Candor, when it comes to providing feedback, is the only way to go.  It lets people know where they stand (or where you stand) at any given time. Tact is a refined way of relaying this candor, however that is not the focus of this article.

As a Leader, if you don’t have the ability to provide candid feedback or have the intestinal fortitude to do so, you might as well remove yourself from your position of influence. A requirement for true Leadership is having a backbone and the ability to make the tough calls when the time comes and being able to communicate it (removing someone from a position or providing feedback of sub-par performance).

Lack of candor causes confusion (people not on the same page) and widens the gap between perceived performance and actual performance (promotions). I’ve seen this a number of times where Leaders where given good reviews and “passed along”, only to eventually face a Leader that helps define accurate reality. Essentially, Leadership set them up for failure, not success. These Leaders were not provided candid feedback and given a roadmap of what success looks, with an action plan on how to achieve it.

The status quo, within an organization, also has the ability to squash candor and is usually an undertow current (the unspoken code), which frowns upon Leaders expressing candor. Yes, “when in Rome, do as they do”, but to a point. My point is that as Leaders at any level or in any capacity, must encourage healthy, candid feedback AND not become defensive or offended when someone offers a differing point of view that is intended to help the organization move forward.

The above video is a funny way to look at candor and one must keep in mind that like recognition (awards), it must also be SPECIFIC.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

“Don’t focus on the one guy who hates you. You don’t go to the park and set your picnic down next to the only pile of dog shit.” ~ via ShitMyDadSays

Couldn’t have said it any better and gets to the point that criticism is a draining, counterproductive, negative world to be in; however it is part of life and is human nature.  The goal is to distance yourself from the noise of criticism (or as I call it: “Critters”) and continue to focus on what you are doing right.  While the ”critters” are criticising, you continue to make forward progress.  The key is to not allow it to hinder forward progress or cause a paralyzing effect.  Crush that little critter! 

Robin Sharma [Lead without Title] also had some great advice about criticism in is his Vlog about the “5 Strategies to Handle Criticism“.  Excerpt from the video:

1.  Every moment you spend focusing on criticism, the more you take away from focusing on your goals and dreams.

2.  Criticism is actually a complement (reflection that you are playing at excellence). 

3.  Leverage criticism as an opportunity (what can I learn from it?).

4.  Critics criticize out of fear (they don’t like change).

5.  Nature of Leadership attracts critics (higher the position and increasing responsibility, the more criticism that comes with it). 

I would add that you can also leverage criticism, utilizing it as a motivational tool to elevate to the next level.  Everyone is different, however the point is that you not allow criticism to start to unravel the fabric of who you are.  The world we live in loves to tear down those operating at a high level (successful) or operating differently from the norm of the status quo. 

Remember that those criticising are not in your shoes and don’t see some of the other internal/external factors you are facing.  I am not saying you become oblivious to criticism, however as a Leader you have to be able to filter it: take what is useful and let the rest roll off your back.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

Leadership is challenging in practice, however it does condense down to a few simple ingredients:

1. PRINCIPLE-CENTERED – foundation, which never changes. [Core values]

2. SITUATION-DEPENDANT – Leadership style may change depending on the circumstances. [Shift on the fly]

3. PEOPLE - always the focus. [Human element]

4. EXECUTION – commitment to excellence and comes down to action.  [Flexibility]

5. FOLLOWERSHIP – Can’t be a good Leader, without being a good follower. [Circular effect]

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

“Undertow [Rip] currents are often not readily or easily identifiable to the average beachgoer” ~  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  The same could be said for the average Leader and Manager. 

Post is aimed for Leaders that time and again misinterpret actions of their stronger Followers and are oblivious to the actual pulse of what is going on within their own Team/Departments/Organizations.  The goal is to have an awareness of the importance of  implementing mechanisms/opportunities  for their Followers to tell them like it is – essentially establish a feedback loop for candid dialogue.  Key to this is establishing trust by both the Leader and the Follower.  This directly ties into another article I wrote titled: Leadership and Followership: The Circular Effect.

