I coach leaders, so to help them be better leaders, it would be a good idea if I knew what made a great leader, right?
The earliest and some of the finest books about leadership study military campaigns. The consequence of error in war is so huge; everything you do is tested in real time. Here is the short version: you better have a clear mission, the right strategy and brilliant execution. You must also pick the right people, be clear on your instructions, and give them the tools they need to succeed.
Underneath all of the things you must have or do to be a successful leader there is something deeper. It is at the level of “being” that leadership dwells. Who must you be as a leader?
At a granular level, I suggest that the first thing leaders must do is keep commitments. Leaders must do what they say they will do, when they say they will do it, how they say they will do it.
This is excruciatingly difficult to do. In the Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz describes it as: “Be Impeccable with your Word”. In our culture we use a lot of excuses for why we don’t do what we commit to. We are late because of traffic. We didn’t respond to an email because we are overwhelmed with emails. We just forgot to pick up the cleaning. We can fix those things by planning better, leaving sooner, delegating the small stuff, etc. However, it is often symptomatic of what we do on important stuff. Is our commitment to be half-assed in all our work?
There is plenty of dysfunction in our society. We follow leaders because they show us a model of how to be better. Let’s try this: for one month say no to enough tasks such that you can actually do each task completely. Delegate, postpone, cut out, be on time, and say you are sorry. Explain that you are trying to do each thing better and that for one month you are cutting all responsibilities in half. Next, go do them. Then, evaluate what worked or what did not. Remember that the military always does a review after they take an action. After all, lives depend on it.