The Leadership puzzle

As I keep reading and thinking about leadership, Books are written based on perceptions with evidence and making us believe we are inherently wrong and need to do corrective actions. 

If we have to believe these books, the authors should have been the most successful leaders of the world, ironically they are not.  Fiction writers make more money than motivational ones. Most of these books are biographies of experiences, good to read but  believing they are the medicine for all our problems is not correct.

Ok and Not Ok

It's ok to experience mistake, not ok to repeat and not learn out of it.

It is ok to not to have eye to eye contact when you are thinking while conversation, it's not OK to make your point communicated

It is ok to use filler words while communicating,  it's not OK to fill with lies and fake promises.

It's ok to be yourself , it's not OK to pretending to be super human and somebody else.

Leadership is a puzzle that comes in different levels and sizes and often it's so unique that there is no readymade solution.

Simple things that make leadership easy.

Be authentic

Be honest

Do not lie

Do not make fake promises

Confess mistakes. You become strong when you accept.  Life is not a superman movie and you are not super man and don't pretend to be one.

Be open

It's ok to listen to contradicting ideas, it's not OK to shutdown others because the idea is not good one, you need to go with the wind with them and then bring them to safety.

Be appreciative

If your team member comes up with an idea, that's amazing , appreciate it, sell it and augment with additional facts and benefits.  Remember leadership is not about autocracy and certainly not that you are the mother of everything of company or team. Leadership is more of custodianship.  It's double ok to have smart people under you or above you, it's not Ok  not to appreciate it and trying to pull them down.

Be expecting

Expect the unexpected. We are not in repeat cycles. Yesterday is gone, today is with you and tomorrow is going to be a completely a different day.  Many things go unexpected way, your boss may get sick, your team member may not show up to work or you may have had a bad time at home, anything unexpected can happen.

It's ok unexpected happens, it's not Ok to let that make bad decisions.  

Be innovative

Experiment when you can. There will be times when you can not.  Everything can be done in hundred ways and how many did you try and figure out which one is best?. What worked yesterday, may not work today. If you have to re do something of past, what is the probability of redoing the same again? If it's more it means you are not innovative.  Problem here is no one else realizes efficacy of every decision you make but everyone realizes the end results in the long term.

Be learning

Keep learning that fat pay check or the stocks are for yesterday. Today is all new and you will be paid for what you learn and how you organize yourself. Stop living a repeated yesterday. I am not sure how many books point this out. We often relive and make no best use of ourselves. Be open , read a book, explore some new skill, do something new. Resting your mind from one thing doesn't necessarily mean sleeping or watching TV.

Be listening

Never stop listening. Listen to your own conscience, listen to your team, listen to your boss, listen to what is being spoken and listen to what is not spoken. Essentially you stay focused.  Listening doesn't mean you get distracted to everyone or everything that makes noice. In fact listening is a great skill where you need to figure out real thing from noice. 

Be challenging

If someone says you can't do it and you don't agree to it , prove it, take the challenge.  At the same time don't be an idiot picking up wrong battles. 

Be inquisitive

Question things. Solutions come from questions. If only right questions were asked at the right time, may be we could have avoided some or all the wars.   Be inquisitive, make sure the world knows you are open for questions.  It's more fun to find solutions to questions from your team and customers. Secret is answers get rewarded and questions may be forgotten. So encourage your team to question. You are helping yourself. The tougher the question the better for you. 

We first

Don't get lost in building your autobiography all the time, it's not you that's "we" that's important. Make sure you make that visible. Secret here is if you make team successful. So remember only I comes first in dictionary and always "we" first for leadership.

Be real

Don't expect your team to deliver which you may never be able to do yourself. Always you need to be realistic. It is not that you have to do things but if you ever have to do it, you need to know how.

Expecting team to figure out all the problem and solution and If they don't, you blaming them won't help. So be realistic about expectations.

Be ready for getting uncomfortable

There will be moments that make you uncomfortable,  Someone may question something you thought was not an issue at all but it may be an issue.  Be open, be ready to take uncomfortable situations.  It's not your ego that's important. It is what you really wanting to get done. 

It's like making sure you focus the lens of your camera on the stuff you want and not get distracted with other objects that come in between, you want to realign yourself and still focus on your goal.

and yes don't be hypocrite. Do not preach something you do not believe or do it yourself.

Watch your mind

The centuries of evolution made our bodies and minds to be protective, defensive and do anything towards it. Unfortunately it's a defect when it comes to leadership. Watch what tricks your mind is playing on you. Does it say, "How dare that random person to question my identity or decision, I will make him pay for it, let me make sure he will repent what he has done."

Wait , wait, wait, hold on a minute , the mind is doing the trick. He is not enemy and you are not endangered by that questioning and rather he is helping by bringing a different perspective and may be facts that I was not aware of. 

So we need to tell the mind, hey you are doing great to protect me, just a minor correction here, he is an ally and not a threat and lets work together to understand the situation better.  You will be surprised to see the results.

Every question helps the leader to learn and progress. Every response from you is watched by your team, not just what you say in that moment but what you do afterwards as well and who knows you are winning their trust more than ever or sending wrong signals you never wanted to send. 

Pick your battles

It's not always that beautiful output that you start with.  Inertia for change always is the challenge faced by leadership.  You need to break some walls but not everyone and everything is a wall.  So be choosy to pick your battle.  At no point of time, you want to pick up battle with entire universe, your intent may be right but unfortunately the truth is not always about being on the right side.  Making sure you do one thing at a time.  Remember your family depends on you, this job is important to you and at the same time this is true of everyone you are fighting with. Goal is not to revenge but to bring change and don't make it personal.

Don't be a sucker

Every problem in this universe can have multiple solutions and not every problem need to be solved. May problems just disappear as we move on.  So don't be a sucker who push either this or that situation. Don't bring a dichotomous approach and make it complex. Look around, look with in, seek. You will find more better solutions that are amicable.  You may be making a key points that are in organization's best interest but make sure you are not a sucker and you are open for options. 

Don't try to believe that whole universe is conspiring against your holy self. You are important but remember you are not the whole but part of bigger thing. You are incomplete by yourself.

Fear 

When we see fight or flight scenarios, they are just symptoms and the cause is fear. So If you are a leader and see this happening, please work on the safety feeling of everyone in the team. And ensuring they have the freedom to speak and express.