I believe there are two keys to being a good leader

1. Become admired and respected
2. Make sure the organization owns the strategy

BECOME ADMIRED AND RESPECTED

The key to this is to treat people as you’d want to be treated. By showing people that you care as much for them as for yourself.

Colin Powell has said some really neat stuff about leadership. When he was asked about how he learned about leadership, he said, “The only way to accomplish a mission is through those troops entrusted to your care. It’s not you. It’s not the organization. It’s not the plan you have. At the end of the day, it’s some soldier who will go up a hill and correct your mistakes, and take that hill.”

Powell thought to himself, “Why would you follow somebody around a corner, up a hill, or into a dark room? The reason is trust. But how do you achieve trust?”  Powell went on to add, and I’ll paraphrase a little bit … by constantly looking for ways to do things better. By showing people that you care as much for them as for yourself. By recognizing accomplishments, and by ensuring that people who are not doing their job are fired. He then said, “People want leaders they can be proud of, leaders who have high standards, who have great moral courage, who have character.”

Let me give you an example of a couple of experiences I’ve had that demonstrate the importance of following the Golden Rule.

While I attended Swarthmore I worked for Dupont as a computer programmer for two summers. I was a summer employee and therefore the junior engineer working with full-time experienced engineers. My job was to help develop a mathematical model that would duplicate the process of making nylon so Dupont could better design and start up new nylon plants. We were using Fortran IV and working with an IBM 360 computer using 80-column punch cards to put in the data. It’s hard to believe, but in the late 1960s you used a typewriter-type machine to punch holes through 3-inch by 7-inch cards, hundreds of which were put in a metal tray. Another machine would read the cards to input your code into the computer – sort of like the Florida voting cards with the chads. The trays of cards were processed in batches in the order in which they were received. Turnaround would often take hours. Work essentially stopped until your cards were processed. While I was waiting around for the program to come back, I started visiting with the computer operators and asking them about their bowling league, or how their son Johnny was doing in basketball, or just chatted about stuff. Pretty soon I was getting my cards processed two or three times a day when most of the engineers were only getting one batch processed every day. They couldn’t understand why I was getting such preferential service from the computer operators. After thinking about it I concluded that I was getting such great service because I treated the operators as people.

I found that if you treat people like you’d like to be treated, if you show a genuine interest in them, they tend to respond, and try to help you. I’m convinced that I got special service from the computer department because I treated the operators with respect and dignity.

This lesson in caring about people was reinforced in my first job. Although I was in an entry level position, I found I was getting much better service from the research and development department and the sales force than other, more senior people. I believe this was because I spent the time developing a relationship with them and treating them as important members of my team. It’s always been shocking to me that many people treat those in lesser jobs as unimportant. Read Nickeled and Dimed by Barbara Ehreinreich to really understand what I mean. Don’t ever lose the ability to relate to others.

GET THE ORGANIZATION TO OWN THE STRATEGY

After developing a relationship with your fellow employees, my experience has convinced me that the next most important thing you can do to implement a successful strategy is to get the people throughout your entire organization to OWN the strategy. Companies are made up of people and it’s the people in the company who make it successful. And I’m talking about all the people, not just management.

Phil Jackson, who led the Bulls to six NBA championships and the Lakers to three championships, is one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time. He wrote in his book Sacred Hoops “Visions are never the sole property of one man or one woman. Before a vision can be reality, it must be owned by every single member of the group.”  

My own experience has convinced me Phil Jackson was correct. That the most important thing you can do to implement a successful strategy is to get the people throughout your entire organization to OWN the strategy. You need them to want to “take the hill” as Powell said.

Successful companies develop business-building strategies that then must be executed. Let me explain through an equation that has been critical to my success.

S x E = R

”S” stands for Strategy; “E” for Execution and “R” for results.
Strategy times Execution equals Results.

And execution is a function of the organization’s commitment to make it work.

Strategy is important, but execution is even more important for superior results. To get great execution the people in the company need to own the strategy so that they’re committed to its success.

In the mid-1980s, I was running a manufacturing company. One day one of my vice-presidents came into my office pretty discouraged. He said, “We never have the answers you want. We’re never right. Every time we come in with a program or a proposal you ask us more questions or give us more suggestions. Then we leave; we work on it, and we come back, and often you say, “Why don’t you add this?”

After this fellow left, I thought about what he said. In my mind, I wasn’t making suggestions because I thought they were wrong. I was just trying to improve the program. As a former consultant, I had always thought you should keep striving for that perfect strategy. However, after this comment I realized I was deflating their enthusiasm and dampening their commitment. While the quality of the idea may go up 5 percent with my suggestion, their commitment to execute it may go down 50 percent. That’s because it’s no longer their idea, it’s my idea. While a great strategy is terrific, it’s the execution that yields results.

So, let’s go back to my equation. Let’s say “S” or strategy equals a nine. Let’s also assume the organization doesn’t really own the strategy so “E” is only a two. You have 18 as the result. This is nowhere near as powerful as having a six in strategy and a six in ownership/execution. You then score a total of 36, more than double the previous result. You can always improve the strategy, but unless the organization owns the strategy and the execution, you won’t be successful.

So, how do you get an organization to own a strategy? Well, this goes back to my point that successful business leaders care about their people and realize that they are more than just a machine; they are a critical asset of the company. You need to be willing to do any job in the organization. You need people to understand that their job is as important as yours to make the organization work. For example, when I finished writing a board book, I then helped collate it and put it in binders. I worked side-by-side with the secretaries to get the book out.

I’ve also found that people want more out of their job than a salary. They want personal and professional enrichment. They want to feel that they’re contributing. They want to know that they’re part of a bigger picture and that what they do means something. They want to be proud of their job and of the company for which they work. I used to hand write “attaboy” notes to people thanking them for what they do.

I believe the management style of command and control doesn’t work in today’s world. People don’t respond well to being told what to do. The good leaders of today, even in the military, understand that you must lead through inspiration.

If you’re going to implement a successful strategy, you MUST have the people in the organization supporting you. Your people must own the strategy. Phil Jackson also said in Sacred Hoops, “Strategy is important, but once you’ve done the mental work, there comes a time that you have to throw yourself into action, and put your heart on the line. Even for those who don’t consider themselves spiritual in the conventional sense, creating a successful team whether it’s an NBA championship, or a record-setting sales force is essentially a spiritual act. It requires the individuals involved to surrender their self-interest for the greater good.”  

I think that’s what really happens when the people in an organization own the mission and the strategy. People forget petty differences. People are now working at implementing a strategy because they own it. Because they believe in it!

Leadership is not about beating people into compliance. It’s not about demanding that people follow you based on your title. In fact, when I joined United Stationers, everybody had their title on a plaque outside their office. I took all the titles off. Colin Powell said you have to earn people’s respect and you just don’t get it from a title. Your associates need to trust and respect you if you’re going to develop and execute a successful strategy.

At the end of the day, if you adhere to the Golden Rule and let people own the strategy, they will follow your leadership, execute the plan and achieve amazing results.