8 Questions on Leadership
TLDR: HA. Nice try. You should read this whole thing. It's good.
I've been very lucky in my career so far to work under some amazing leadership. I feel each day that my skills and abilities are respected. I'm cared for in both my work and my personal life. What I have found is that my creativity has flourished from when I first left college to now. Effective leadership has had a lot to do with that! I wanted to take some time and ask one of my role models his thoughts on leadership.
My dad! <—- link to his Linkedin Profile! (In case you want to check his credentials!) Okay, okay, before you shout "NEPOTISM!" at me - hear me out.
Currently he is a CIO. Which is a fancy name for Chief Information Officer. Which is also a fancy name for "Guy who does a lot"in my book... But when he first started out WAYYY back in 1995 he was getting his MBA and interning at First Data Corporation. He's done a lot of things, and managed a lot of people and has a daughter who pesters him to answer these questions. So, here ya go!
If you could go back and tell younger you anything about leadership what would it be?
Leadership starts with humility and knowing that as a leader, no role is above you… This is what is at the core of authentic leadership… What I will tell you is while you may have known this from the start, coming out of school, it get’s lost at times in your pursuit of career goals. It is vital you constantly remind your self of this fact, and remain humble, and put others before yourself, and be willing to roll your sleeves up and do the work…
2. Can anyone be a good leader?
Leadership is something that is not limited to a boss or a manager. The new hire entry level analyst must demonstrate leadership. While their span of control is limited, how they approach their job, how they interact with others is important. No role is a silo… you received inputs from some people, and produce outputs to other people. Stewarding this process to improve your work product, and relationships is an individual contributors responsibility…
Now, can anyone be a people leader… I don’t think so. First of all, some people who are people leaders never should have been… There is an enormous responsibility to provide the right environment to get the most out of everyone who works for you. Those who lead through fear or positional power never should have been leaders. My guidance to new managers… this is the biggest transition of your career, leading others is not for everyone. Approach it with humility and respect. Listen to your team more than you speak to them.
3. What is one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in your career?
Conflict is inevitable. You will have conflict with your peers, you will have conflict with your boss, you will have conflict with your direct reports. The biggest lesson I have learned is to recognize that most conflict does not come from disagreement on the end goal… it comes from the means to get to the goal. Once you realize this, understanding why someone believes another path to the common goal is better will help build bridges, and make the path to the goal more achievable.
4. What would you say to a young professional seeking to climb the corporate ladder?
My first question would be “Why…”? What is your motivation. Is it power… is it money… is it to build a better mouse trap…? Once you head down the path of climbing the corporate ladder, if your motives are not pure, you can and most likely will throw others under the bus… you will most likely destroy friendships… and most likely will taint your own soul… which translates to broken relationships at home.
If you love to motivate people… if you love to help others grow and develop… if you love to see that the sum of 2 + 2 can be more than 4… because you get your team to rally as one collective group, then you should definitely pursue leadership… but don’t let the desire to expand your span of control consume you.
5. What kinds of coping mechanisms have you found helpful for de-stressing?
Anything that forces you to pull your mind away from work…. Things that have worked for me over the years have been…
Exercise
Video games
Coaching my daughter in sports
Reading fantasy/science fiction
Family vacations
6. When you interview people, what are some things that stick out to you as a potential candidate?
Eye contact is huge… you can tell a lot about someone if they evade eye contact
Body posture… are they slumping in the chair… are they fidgeting… does their body language demonstrate they are truly engaged in this conversation
How well do they convey their experience… most people can pull resume templates and power words off the internet to create a great resume… how well do they tell the story of their career… does it make sense.
How do they explain the move from one position to the next… do they bash their prior employers… are there lapses in time between employment… are there moves building to something, or just a lot of wasted motion…? As a potential future employer, you are looking for someone who will be a hard worker, not be disruptive, will fit with your culture, and be a stable contributor.
7. How do you get the people under you to respect you?
I have reflected on this topic for years… I first focused on what I respect in a leader. Those leaders that I respected… I analyzed what it was about them that I found to be the greatest contributor to my respect for them… then tried to emulate and model this behavior. It first comes down to respect… as a leader, you can first show respect by showing a sincere interest in the person… not just at work, but knowing what their hobbies are, what motivates them…
Then, it comes down to respecting the expertise that the person brings… you hired these folks for a reason, assume they are more expert at something than you are
Don’t dictate others how to do their job… they may do it differently than you, but if you make everyone work exactly like you, they won’t stick around long…
Create an environment to enable a space for employees to be autonomous… to be creative… to know where they have a “safe zone…” and where there is not a “safe zone”, give them a series of lifelines to pull them through
8. On the days/weeks or months that suck, what gets you and your team through?
Personally, it is my family faith… As a team… you first commit to going into tough times as a team… no one is better or worse than the other… no one gets all the credit, and no one is the fall guy…
Then, after having gone through challenging times… you build trust… it is trust that carries the high performing teams through. You know in your bones your team mates have your best interests in mind… they watch your back… they will cover areas that may be in your blind spot… and you will do it for them as well