Leadership is often misunderstood. True leadership is neither awarded, appointed or assigned. It comes from influence, which must be earned. How are you earning your influence? What steps are you taking to inspire your crew to get behind your vision?
Does your leadership ability bring out the best in the people you lead or the worst? There exists a correlation between their mojo levels and your own. If conflict, absenteeism and staff turnover/churn are high, it will affect your morale, motivation and the enjoyment you feel for your job. When your management team is firefighting, they are depleted of energy that could be better spent supporting you.
Who do you blame when things go wrong? When customers are dissatisfied? When suppliers aren’t being paid on time? When performance starts to deteriorate?
When Philip Morris sold the Seven Up Company at a loss, CEO Joseph Cullman pointed the finger of blame at himself. He had the humility to credit those by name who had challenged him and were proved right. “I will take responsibility for this bad decision,” he said, “but we will all take responsibility for extracting the maximum learning from the tuition we paid.”
When did you and your team last extract maximum learning? By choosing to up-level your leadership skills and extract the maximum learning now, you will learn how to positively earn your influence and extract the best from your talent. Don’t wait for a catastrophe to strike before taking action! Prevention is better than cure.
I raise leadership mojo through:
The only thing a title can buy is a little time – either to increase your level of influence with others, or to undermine it. ~ John Maxwell
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