Some Leaders interpret their stronger Followers as a threat or their actions as lack of loyalty.  What it essentially comes down to is a communication challenge and even on another level the Leader not being in tune [comfortable] with their own set of capabilities [self-mastery].  When one is not in tune with this, actions by stronger Followers will be viewed as a negative shot to the ego.  Regardless, if the Leader and the Follower are not on the same “sheet of music” a vicious [negative] cycle of the Leader/Follower Circular Effect begins.  Part of breaking this cycle is situational awareness and through experience.   

We have seen some high profile cases, where Leadership was “blind-sided” by strong Followers.  Things that were said by these strong Followers were opposite of what was being reported.  When you dissect this, one angle view is that the Leader was not as in tune with the Followers [communication] as they should have been and an environment was created [whether intentional or not], which stifled candid feedback.  The status quo can sometimes cause an undertow current because stronger Leaders/Followers become stifled by the normal flow or way of doing things. 

Disagreement is not disrespect, however there is a fine line between insubordination and providing candid feedback.  There is a time and place for everything.  Come to find that more “seasoned” Leaders are able to reign in their stronger Followers and not be offended for them simply trying to push the organization forward, but again there is a time and place for everything.  As a Leader, we must ensure that there is a TIME and a PLACE established for this.  Just like the “rumorville” in any organization, the Leader must understand its function within the organization.  You can’t control it, however you have to be in tune with it and nip issues quickly.  “Rumorville” is an informal communication channel, which cannot be totally disregarded.  Will save for another article, but has some similarities to the undertow current theme of this article.

Ask that Leaders at all levels become more aware that when things seem to be flowing smoothly, there could be a silent, undertow current running counter to the normal flow.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

Leadership is really about Life Leadership.  ”Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power” ~ Lao Tzu

It comes down to how well we Lead all aspects of our lives.  We don’t go to work and say, “Yep, time to put my Leadership cape on”.  We don’t put a Leadership cape on nor do we take one off.  It is who we are through and through.   When you water Leadership down it reveals two vital components: character and self-mastery.  If you can’t Lead yourself and don’t have a foundation of sound ethics, you are not in a position to Lead others.  Character is non-negotiable and is extremely difficult to change because it is woven into the fabric of who we are from a very young age. 

As we get older, I would submit to you that the gap between our projected self and our true self tends to widen [the outward image that we portray to the world].  “Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when NOT thinking or calculating“ ~ Zen in the Art of Archery [we must aim to restore "Childlikeness"]. 

Part of this ties into a great article by Harvard Business School’s “Think Tank” titled “Can the “Masks of Command” Coexist with Authentic Leadership?”  Only thought is to not mistake situational Leadership for lack of authenticity.  Leadership style may change, however your core values never do [who you are through and through].  Intriguing topic that can be analyzed from different view points because of the different capacities in which one can serve across different industries. 

Business schools and corporations are making a stronger push for integrating ethics into classes and seminars, which is great, but I submit to you that it is too late to teach values/ethics by the time we become adults.  It was already woven into our fabric at a young by those that had primary influence over us [parents, teachers, coaches, etc] and was tested through our experiences.  This fabric either remained intact or it unraveled, as each situation tested the quality of the craftsmanship.     

Will leave you with a draft of a Leadership curriculum for 7th graders, which is one great approach to help reinforce the two vital components that are vital for Leadership.

Photo courtesy of Guy Kawasaki’s article at the following link—> Holy Kaw!

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

This post is aimed at analyzing the Quiet Leader or what I call the ‘Quiet Professional” in more detail (will use these terms interchangeably).  My idea of an effective quiet, effective Leader is one who, as Theodore Roosevelt said, “speaks softly, but carries a big stick”.  They usually are extremely observant, great listeners, and tend to analyze a situation from a distance, taking input from all sides, before making a decision.  They are for the most part, Participative type Leaders, for those that want to classify them into a particular category. 

Attaching the label of “quiet” to a Leader can be a misnomer because it depends what lense and angle (boss, peer, follower, etc) you are looking at them from.  I have seen so called “quiet Leaders” look like introverts in front of bosses, but be extremely extroverted when Leading their followers.  Does this mean they are not as loyal as someone that is very likeable and outgoing in front of the boss?  No, can’t be further from the truth.

