The Leadership Challenge

Exemplary leaders know that if they want to gain commitment and achieve the highest standards, they must be models of the behavior they expect of others.

Recognition is the most powerful currency you have, and it costs you nothing,

[Celebrations] are the punctuation marks that make sense of the passage of time; without them, there are no beginnings and endings. Life becomes an endless series of Wednesdays.

Change is the province of leaders. It is the work of leaders to inspire people to do things differently, to struggle against uncertain odds, and to persevere toward a misty image of a better future.

When leaders are doing their best, they Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart.

People are just more willing to follow someone they like and trust.

Teamwork: What did you do today to lend a hand to a colleague? Respect: What did you do today to acknowledge the work of one of your colleagues? Learning: What’s one mistake you made in the last week, and what did you learn from it? Continuous improvement: What have you done in the past week to improve so that you’re better this week than last? Customer focus: What is one change you made in the last week that came from a customer suggestion?

The climb to the top is arduous and steep. People become exhausted, frustrated, and disenchanted, and are often tempted to give up. Genuine acts of caring draw people forward.

Leading by example is more effective than leading by command.

The domain of leaders is the future. The work of leaders is change. The most significant contribution leaders make is not to today's bottom line; it is to the long-term development of people and institutions so they can adapt, change, prosper, and grow.

Don’t be defensive. People will be reluctant to share feedback if they are afraid of hurting your feelings or having to justify their perceptions. Listen carefully. Relax and actively listen to understand what the other person is trying to tell you; be sensitive to how your nonverbal communication is affecting the other person’s willingness to share with you. Suspend judgment. Listen, don’t judge. Don’t worry about what you’re going to say, but rather work to understand what the other person is trying to tell you. Be welcoming and assume that the information is intended to help you be better rather than anything otherwise. Ask questions and ask for examples. Make sure you understand what is being said and learn about the context as well as the content. Say thank you. Let the other person know that you appreciate his or her feedback and that you can’t get any better without knowing more about yourself and how your actions affect others.

What you preach and what you celebrate must be one and the same. If they aren't, the event will come off as insincere and phony—and your credibility will suffer.

It works like this: when your team gathers to kick off a new project, conclude that meeting by pretending to gaze into a crystal ball and say, “Look six months into the future. The news is not good. Despite our hopes, the project has failed. How did this happen?” Give your team members three minutes to run a mental simulation, and ask them to write down why they think their work derailed. All sorts of reasons will emerge. For example, “There were too many distractions,” “The project was overly ambitious,” or “We pushed the project too much toward our own self-interests, without considering those of our partners.

The instrument of leadership is the self, and mastery of the art of leadership comes from mastery of the self.

Your personal history is your traveling partner on every journey you take. It provides valuable guidance and informs the choices you must make. As historians John Seaman and George David Smith, partners at a history and archival services consulting firm, say, “The job of leaders, most would agree, is to inspire collective efforts and devise smart strategies for the future. History can be profitably employed on both fronts.” To lead with a sense of history, they maintain, is not being a slave to the past but recognizing that there are invaluable lessons to be learned by asking, “How did we get to the point we are today?” Michael Watkins, noted scholar on accelerating transitions, says that without a historical perspective, “you risk tearing down fences without knowing why they were put up. Armed with insight into the history, you may indeed find the fence is not needed and must go. Or you may find there is a good reason to leave it where it is.

WHO ARE YOU?” This is the first question your constituents want you to answer for them. Your leadership journey begins when you set out to find the answer and are able to express it.

How did you do it?” we asked Don. “How did you make it to the top of Mount Rainier on one leg?” “One hop at a time,” he said.

Leaders mobilize others to want to struggle for shared aspirations, and this means that, fundamentally, leadership is a relationship. Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow.

Values constitute your personal “bottom line.” They serve as guides to action. They inform the priorities you set and the decisions you make. They tell you when to say yes and when to say no. They also help you explain the choices you make and why you made them. If you believe, for instance, that diversity enriches innovation and service, then you should know what to do if people with differing views keep getting cut off when they offer fresh ideas. If you value collaboration over individualistic achievement, then you’ll know what to do when your best salesperson skips team meetings and refuses to share information with colleagues. If you value independence and initiative over conformity and obedience, you’ll be more likely to challenge something your manager says if you think it’s wrong.

Titles are granted, but it’s your behavior that earns you respect.

when you have a CEO who is so ingrained in the agency, staff, and each and every one of the clients, you only want to push yourself further.” Because Barby is so transparent about her values and vision for the organization, “There’s no question,” according to Alison, “that people want to follow her.

Titles are granted, but it's your behavior that earns you respect.

If you don't believe in the messenger, you won't believe the message.

When you give people a choice about being a part of what’s happening, they’re more likely to be committed to a project. Is there a piece of something you are working on that you could open up to others? It

You have to believe, and you have to develop the skills to transmit your belief. It’s your passion that brings the vision to life. If you’re going to lead, you have to recognize that your enthusiasm and expressiveness are among your strongest allies in your efforts to generate commitment in others. Don’t underestimate your talents.

There's an African proverb that advises, “Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

If you want others to believe in something and behave according to those beliefs, you have to set the example by being personally involved. You have to practice what you preach.

If you follow someone who's universally viewed as having impeccable character and strong integrity, then you're likely to be viewed the same. If you willingly follow someone who's considered dishonest and unethical, your own image is tarnished.

Leaders peek behind the curtain to see what is hiding there. Look around your workplace and community. What do you see people doing now that they weren't doing a few years ago? How are people interacting when they are working virtually and not all in the same place at the same time? How do they feel about hybrid work, and what are the implications for change in your organization? What are the hot topics of conversation? What do people say is getting in the way of them doing their best? Listen as well to the weak signals. For example, what are people no longer talking about or paying attention to? Listen for things you've never heard before. What does all this tell you about where things are going? What's it telling you about what lies just around the corner?To envision the future, you have to spot the trends and patterns and appreciate both the whole and the parts. You have to be able to see the forest and the trees. Imagine the future as a jigsaw puzzle. You see the pieces, and you begin to figure out how they fit together, one by one, into a whole. Similarly, with your vision, you need to rummage through the bits and bytes of data that accumulate daily and notice how they fit together into a picture of what's ahead. Envisioning the future is not about gazing into a fortune teller's crystal ball; it's about paying attention to the little things that are going on all around you and being able to recognize patterns that point to the future.

Although the enthusiasm, energy, and positive attitude of the leader may not change the content of work, he or she certainly can make the context more fulfilling.