Lesson  1  Lesson 7 Lesson 13
Lesson  2  Lesson 8    Lesson 14
Lesson  3  Lesson  9   Lesson 15
Lesson  4  Lesson 10  Lesson 16
Lesson  5  Lesson  11 Lesson 17
Lesson  6  Lesson  12 Lesson 18

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."

   Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group,
   which means that some people will get angry at your actions and
   decisions. It's inevitable -- if you're honorable. Trying to get
   everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: You'll avoid the
   tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be
   confronted, and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on
   differential performance because some people might get upset.
   Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying
   not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally "nicely"
   regardless of their contributions, you'll simply ensure that the
   only people you'll wind up angering are the most creative and
   productive people in the organization.

 "The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you
   have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you
   can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a
   failure of leadership."

   If this were a litmus test, the majority of CEOs would fail. One,
  they build so many barriers to upward communication that the very
   idea of someone lower in the hierarchy looking up to the leader for
   help is ludicrous. Two, the corporate culture they foster often
   defines asking for help as weakness or failure, so people cover up
   their gaps, and the organization suffers accordingly. Real leaders
  make themselves accessible and available. They show concern for the
   efforts and challenges faced by underlings -- even as they demand
   environment where problem analysis replaces blame.

   "Don't be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess
  more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they
   produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked
   by the real world."

   Small companies and startups don't have the time for analytically
  elites, either. The president answers the phone and drives the truck
  when necessary; everyone on the payroll visibly produces and
   contributes to bottom-line results or they're history. But as
   companies get bigger, they often forget who "brung them to the
   dance": things like all-hands involvement, egalitarianism,
  informality, market intimacy, daring, risk, speed, agility. Policies
   that emanate from ivory towers often have an adverse impact on the
   people out in the field who are fighting the wars or bringing in the
   revenues. Real leaders are vigilant -- and combative -- in the face
   of these trends.

   "Don't be afraid to challenge the pros, even in their own backyard."

  Learn from the pros, observe them, seek them out as mentors and
  partners. But remember that even the pros may have leveled out in
   terms of their learning and skills. Sometimes even the pros can
   become complacent and lazy. Leadership does not emerge from blind
  obedience to anyone. Xerox's Barry Rand was right on target when he
   warned his people that if you have a yes-man working for you, one of
   you is redundant. Good leadership encourages everyone's evolution.

  "Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted
   the leader must be doubly vigilant."

  Strategy equals execution. All the great ideas and visions in the
   world are worthless if they can't be implemented rapidly and
   efficiently. Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally, but
   they pay attention to details, every day. (Think about supreme
   athletic coaches like Jimmy Johnson, Pat Riley and Tony La Russa.)
   Bad ones -- even those who fancy themselves as progressive
   "visionaries" -- think they're somehow "above" operational details.
   Paradoxically, good leaders understand something else: An obsessive
   routine in carrying out the details begets conformity and
   complacency, which in turn dulls everyone's mind. That is why even as
   they pay attention to details, they continually encourage people to
   challenge the process. They implicitly understand the sentiment of
   CEO -- leaders like Quad Graphic's Harry Quadracchi, Oticon's Lars
   Kolind and the late Bill McGowan of MCI, who all independently
   asserted that the Job of a leader is not to be the chief organizer,
   but the chief disorganizer.

  "You don't know what you can get away with until you try."

   You know the expression "it's easier to get forgiveness than
   permission?" Well, it's true. Good leaders don't wait for official
   blessing to try things out. They're prudent, not reckless. But they
   also realize a fact of life in most organizations: If you ask enough
   people for permission, you'll inevitably come up against someone who
   believes his job is to say "no." So the moral is, don't ask. I'm
   serious. In my own research with colleague Linda Mukai, we found
   that less effective middle managers endorsed the sentiment, "If I
   haven't explicitly been told 'yes,' I can't do it," whereas the good
   ones believed "If I haven't explicitly been told 'no,' I can."
   There's a world of difference between these two points of view.

   "Keep looking below surface appearances. Don't shrink from doing so
   (just) because you might not like what you find."

  "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is the slogan of the complacent,
   the arrogant or the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to
   non-arms.

   It's a mind-set that assumes (or hopes) that today's realities will
   continue tomorrow in a tidy, linear and predictable fashion. Pure
   fantasy. In this sort of culture, you won't find people who
   proactively take steps to solve problems as they emerge. Here's a
   little tip: Don't invest in these companies.

   "Organization doesn't really accomplish anything. Plans don't
   accomplish anything, either. Theories of management don't much
   matter. Endeavors succeed or fail because of the people involved.
   Only by attracting the best people will you accomplish great deeds."

   In a brain-based economy, your best assets are people. We've heard
   this expression so often that it's become trite. But how many leaders
   really "walk the talk" with this stuff? Too often, people are
   assumed to be empty chess pieces to be moved around by grand viziers,
   which may explain why so many top managers immerse their calendar
   time in deal making, restructuring and the latest management fad. How
   many immerse themselves in the goal of creating an environment where
   the best, the brightest, the most creative are attracted, retained
   and -- most importantly -- unleashed?

   "Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing."

   Organization charts are frozen, anachronistic photos in a workplace
   that ought to be as dynamic as the external environment around you.
   If people really followed organization charts, companies would
   collapse. In well-run organizations, titles are also pretty
   meaningless. At best, they advertise some authority -- an official
   status conferring the ability to give orders and induce obedience.
   But titles mean little in terms of real power, which is the capacity
   to influence and inspire. Have you ever noticed that people will
   personally commit to certain individuals who on paper (or on the org
   chart) possess little authority -- but instead possess pizzazz,
   drive, expertise and genuine caring for teammates and products? On
   the flip side, nonleaders in management may be formally anointed with
   all the perks and frills associated with high positions, but they
   have little influence on others, apart from their ability to extract
  minimal compliance to minimal standards.