I tend to be on the quiet professional side, but only enough to get a good feel for the situation to see what style is needed.  Remember, a Leaders style is situation dependent, though we all have our natural tendencies.  I see the Quiet Professional, as it relates to Mixed Martial Arts: an extremely effective COUNTER STRIKER.  They wait patiently for the opponent to make a mistake and seize the opportunity.  

How it relates is that you see some Leaders that quickly jump to conclusions and react too quickly, while the Quiet Professional takes in the facts from multiple angles, before finding the appropriate opportunity to “strike” (open up).   Communication is key and it is what Leaders and Followers do: up, down, sideways, etc.  You cannot over-communicate!  This is not my point because “quiet Leaders” understand this.  Point is that they are more selective in there chosen communications (quality of content).

“Beware the fury of a patient man” ~ John Dryden

Boss Lense: They are most often very effective, but most often don’t get the credit they deserve from the Leaders they report to.  Part of this is communication.  They are most often humble, willing to deflect the credit on their followers and always willing stick up for them if the need arises.  Sometimes their Leaders (bosses) view them as not as effective as others that “beat their chest” and are more vocal in their accomplishments.  Charismatic type Leaders. 

Over time, some Leaders come to find that these “Quiet Professionals” are some of the most effective and some of the most loyal Leaders that they had.  Their is mis-communication in this aspect because Leaders don’t take the necessary time to really analyze the “Quiet Professionals” actions and impacts on the mission and their followers.  Quiet Professionals are just that, “quiet”, and let their actions do the talking. 

Followership Lense: From a follower perspective, they view the quiet professional in high regard and are usually extremely loyal to them.  This is in part to the Quiet Professional’s focus on Leading and taking care the of the people they Lead to accomplish the mission, rather than getting caught up in the politics and popularity contests of the organization. 

Bosses and Leaders of Leaders take note: If you want to really get a more accurate picture of your Leaders, spend some time “out in the field” with the lowest ranking people that they Lead.  You will learn more at those times than you previously thought.  People will tell you like it is. 

Magnified Lense: There is a flip-side to the ‘Quiet’ Leaders analysis: they are sometimes the most liked in an organization because they “don’t rock the boat” and are usually good friends to everyone.  This can be a negative aspect in my view and means that they are intimately woven in the Status Quo.  They may be doing everything right, but when push comes to shove, they cave everytime to save “face” or to save their “nice guy/girl” reputation.  At this point they are not true Leaders because one of the absolute requirements of Leadership is to have a backbone to do what is right regardless of the situation.  There are a few “Quiet Leaders” that would fall into this realm.

To sum up “Quiet” Leaders or “Quiet Professionals” are some of the best Leaders in any capacity.  Don’t mistake someone being “quiet” as weakness or lack of effectiveness.  As Leaders, we know better than to look at the surface of the situation or what we view when we interact with that person. You can be totally blindsided in this aspect, if you fail to do a 360 review of your Leaders and results they are producing.  Leaders are and should be in tune with these great types of Leaders.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

Leadership and Followership has a “circular effect”, which continually feed off each other.  Better the followership, better the Leadership and vice versa.  We are all Leaders and all followers (always reporting to someone higher: Boss, Board of Directors or following someone).  Followership is just as important as Leadership and is an art in itself.

Excerpt from the “Inclusion of Hope in the Servant Leadership Model” that helps reinforce the Leadership and Followership circular dynamic:

 ”Kelly (1992) states, organizations and leaders need to pay attention to people who follow as disciples.  Outcomes of this servant leadership behavior include an effective multiplication of the leadership style and organizational achievements exemplified in the follower can serve as valuable conduits of organizational culture and knowledge.”  

“Bass (1990) points out, “leadership and followership are mutual activities of influence and counter-influence”, since both stimulate and reinforce the other’s behavior.   As an extension of this model, hope is a virtue that is reciprocated in the followers’ response to the leader. Hope contributes a dimension to the servant leadership model that adds value to the organizational environment as well as contributing in a positive sense to the outlook of leader and follower alike.” 

