Most Leaders Don't Have Their Sh!t Together
As leaders face a challenge or task, we often put way more pressure on ourselves to be “perfect,” it sure as hell is one of my (many) hang-ups. This cult-like devotion we render to the super-stars (business, entertainment, science) completely skews the fact that most of them don’t have their shit worked out.
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Learn how get great results despite not being perfect.
While sitting down to write this, the question running through my head is, what gives me the right to provide any advice on this topic? It’s not like my life is without problems. As the saying goes, “therein lies the rub.” Pick any great piece of advice from leaders in any field, and the chances are the person who wrote it was not perfect themselves.
The fact is that we all need to hear the same advice over and over again to put positive pressure behind our good intentions. Without it, we cannot resist the brain’s desire to find the path of least resistance.
Leaders Keep Trying
Tip #1 Keep trying, measure progress and keep going.
We can all rhyme off the clichés about how Jordan missed so many baskets, or how Babe Ruth struck out so many times or that Thomas Edison failed so many times and how they kept on trying until they got it right.
Does that mean they got it all figured out? I bet no. If you asked them, they probably all felt like they were not good enough at some level. So how do “successful” people do it? How do they get their shit together?
Leaders find a way to hang in there just a little longer, and they seem to tolerate the stress, criticism and ostracism long enough to get a positive result. This is not blind stubbornness we are talking about here, you need to have a vetted plan and evidence you are making progress; otherwise, you are reckless. This determination and resilience, over time, lead to breakthroughs often associated with faith, luck or as “good timing”.
Perfectionism is a cop-out!
Why does it have to be perfect? Why can’t it be good enough for right now? When you boil it down, isn’t that all you ever really have anyway? Yesterday’s great idea is forgotten today or is at best a footnote in history; anybody remembers Netscape or Bedazzled jeans?
In his book “The Slight Edge” author Jeff Olson points out that small incremental gains add up to significant changes. As entrepreneurs and executives, rather than swinging for the fences trying to get that big win, try something small and manageable. A good MVP (Minimum Viable Product) will provide a positive dopamine feedback loop for you and your team. It will give them the reinforcement they need to go for the next win.
Tip #2 Go for Small Wins - Rinse & Repeat
Be an Authentic Leader
Sometimes (and by that, I mean often), the real problem is fear. The Fear of looking like a failure, like you are not good enough, often holds us back from trying to do the very thing that will lead to our success.
How to overcome that is to get real with yourself and others. There is a fine line between this kind of fear and plain unhealthy egotism. What draws most of us to people we admire is that, despite their many flaws, they continue to strive for excellence. They own their mistakes; they don’t make excuses or blame others for them. Connecting authentically is one of the keys to building trust with your team.
For a great book on this topic, I recommend Jako Wilnik & Leif Babin’s “Extreme Ownership.”
One technique that works for me is to look at projects like experiments; if they don’t work, like Edison, I can say, that’s one more way I know doesn’t work. If Edison took his many failed attempts, personally, his ego would have been crushed, and we probably would not even be talking about him today.
Tip #3 Be Real
Mistakes are part of the game.
Trust is in high demand but low supply. For leaders, trust is essential in building a high-performance team and a culture of leadership. Again, we are not talking about blind trust but measured trust. For example, if you say you trust individuals in your team but make rules that police them, you are not demonstrating trust.
You can trust people to behave in their own best interest. A practical leader will invest the time to learn what motivates individuals in their teams. Then they will link those motivations with the employee's performance and reward them accordingly.
Another trust hotspot is delegation. Not everyone needs the same kind of supervision when they have delegated a task. Endeavour to familiarize yourself with what level of follow-up each member of your team needs to ensure that they feel supported but not micro-managed.
Tip #4 Leverage Talents
Use what motivates your team.
If you have read this far, you may be wondering does all this EQ stuff pay off? According to surveys of revenues of public companies where employees report a high degree of happiness, their stock outperforms the market by a factor of three.
Even if you are a local business, not a Fortune 500 company, creating a healthy leadership culture will lower turnover, increase productivity, sales, and customer service.
Let me know in the comments how you feel about these ideas; the more conversation, the better!
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