Lessons in Leadership

Sunday night through yesterday around 2:00, I was involved in a Leadership Academy as part of my job. No, that's not quite right. I applied for and was accepted to attend this prestigious Academy with 20 up-and-coming member-leaders and 5 other staff from my organization. It was a humbling, exhilarating and exhausting experience. I am still processing all the lessons, but I will share some of the nuggets I wrote down as the days progressed:


We shape how others treat us.

Listening is a way to contribute to humankind.

When you listen, beware changing the meaning of what they say to fit what you want to hear.

You have to build good people to build good companies.

When you screw up, don't dwell on it or stew in it. Set it aside and go on to your "next play"; work on the problem/mistake later when you have time and are in the proper frame of mind to do so. (Think of a basketball player who screwed up a play but can't stop the game to dwell in it or the game is lost. He must move on to the next play.)

We escape our lives through addictive behaviors to the extent that we don't like ourselves. The more authentic we are, and the more we like who we are the less we need to escape.

Figure out who you are and behave accordingly. Be honest and elevate whatever you are doing.

Budget your energy as well as your time.
Live in and act from your core.

The more you participate in life, the more you use all your senses, the more you communicate, the more relevant the information you take in and put out is to you the more you are functioning at your best.

To listen or not to listen. That is the real question. When you are unable to listen for any reason, be honest about it to the person who is trying to communicate. Only listen when you are able to really listen, and be selective - listen to things of significance first and with all of yourself.

In great organizations, every employee feels as if they have ownership.

Build a clean ego to be a great leader.

Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

Live each day by choice.

Change what you say or change what you do. Just pick one of the two.

Fair does not mean equal.

Become aware of and be willing to change your default reactions.

Own a room and command respect when you speak by towering, not cowering.

Ink it when you think it.

The best leader is not one who is served by the most people, but the one who serves the most people.

If you get strategy wrong, tactics and execution don't matter.

One of the biggest lessons of all was the concept of Prime Time for Prime Events - not giving away big chunks of time or energy to things that are not of prime importance to the job, the day, the relationship...More on that after I have processed it more.