In essence, good followership makes the Leadership shine, which in turn, the credit should be deflected back upon the followers.  Leaders, remember that your followers are a reflection of YOU.  Followers, remember your role is to support your Leaders.   Supporting does not mean blindly following, but you do everything in your power to set your Leader up for success.  Remember they also are reporting to another Leader.  The circular effect applies: Leaders also do everything in their power to ensure followers have resources necessary to carry out their decisions and tasks. 

I will end this with thoughts on followership because it does not  get as much emphasis or focus as Leadership does, even though it is just as vital.  All of us are in Leadership and followership roles.  If you do not learn the art of followership, you are not doing any good to yourself and the organization.  You will be viewed as a liability in whatever capacity in which you serve, if you do not understand and practice good followership.  One aspect of followership is loyalty.  One of the most blatant violations I have seen in followership is not supporting a Leader’s decision.  Good followers make a Leaders decision look like it was their own.  Poor followership is seconding guessing a Leaders decision in front of others, which only causes dissention and lack of confidence in other followers. 

Written from a military point of view, but applicable to any organization and is a great article on followership–> The 10 Rules of Good Followership ; picked most of the 10 rules that I liked: 

“1. Don’t blame your boss for an unpopular decision or policy; your job is to support, not undermine.

3. Make the decision, then run it past the boss; use your initiative

5.  Tell the truth; your boss will be giving advice to their boss based on what you said.

6.  Do your homework; give your boss all the information needed to make a decision.

7. When making a recommendation, remember who will probably have to implement it.

8.  Keep your boss informed of what’s going on in the unit.

9. If you see a problem, fix it. Don’t worry about who would have gotten the blame or who now gets the praise.”

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

Part of why I blog and have a website is ultimately to leave behind a legacy for my daughter (the time of writing this post she is 7 years old).  As Randy Pausch, Professor from “The Last Lecture” put it, it was about the Head Fake.  Make someone think their learning one thing, while actually teaching them something else.  He was giving of himself to inspire others, while battling an incureable illness, in order to deliver his message.  The head fake was that it was actually for his children (legacy).  

Some see blogging and Social Media as primarily branding, marketing tool and also to convey a message to the world.  To me it can be each of those things, but there is a bigger purpose: To leave something positive behind, well beyond your existence. 

One person I have major influence over is my daughter and in turn, she has a major influence over me.  The Leadership, Followership dynamic is in play, just like in the work place, and has that circular effect, which continually feeds off each other.  I will post in more depth about the Leader/Follower dynamic in another post titled “Leaders: Do You Follow Stupid Orders” and “Leadership and Followership: The Circular Effect”.

My ultimate goal is to have her some day be able to look at not only my accomplishments, under challenging circumstances,  but more importantly the lives I’ve always tried to have a postive impact on (including hers).  Didn’t matter what capacity or position I held, I always made it a point to focus on PEOPLE.  This isn’t something that is cliche – it is what my passion has always been about.  Helping people do better and be better. 

Part of this letter is also to convey how much I love my daughter (when she is old enough to understand the fullness of the words).  Regardless of circumstances (illness, divorce and other challenges), I always made a tremendous effort to make things look transparent, so that the direct, negative impact would be lessened once it presented itself in front of her.  It is part of what Leaders do and what Fathers do, to jump in front of the blast to help lessen the blow.  Doesn’t mean you don’t help teach important lessons, but there are appopriate times for those “hard-earned/learned” lessons.  Didn’t matter how the food arrived at the table during the roughest of times – all that mattered is that it did and was thankfully never a second thought in her eyes as to those “little adult details”. 

When it comes to my daughter, I am a follower too, because children are as close to being truly Authentic as anyone on this Earth.  As adults we need to be more in tune with this.  Children have yet to be eroded by the sometimes cruel and harsh external environment.  There are Leadership lessons to be learned from children everyday and I make it a point to stay in tune with that in order not to miss it. 

As written in the “Zen in the Art of Archery” book: “Man is a thinking reed but his great works are done when NOT thinking or calculating” [we need to restore Childlikeness, which can be directly linked to authenticity].

