to know everything.
The most important decision I ever made to keep me focused and to simplify my life was to hire a top-notch assistant. For twenty-seven of the last thirty years of my life, I have been served by two wonderful assistants: Linda Eggers, and, before her, Barbara Brumagin. Their value to me has been enormous.
My assistant is the primary hub of information for my life. Everything flows to and through her. I trust Linda Eggers to know everything so that I don’t have to. More importantly, she has learned to sift information and grasp the most important details. When we communicate, Linda gives me the main thing, which enables me to see what to do next, helps me to know why it is important, and empowers me to bring the appropriate resources to bear on the need at hand.
Because Linda is the center of information for my life, she knows the good, the bad, and the ugly. That works because I trust her completely. And when she tells me bad news, I am careful not to “shoot the messenger.” Taking out your frustrations on the people who bring you bad news quickly stops the flow of communication.
For leaders, it’s okay not to be the first to know.
Most people have a strong natural desire to be “in the know.” That’s why gossip magazines and tabloid newspapers sell so well. Leaders also have a strong desire to be “in the know” when it comes to their organizations. No leader likes to be blindsided. However, good leaders can’t afford to be caught up in every little detail of the organization. If they do, they lose their perspective and their ability to lead.
In any organization, problems should always be solved at the lowest level possible. If every problem must be shared with leaders first, then solutions take forever. Besides, the people on the front lines are usually the ones who provide the best solutions, whether it’s on the production line, the battle line, or the breadline.
Taking myself out of the middle of everything lessens my personal importance to many people in my organizations, but it allows me to do that which is personally important to me. It also means that assignments are not always done “my way.” But I have discovered that most things can be accomplished effectively in many ways.
What about you? Are you determined to know everything that goes on in your organization or department? Do you get a thrill from being the first to know? Do you live by the motto, “If you want something done right, do it yourself”? If so, you are complicating your life and risking burnout. This only limits you as a leader. Begin relying on other people and cultivating trust in them. Only then can you be free to focus on the most important things.
Adapted from Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned
from a Lifetime of Leading
Leadership answers; no waiting!
Posted by: | CommentsThree weeks ago, here and on Twitter I sought your input on books that you’d like to see from me in the future.
Within minutes, the comments here and the replies on Twitter came pouring in. And when we finally compiled all of your responses, we had close to 30 pages of ideas.
So many of you took the time to really consider the needs you see today, and then communicate them to me. Thank you! I’m excited by all the themes that really stirred my ideas for future books.
Now, what probably shouldn’t have surprised me was how many requests came in for topics that I’d addressed in previous books. Here’s the good news: You don’t have to wait a year or more for the book you requested! Since the books already exist, they can give immediate answers to your questions.
Here is just a sampling of your actual replies/comments (without names, to protect the innocent), along with the existing Maxwell book(s) that answer those questions.
I hope this is a helpful resource to you.
On Direction and Purpose:
- I train elite athletes. Our dreams go to the wayside during the daily grind. We need a process to keep the achievable dream in focus.
- Finding your true calling in business and in life. How to do what you want.
- Interested in how to find purpose within internal processes that require collaboration when adversarial environment is prominent.
- A book about discovering your passion in life, what it is you are “meant” to be, how to identify talents.
- How do you know what you’re supposed to do in life? How do you plan for it after you know?
I’m happy to say that the answers to the above questions can be found in my new book, Put Your Dream to the Test.
On Working for a Difficult Boss or Leading from the Middle:
- The problem I face is having to read my boss’s mind and dealing with his micromanagement. He gives me feedback (99% bad, things that irritate him) days or weeks after an event has happened, and when he does he lashes out from the build up of irritation. He questions the work my coworkers and I do, and assumes no work is getting done if he’s not updated on every detail. He’s a real demotivator, and I’m trying to shield my team and keep them going. Any advice?
- How to deal with different types of leaders – a follower’s perspective.
- A book about “followership” – How to be a good follower, (especially) under bad leadership.
- How to lead a company from the middle. How middle management can change the direction of a company and how to get your ideas heard.
- One for followers on how to help the leader.
- A book for middle managers trying to break through to the next level.
The 360 Leader addresses all of these questions – and more – on leading up, down, and alongside.
On Various Leadership Issues:
I received many specific leadership questions. This is just a sampling:
- Hiring eagles versus ducks.
- Leading yourself (toughest leadership challenge there is)
- On self-discipline and tools to train my staff in same area.
- How to recover when you’ve violated laws of leadership.
- Qualities of a leader of significance. The seasons of leadership, enduring legacy.
- On working with boards, or a section on group politics.
- Courage to make tough decisions in shaky economic times.
These questions and many more are answered in Leadership Gold, which contains the hardest-won leadership lessons of my life in one book. In 26 chapters, I share the nuggets of wisdom that I gained through my successes AND my failures.
I’ll stop here. I received so much feedback that I can’t address it all in one post. So stay tuned for another installment in this series very soon.
But in the meantime, don’t miss my next post!
I’ve got an exciting announcement regarding my 2010 book – and how YOU can have a part in creating it!
The purpose of leadership, or why I do what I do
Posted by: | CommentsNext week I’ll return home from my trip to Asia. After 17 days of traveling, speaking, touring and meeting with leaders on the other side of the world, I’m often asked why I devote my life to writing and teaching about leadership. At 62 years of age, I sometimes wonder myself.
Alright, not really. In over thirty years of leadership, one lesson I learned very early on was that taking people to the top is more fulfilling to me personally than arriving alone. I wrote about this in my recent book of all-new material, Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leading.
Here’s an excerpt to illustrate:
A few years ago I had the privilege of speaking on the same stage as Jim Whittaker, the first American to climb Mount Everest. During lunch I asked him what had given him the most fulfillment as a mountain climber. His answer surprised me.
“I have helped more people get to the top of Mount Everest than any other person,” he replied. “Taking people to the top who could never get there without my assistance is my greatest accomplishment.”
Evidently this is a common way of thinking for great mountain guides. Years ago I saw an interview with a guide on 60 Minutes. People had died while attempting to climb Mount Everest, and a surviving guide was asked, “Would the guides have died if they were not taking others with them to the top?”
“No,” he answered, “but the purpose of the guide is to take people to the top.”
Then the interviewer asked, “Why do mountain climbers risk their lives to climb mountains?”
The guide responded, “It is obvious that you have never been to the top of the mountain.”
I remember thinking to myself that mountain guides and leaders have a lot in common. There is a big difference between a boss and a leader. A boss says, “Go.” A leader says, “Let’s go.” The purpose of leadership is to take others to the top. And when you take others who might not make it otherwise to the top, there’s no other feeling like it in the world. To those who have never had the experience, you can’t explain it. To those who have, you don’t need to.
From Leadership Gold, Thomas Nelson (2008)
