Real Leaders Don't Boss (39 page)

Now it is your turn to take the lead, to position yourself to become a real leader. Remember that the methods of leadership may change from place to place, and different leaders offer their own style of leadership. But one thing remains a constant: leaders must find ways to inspire their team if they, their people, and their companies are to succeed. Here are a few more leadership thoughts gleaned from years in the trenches that may help you grow your own leadership skills the right way:

On hiring:
Before hiring an individual, ask yourself: “Is this the kind of person I would want to be in a foxhole with?” If the answer is no, it may be best to pass on hiring the person. After all, leadership success is a team effort. Everyone on the team must be able to sacrifice, work together, and do so closely.

On firing:
Firing is a last resort after every other change effort has failed. Genuinely help the person find a position elsewhere where there is a better fit. For the good of other staff or the organization as a whole, terminating an employee is sometimes the only alternative.

On team-building:
Building the right team, and giving each team member clear roles and responsibilities that match their skills, is an essential part of the leadership role in whatever you do.

On change:
Real leadership implies change—change that moves the organization forward in strategic ways to achieve its overarching goals. Effective leadership forecasts that needed change will occur and that it will improve the organization's fortunes.

On countermoves:
Leaders must be like good quarterbacks, in that they need to see the field ahead of them, anticipate what linebackers and defensive backs are going to do, and have an audible they can call before the snap to counter their likely moves. That's one reason current and former senior enlisted personnel and officers in the military often make good leaders: they're taught the art of strategy better than most.

On honesty:
Michael Bradbury emphasizes the importance of honesty: “If I've learned anything, it is to be 100 percent honest and forthcoming. The public forgives a mistake but never forgets or forgives an attempt to cover up the mistake.”
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On greater achievements:
Passion and pride drive teams to excellence. Committed team members who believe in their goals and their leaders' vision
realize the need to get better, achieve more, and gain broader recognition and success for their organization. They also want to set an example others can emulate, follow, and adapt.

On the Golden Rule:
A real leader is always kind and considerate of others, regardless of his or her position or station.

How will you, as a leader, inspire and motivate others? That is up to you. I've tried to provide a backbone of understanding from what four decades of studying and working with real leaders has taught me. Real leaders adhere 24/7 to all of the Eight Essentials of Effective Leadership—including honesty, integrity, vision, passion, commitment, communication, and accessibility. But to infuse others with the excitement that's required for long-term team success also demands recognition of employee successes.

Cash for performance is great, but often a leader can't offer monetary rewards for a job well done. As effective, if not more so, is a personal note of congratulations or thanks. It is that recognition for a job well done that you read about in
Chapter 2
that is important to Millennials in today's workplace. It is as important to all generations of workers, too.

For many years, I've been using a 3.5 inch by 5.5 inch card with two signal flags and the words
Bravo Zulu
below the flags to commend members of my team and others in the organization who achieve something especially noteworthy. “Bravo Zulu,” in Navy jargon, means “well done.” On the back side of the card, I write a handwritten note. It's personal, congratulatory, unexpected, and appreciated. A word of warning, however:
don't hand out the recognitions too frequently or foolishly, or their effect will be diluted.

Bill Caudill, patriarch of the architectural firm Caudill Rowlett Scott of Houston, Texas, used his own interpretation of my Bravo Zulu card. Caudill used a pocket-sized card emblazoned with the firm's logo to deliver personal congratulations to members of the firm who had done exemplary work. He used a combination of words and cartoonish pictures to convey his message. Each card was delightfully and personally unique. As such, employees tacked them up in their workstations, almost as military personnel might display their medals.

A black and white version of the Bravo Zulu “Job Well Done” cards.

Cookie-cutter leadership—like cookie-cutter leaders—doesn't work. Every real leader is unique in his or her own way—in style, in approach, in attitude. What is universal, though, is the strong commitment and intense passion that real leaders have for the job at hand, no matter how big or small it may be. One of the biggest mistakes of aspiring leaders is to think that all he or she has to do is the same thing as some other leader. Patterning your leadership style after another does not make
you an effective leader. Be yourself and allow the passion for what you do to come through.