Like all of you, I dearly love compliments, and I received a great one this week. After just 17 months writing MAPpingCompanySuccess I was invited to write Leadership Turn for b5media. Too cool!

All coaches/consultants/mentors bring their own philosophy/approach/spin to a subject and I’m no different. My focus has always been on what I call MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™, because we are what we think.

I believe that how you think sets the stage for what you do. In other words, if the thought and the action aren’t in sync then you lose authenticity—and you can’t be a successful leader if you’re not perceived as authentic.

The best example I’ve seen of this was a district sales manager we’ll call “Jim.” Jim’s office was known for its individualistic salespeople and somewhat erratic production. It never won high office sales awards in spite of having several of the company’s top producers, while “Brad’s” office won top honors year after year without individual stars.

On one hand, Jim craved an office like Brad’s, but on the other, he belittled the “rah-rah” tactics that Brad believed in and used to motivate his team.

Jim tended to hire people like himself (a common managerial tendency)—gregarious loners who also didn’t respond to team tactics and motivation. When Jim paid for a professional, day long, team-building program it fell flat. His people thought it was corny and knew that Jim didn’t believe in it either; beyond that, Jim didn’t change his own leadership style of benign neglect.

Simply stated, Jim had no interest in changing his MAP, so there was no authenticity in his actions.

People aren’t stupid! Assuming they are and proceeding accordingly is a recipe for disaster, whatever size group you’re leading.

The greatest insight on leadership and my all time favorite description dates to somewhere around the fourth or fifth century BC and doesn’t drip ego.

As for the best leaders,
the people do not notice their existence.
The next best,
the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate…
When the best leader’s work is done,
the people say, “We did it ourselves!”
To lead the people, walk behind them.
Lao Tzu

I’m looking forward to presenting ideas and information on leadership, but I especially look forward to your thoughts and comments. They’re what will make this a more valuable resource for all of us, since one person never knows it all.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 9:30 am and is filed under Announcements, Leadership Quotes, Leadership Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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