Leadership 101

Have you been through Leadership 101?

There may be hundreds (maybe thousands) of courses, workshops, and trainings on Leadership 101 to prepare a leader for action and success. Many of them are useful. Many of them are not.

If you are in preparation to become a leader or you are a front line leader just starting to figure it all out, here is my shortcut list to the skills you must develop to succeed as a leader:

take charge
build trust
solve problems
achieve your goals

When new leaders work on and accomplish those things the chance for success are much greater - possibly even assured.

Take charge: step up to your new responsibilities and accept the idea that you may no longer act like a victim in anything. You are in charge. Make decisions. Stay true to your word and tell the truth. Consult with people, collaborate with people, listen carefully to others and remember that there is no passing the blame for leaders. Whatever else happens it's up to you.

Build trust: Get to know your people, develop your team, and most importantly keep your promises. Trust takes considerable effort to build and can be lost in a moment of careless speaking or bad behavior.

Solve Problems: because that's what leaders do. Learn how, identify the problems ahead of you, roll up your sleeves and get busy.

Achieve your goals: Some goals will be given to you (by your boss, by your organization) but the most important goals are the ones that you set for yourself. Learn what it takes to achieve your goals and then act relentlessly on a plan to achieve them.

That's the shortcut. It's all much easier said than done. It's not easy. Why not get moving?

-- Doug Smith

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Insist On The Truth

How many lies are acceptable to you? Centered leaders confront all lies as soon as possible. Clarify, validate, ask. A lie left alone only grows worse. The truth may seem flexible but require constant diligence. How else will you know what is true? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Pay Attention to Your Problems

What if we just ignored a problem? What if we just denied that it existed? Some people would rather "reframe" it and not call it a problem at all. I have had several bosses who preferred to call problems "opportunities". They didn't fool anyone because a problem is still a problem. We may have the opportunity to succeed, but only if we solve the problem. Denying that problems exist invites them to worsen and grow. We don't want that do we? The trouble with denying problems is that you don't make them go away that way. Call them what you like, they still need to be managed or solved. What's the fear? Let's call problems what they are: problems; and get about the exciting business of solving them. That's what a centered leader would do. Won't you? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Should You Judge Ideas?

How did your last brainstorming session go? Having been thru tons of brainstorming sessions, I know that they don't always go well. Sometimes people judge ideas too soon. Sometimes people don't give themselves enough time to develop the best and most creative ideas. Sometimes, people settle for stupid ideas. Yes, we do need to generate lots of ideas. Yes, we do judge too much without letting our imaginations go wild. But, there does come a time when reason must rule. There does come a time when we must fall out of love with our ideas enough to see them for what they really are. Because, as a matter of fact, there IS such a thing as a stupid idea. And you wouldn't want to run with that, would you? -- Doug Smith

Roll With Your Creativity

You have a secret healing power. Sometimes you use it without even knowing it. If you're like me, you could use it even more. It's a power that heals each person and when we heal ourselves we are much better positioned to heal and help others. Creativity energy heals. Bring that creative energy out. Encourage your creativity. Avoid shutting it down when it inconveniently offers to embarrass you with a really wild idea. Roll with it way more often. When you've gotten to the point where people ask you what's gotten into you because you seem a little more wild and spontaneous than usual -- that's when you know you're on the right track. You're headed in a creative direction that will burst open the veil of constraints you think you see but is only a mirage. It's all available. The possibilities are endless. Creativity rocks. Might as well roll with it. -- Doug Smith

Learn Constantly No Matter How Annoying It Is

Some things that annoy us the most grow us the most. I never asked for some of my biggest lessons. I probably didn't ask for any of them. They hurt. They bruised. They provoked anxiety. They made me sweat. But I learned. I learned that people need lots of attention. That sending an email isn't enough. That a handshake (and even a kiss) doesn't mean that a deal won't ever be broken. That broken promises (especially when a kiss IS involved) are the hardest lessons to take. We go on. We strive forward. We learn. We forgive. I am annoyed by big lessons. My ex-wife once gave me a little present that was a miniature traffic cone with the words "Oh no, not another learning opportunity!" on it. That about sums it up: not right now please, I'd rather not get that lesson. We don't always get to pick the timing, but we do get to decide whether or not we learn from those things that annoy us. Things like the team member who isn't finishing the import...

Compassion Does Not Require You To Be A Victim

Is it possible to be too compassionate? I suppose that it depends on what you mean by compassionate. Certainly, we owe it to other living beings (and I include all living beings in that, not just people) kindness, grace, caring, and working to create tolerable or better living conditions. We are fundamentally here to help others. But that does not mean that we need do anything anyone asks. We need not become a victim. Some people are in need beyond our capacity to provide that need. Some people take advantage of our desire to help. Some people (gasp!) simply can't be trusted. I come from a tradition of faith that says help anyway, and I believe that is best. Help anyway. Do what we can. But...and maybe I'm going out on a limb here...but not to the point of becoming a victim. Sometimes we must say no. Sometimes we must walk away. Compassion does not require foolishness. We are not required to surrender our selves when evil prevails. Please do not misunderstand me. I ...

Is That Problem Solved?

How do you feel after solving a problem? Usually, there is a rush of joy when I think I have a problem licked. The effort, the work, the time feels altogether worth it. But, sometimes there can be a lingering doubt. There can be a flicker of uncertainty. The faint sounds of the problem still ticking away are heard. Maybe that problem isn't solved after all. Maybe there is still work to do. Sometimes our inner radar will tell us. Centered leaders have ways of knowing when their center is still off. Balance is impossible to fake. If you don't feel better after solving a problem maybe you haven't solved the problem. Ready to go back to work? -- Douglas Brent Smith

Step Up Creatively

How's your creativity doing today? We all have days that are more creative than others. If we're not careful and if we let the non-creative days become routine it can squeeze the creativity right out of our lives. Suddenly we stop drawing, stop paining, stop writing, stop exploring fun conversations, stop doing the extraordinary. Let's not let that happen. We're more creative than that. Sometimes when we feel the least creative we need to be the most creative. Overcome the routine. Break out of the rut. Draw anything. Draw it again, better. Write a poem about anything - then write it again with a deeper meaning. Force yourself out of the mundane. Imagine yourself in a room with five of the most people you can think of. You wouldn't want to be the lump on the log who sits there doing nothing creative, would you? You need never be that person. Creativity is always there for the developing. We just need to disconnect from the routine and reconnect to that chi...

Mistakes Don't Care

I can't erase my mistakes, how about you? I've learned that mistakes don't care how we feel about them. We do have a choice, though. That is the choice of whether or not we learn from those mistakes. It helps to talk about them. It helps to analyze what went wrong. Eventually, though, we must move on. We live with our mistakes, whether we want to or not. Why not get over it, and move on? -- Doug Smith

Encourage Your Creativity

Do you find time each day to be creative, to do something creative? It doesn't need to be a big deal. Maybe you aren't going to finish that novel today or wrap up that film. But you can still be creative. Your day, your life can be filled with creative things. Try something new. Take a different way home from work. Read a magazine you've never read before. Draw, and then frame that doodle. Cook a new dish ...we can always find new ways to exercise our creativity. It sparks new ideas and helps us refine old ones. Your brain likes creativity. Why not make sure it gets the creativity it craves today? -- Doug Smith

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