Leadership and Followership lessons are not always in the workplace.  They intersect in relationships, family, health, wellness and fitness = ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE.  Situational awareness is key and one must stay in tune to benefit from those lessons and to be able to apply them in any situation.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

“No executive has ever suffered because his subordinates were strong and effective.” ~ Peter Drucker

If you have an employee that is stronger than you, help them succeed, don’t let it get in the way of your EGO.  I have seen too many Bosses/Managers who, for whatever reason, felt offended in having employees that were stronger than them and did not take the time to develop them.  This equates to being extremely short-sighted and all it does is stifle development within the organization. 

Leaders always help those they have influence over to eventually succeed them and even one level higher. This is the mindset of a Leader. They understand the abundance mentality and understand the BIGGER PICTURE: developing the pipleline of talent is what is going to continue to set the organization up for success for generations to come.  Like in basketball or football, you are in essence “building your bench” not only for the current season, but for future seasons.

Fundamentally, I believe it comes down to having an abundance vs a scarcity mentality.  Leaders with an abundance mentality understand the bigger picture and understand that success is to be shared by all.  Leaders with a scarcity mentality, only focus on the ME of every situation and only see limited (scarce) opportunities.  There is only so much pie for scarcity mentality type Leaders and they stifle others from partaking because of their own selfishness.  In the end it only hurts themselves, the development of the people they Lead and the organization as a whole.  Stephen Covey actually coined the “Abundance Mentality” concept:

“a paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in the sharing of prestige, recognition, of profits of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives and creativity.” Source: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

This also ties into my other post on succession planning here–>Building the Pipeline.  One way Leaders take care of their people (invest in them) is through planning!  Taking care of your people does not mean “babying them”.  What it does mean is setting them up for success through coaching, professional development and performance counseling.  See my other post –> Counseling.  These are all examples of investing in your most valuable asset = PEOPLE.

© 2010 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.

Time and again I have seen Leaders become “paralyzed” by the uncertainty of a situation, which in turn delays a decision longer than it should have been.  At the “30,000 foot-level”  this can have devasting effects on the people you Lead and to the mission of the organization. 

On the flip-side of the same coin is a term that I call “Tactical Patience”, where a Leader has the experience NOT to react pre-maturely in order to allow the situation to develop just enough to make a better decision.  “Tactical Patience” comes from experience and is really an art to exercise the right amount of restraint.

Leaders are decisive and recognize that assertiveness breeds solutions to problems.  No problem or challenge will ever present itself neatly or perfectly.  Same applies during execution of a “great” plan.  The key is being able to get things moving in the right direction and having the FLEXIBILITY to adapt to the situation as it plays out.   I call this being able to “Shift on the Fly”. 

Will use myself as a personal example while battling through chronic illness.  My condition presented itself on a complexity that the “mainstream” health Industry was ill suited to handle.  I RECOGNIZED this very early in the illness and did whatever was possible to seek resources to help tie the puzzle together (MY CHOICE).  Instead of being stuck in the system and making little progress, I pushed on into the unknown, with the understanding that I needed to find the underlying problem to help solve or at least contain my personal challenge. 

My journey led me to some of the top medical institutions in the world (Mayo Clinic and University Hospitals through Clinical Research Trials) and combined with my own research helped get closer to the answer, while going through numerous testing and treament protocols for over 3 years.   

If I would have waited for the answer to unfold and listened to physicians that did not know what to do, I understand that I wouldn’t be sitting here right now to help share this information with others.  Understand that health is in a different realm in terms of priorities, but the same principles apply to any situation.  In the work realm, you have to consider the 2nd and 3rd order effects of your decisions.  Impacts in the Internal/External environment.  Impacts on the people you have influence over, customers, the overall mission, etc.  If you hesitate, the competition blows by you, customers are lost and your Team loses faith in its Leadership. 

Bottom line is that you, as a Leader, have to remember that other people have to still EXECUTE their functions as a result of your yet to be finalized decision.  Yes, I am talking about the precious resource of TIME.  The longer you wait, the less time they have to execute your decision.

Will finish off with how Stephen Covey views Proactivity with his 1st Habit (Be Proactive) in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”:

“The key to being proactive is remembering that between stimulus and response there is a space. That space represents OUR CHOICE— how we will choose to respond to any given situation, person, thought or event.”

© 2009 Ben Larson (aka TheLeaderWay). All Rights Reserved.