Last week I attended Chick-Fil-A’s Leadercast, which included some of today’s greatest leaders such as Tony Dungy, John Maxwell, Ed Bastien and Dr. Ben Carson. The Leadercast is about developing leaders at all levels, positions and stages.
Whether you are working with 1000s of employees, 100s of clients, 10 project managers, or 1 other individual … whether you are the CEO, the division head, or the project superintendent … you can benefit from some of these great tips:
- Good leaders treat people as a "work in progress" rather than a "work already completed." Mark Sanborn, Best-selling author of The Fred Factor. If you understand someone’s personal story, you can better understand their professional success (or failure). As a leader, you should be concerned about making the "stories" of your colleagues and employees better. According to Sanborn, leaders don’t tell a better story, they help make better stories.
- Good leaders are determined. Tony Dungy, retired head coach for the Indianapolis Colts. People struggle before they make progress and, therefore, you have to teach perseverance, incremental progress. "One year we lost 10 games and were not showing improvement on the scoreboard," Dungy said, "but we were getting better each week. We had to focus team on the small incremental improvements." Leaders are determined.
- Good leaders connect with people. John Maxwell, leadership expert and author of best-selling The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Maxwell joked about leadership failures: "If you turn around and nobody is following you, then you are not leading … you are on a walk." The key is to connect with your colleagues, clients, and employees. It’s all about helping others: If you help them get what they want or need, then they will help you get what you want or need.
In so many different ways, I am called to be a leader … to my wife, to my kids, to my community, to my colleagues and to my clients. Are you doing all that you can to be a leader?