Next Level Leadership
When Lee Iacocca took over as Chairman of Chrysler Corporation, the company was hemorrhaging cash.
Iacocca appeared frequently in TV ads saying people should “lead, follow, or get out of the way” during their turnaround to regain profitability.
I think better advice today for aspiring, new, intermediate, and seasoned business managers is:
Lead, follow, AND get out of the way.
The leader’s job is NOT simply telling others what to do. Leaders are managers, coaches, teachers, counselors, and followers at times.
Exceptional leaders create opportunities for others to lead when they’ve earned the chance. Exceptional leaders know when to follow and when to get out of the way. Exceptional leaders read the situation and act accordingly.
In his book, Start With WHY, noted author and speaker Simon Sinek writes:
“Leaders don’t have all the great ideas; they provide support for those who want to contribute.
Leaders achieve very little by themselves; they inspire people to come together for the good of the group.
Leaders never start with what needs to be done. Leaders start with WHY we need to do things.
Leaders inspire action.”
The Next Level Leadership articles come from a combination of my own personal experience, including mistakes and subsequent learning; the coaching and counsel I have received from line managers and project sponsors; and a dose of leadership knowledge acquired from books, business magazines, public speaking, and webinars by authors whose views I respect.
If you’re like me, most of the advice you get will be valuable, while some will be well-meaning but wrong for you.
Your Take-away from that is to validate advice you are given against your own instincts, environment, and experience and decide if you should accept it, reject it, or perhaps put it in “the parking lot” for later consideration.
What’s required to realize your next desired career step?
What does your manager expect, and what does your company’s executive team expect of their leaders?
To what extent are those expectations your responsibility to address?
How will you decide if it’s time to move on to move up?
If you’re ready to do the work to reach higher levels of managerial and leadership excellence, read on –
Welcome to Next Level Leadership!
How “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” taught me to be a better business manager.
NLL 111
Use Lean A3 Problem Solving as a way to arrive at better decisions and solutions, and develop your team members’ skills along the way.
NLL 110
Problem prevention is preferable to problem solving with your global suppliers. Both require you to engage closely, and consider their plant an extension of your own.
NLL 109
The “brute force” response to a problem can sometimes lead to unexpected delays downstream.
NLL 108
The Project Objectives statement: It’s important to state ALL the project requirements before you start.
NLL 107
Realizing your potential for Next Level Leadership will require you to dedicate some of your own time to non-technical self-development. Here is the “Why” along with 3 simple tips to get you started on the right foot.
NLL 106
Use a focused planning technique to bring individual managers together, structure their functional or project plan, and begin to form a high-performing team.
NLL 105
You are the manager; your job now is to develop the strengths of other people, not do their jobs (even if it was your job last week).
NLL 104
Your ability to accomplish things is largely determined by perseverance and your willingness to succeed.
NLL 103
Achieving genuine quality improvement requires closely managing the underlying parametrics, not just the upper level attributes
NLL 102
A major element of Next Level Leadership is helping your team members to become accountable for their own career success.
NLL 101