   "Never let your ego get so close to your position that when your
   position goes, your ego goes with it."

   Too often, change is stifled by people who cling to familiar turfs
   and job descriptions. One reason that even large organizations
   wither is that managers won't challenge old, comfortable ways of
   doing things. But real leaders understand that, nowadays, every one
   of our jobs is becoming obsolete. The proper response is to obsolete
   our activities before someone else does. Effective leaders create a
   climate where peoples worth is determined by their willingness to
   learn new skills and grab new responsibilities, thus perpetually
   reinventing their jobs. The most important question in performance
   evaluation becomes not, "How well did you perform your job since the
   last time we met?" but, "How much did you change it?"

   "Fit no stereotypes. Don't chase the latest management fads. The
   situation dictates which approach best accomplishes the team's
  mission."

   Flitting from fad to fad creates team confusion, reduces the leader's
   credibility and drains organizational coffers. Blindly following a
   particular fad generates rigidity in thought and action. Sometimes
   speed to market is more important than total quality. Sometimes an
   unapologetic directive is more appropriate than participatory
   discussion. To quote Powell, some situations require the leader to
   hover closely; others require long, loose leashes. Leaders honor
  their core values, but they are flexible in how they execute them.
   They understand that management techniques are not magic mantras but
   simply tools to be reached for at the right times.

   "Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier."

   The ripple effect of a leader's enthusiasm and optimism is awesome.
   So is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. Leaders who whine and
   blame engender those same behaviors among their colleagues. I am not
   talking about stoically accepting organizational stupidity and
   performance incompetence with a "what, me worry?" smile. I am
   talking about a gung ho attitude that says "we can change things
   here, we can achieve awesome goals, we can be the best." Spare me the
   grim litany of the "realist"; give me the unrealistic aspirations of
   the optimist any day.

   "Powell's Rules for Picking People" -- Look for intelligence and
   judgment and, most critically, a capacity to anticipate, to see
   around corners. Also look for loyalty, integrity, a high energy
   drive, a balanced ego and the drive to get things done."

   How often do our recruitment and hiring processes tap into these
   attributes? More often than not, we ignore them in favor of length of
   resume, degrees and prior titles. A string of job descriptions a
   recruit held yesterday seem to be more important than who one is
   today, what she can contribute tomorrow or how well his values mesh
   with those of the organization. You can train a bright, willing
   novice in the fundamentals of your business fairly readily, but it's
   a lot harder to train someone to have integrity, judgment, energy,
   balance, and the drive to get things done. Good leaders stack the
   deck in their favor right in the recruitment phase.

   (Borrowed by Powell from Michael Korda): "Great leaders are almost
   always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and
   doubt, to offer a solution everybody can understand."

   Effective leaders understand the KISS principle, or Keep It Simple,
   Stupid. They articulate vivid, overarching goals and values, which
   they use to drive daily behaviors and choices among competing
   alternatives. Their visions and priorities are lean and compelling,
   not cluttered and buzzword-laden. Their decisions are crisp and
   clear, not tentative and ambiguous. They convey an unwavering
   firmness and consistency in their actions, aligned with the picture
   of the future they paint. The result? Clarity of purpose,
   credibility of leadership, and integrity in organization.

   Part I: "Use the formula P@ 40 to 70, in which P stands for the
   probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of
   information acquired." Part II: "Once the information is in the 40
   to 70 range, go with your gut."

   Powell's advice is don't take action if you have only enough
   information to give you less than a 40 percent chance of being right,
   but don't wait until you have enough facts to be 100 percent sure,
   because by then it is almost always too late. His instinct is right:
   Today, excessive delays in the name of information -- gathering
   breeds "analysis paralysis." Procrastination in the name of
   reducing risk actually increases risk.

   "The commander in the field is always right and the rear echelon is
   wrong, unless proved otherwise."

   Too often, the reverse defines corporate culture. This is one of the
   main reasons why leaders like Ken Iverson of Nucor Steel, Percy
   Barnevik of Asea Brown Boveri, and Richard Branson of Virgin have
   kept their corporate staffs to a bare-bones minimum. (And I do mean
   minimum -- how about fewer than 100 central corporate staffers for
   global $30 billion -- plus ABB? Or around 25 and 3 for multi-
   billion Nucor and Virgin, respectively?) Shift the power and the
   financial accountability to the folks who are bringing in the beans,
   not the ones who are counting or analyzing them.

   "Have fun in your command. Don't always run at a breakneck pace.
   Take leave when you've earned it: Spend time with your families."
   Corollary: "Surround yourself with people who take their work
   seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard."

   Herb Kelleher of Southwest Air and Anita Roddick of The Body Shop
   would agree: Seek people who have some balance in their lives, who
   are fun to hang out with, who like to laugh (at themselves, too) and
   who have some non-job priorities which they approach with the same
   passion that they do their work. Spare me the grim workaholic or the
   pompous pretentious "professional;" I'll help them find jobs with my
   competitor.

   "Command is lonely."

   Harry Truman was right. Whether you're a CEO or the temporary head
   of a project team, the buck stops here. You can encourage
   participative management and bottom-up employee involvement but
   ultimately, the essence of leadership is the willingness to make the
   tough, unambiguous choices that will have an impact on the fate of
   the organization. I've seen too many non-leaders flinch from this
   responsibility. Even as you create an informal, open, collaborative
   corporate culture, prepare to be lonely.

http://www.ChristianMartialArtist.com/home.html

Danny Young's personal testimony
Danny's-Martial Arts Background 
Shape Up
Making the transition from techniques to principles
For every negative ... God has a positive! 
General Colin Powell Quotes and Comments
Photos 
Links to other sites

11/14/09