Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit!

Your people should always know where they stand in terms of their performance.

They need to know how the business is doing, don’t pad or diminish hard messages.

Leaders establish trust by giving credit where credit is due. (Never score off your people by stealing an idea and claiming it as your own.)

 Mastering the agenda requires setting the direction:  

       The essence of leadership comes down to putting an organization or business on a particular path.  Set a direction before making operational decisions.

►    Define and build on core competencies:  

        It sounds so fundamental, but companies to this day make the mistake of not properly defining their key business.  Once the core business is defined, put the necessary resources behind it to make it grow.

►    To lead, embrace the difficult decisions:

        In order to fix an ailing business or to promote turnarounds, you may need to make decisions that are not popular or comfortable in order to progress.  Ensure that you have the best and right people on the bus, and adjust or remove those that don’t fit.

►    If you are committed to a topic, never stop selling the message:

      Be responsible for you own level of preparedness.  Communicate your vision, agenda, mission often.  When the stormy times come you will be the steady force that guides your business through to success.

 ►    It’s execution and results that count: 

The pragmatic leader knows that he will be judged on results.  Whether you run a large company or a small business, ultimately there is no substitute for results.

►    Maintain flexibility: 

Organizations and individuals must be prepared for an “uncertain tomorrow” and “asymmetrical threats.”  Be ready for the unexpected, maintain the flexibility to take on all contingencies rather that getting locked into a vision that “seems probable today, but which may very well not be probable at all.”

►    Avoid false forecasts:

Beware of the unrealistic forecast or plan.  Resist developing a “hockey-stick” mentality:  the forecasting of one down year to be succeeded by a happy string of up years.  Be realistic, and plan realistically.

►    Know when to cut your losses:

Know when you don’t have the resources or when your opponent holds all the good cards.  Live to fight another day.

Three areas that are the hallmarks of an authentic leader that will define your credibility and influence as a leader: 

►    Lead with vision: 

§         Articulate your vision often and in advance of or before actual implementation is feasible.  This sets the tone for ensuring those that will be communicating, along with those that are the decision makers and those that execute will have buy-in and the right perspective to ensure all roads lead to your vision’s outcome.

►    Define and reinforce the mission: 

§         Especially during a time of crisis it is imperative to communicate the mission as soon as possible, and communicate it often.  Address every audience to which you have access; your teams, the press, corporate staff, members of the board, and the public.  Hammer home the key points time and again in the opening days, weeks, months of the crisis.  This will focus everyone on the priorities to resolving the issues, and head off gossip, rumors, ambiguities, and mis-communications.

►    Get the troops to execute:

§         It is imperative for the leader to understand their role is to build the morale of the troops.  Make several trips to stand side by side with those who have been called upon to carry out the vision and mission that you have set forth.  Be available, be visible, setting the example of positive energy and optimism.  The leader must be engaged and involved in the goings on concerning their teams, set the tone of “let’s take this hill together!”