If You Have Not Taken A Leadership Course, Start Here
I'm grateful that a #leadership course was required in my PhD program*. It's the ONE COURSE that I use EVERY DAY. Still, it doesn't take a course to get your ducks in a row about leadership. It just takes listening and implementing a few key pieces of advice--that you've likely already heard.
If you get a chance, it would be a valid question to ask any leader, "Have you taken a leadership course?" and see what they say. If the answer is no, you might want to start surreptitiously dropping some leadership gems for them to pick up. Don't worry that you are not their leader! How ridiculous! The "secret leader in the crowd" is a favorite human story! We've got lots of them! It's no problem!
We've got:
- Bard from the Hobbit
- David from The Books of Samuel
- That guy that yells "You can do it" from the crowd in Adam Sandler movies. etc.
This will be my take on some key leadership ideas that I do use, yes, every day.
Heather's (Made up) Leadership Manual
Day 1, Page 1:
Every one is a leader.
Yup, agreed. I know some of you want to throw stones at this and say that being a lifetime follower (ahem, Independent Contributor) is OK. That's not the point. IC is a job title. The point is to recognize that your decisions chart the course of your life. Taking responsibility for your own self is the start of taking care of your neighbor. Get that straight.
Want some backup on that? Find the research that says that Taking Responsibility is the #1 happiness precursor, culture to culture, time to time, across all disciplines and ages. And remember that the phrase says TAKE, not wait around until it's OK. Reach out and grab responsibility. Is your neighbor hurting? Well, that's YOUR problem, Mister! Get out there and do something!
Day 2, Page 2:
Pick a leadership philosophy or, just like a Last Will and Testament, one will be picked for you.
A leadership philosophy gives you the answers to questions in the dark, in unknown locations, in split seconds, and in heartfelt moments. Believe me, leaders are forged in these fires.
Yes, there are multiple leadership philosophies (she says, trying not to roll her eyes). There isn't just ONE and no, you can't just be "yourself". You are likely a jerk. We all are. You really are the product of your experiences, culture, and upbringing. They all influenced your leadership style. If you want to do better, read up, buttercup.
Day 3, Page 3:
Pick the hill you are going to die on.
No. When we talk about dying and leadership, this aren't chump change decisions. You've got to lay it ALL on the line, or nothing is on the line. A true leader who loses their job is still a leader.
Picking the hill you are going to die ALSO means don't pick silly little fights! I knew a great faculty member once that advanced to leadership. In his first week, he started to take up meeting time with his pet favorite issue. I tried virtually kicking him under the table to say "Really, this is not worth fighting for! You just got here. Save your "OMG the wolves are going to eat us!" for when you really need it." Long story short: he didn't get what he wanted. And he's a known cry-baby from the start. As a leader. That's a disaster. I would never find myself in a fox hole next to him.
You've heard these before
Leadership is not a job title.
This is universal. Just pick an era, google it's top leaders and you'll basically find a nice helping of assholes. But the kindest person could be the garbage-pickup man, the nurse in the health center, or the IT help line person. Don't mistake TITLES for being leaders.
Leaders don't lead, they serve.
Get this one inside you too. Leaders are there to TAKE CARE of those that report to them, not to dominate, dictate, or demand.
I received a great piece of advice when I advanced to mid-level management in Higher Education (cough, Department Head, cough): I had 5 faculty that just before were my co-workers. Now I was their boss. I was so nervous to lead the first Team Meeting as boss that my knees were knocking together. I turned to my Mentor for her advice. She said:
You've got them. Now your job is to keep them.
True enough. There was no reason for them to just up and leave (and OMG, the work of 5 people would all fall on me, I'd be dead in 3 days). So..it was now my job to keep them employed. Over a little time, my Mentor and I worked our philosophy into this statement that we would training other Managers on and repeat to new hires on our teams:
It is my job to keep you employed, until such a time as you make it clear to me that it is not longer my job to keep you employed here.That meant I do EVERYTHING to keep you in your job and happy & productive in your job. When the time comes that you indicate you want to go, it is my job to help you get your NEXT job (via references, friendship, help with HR after your departure, etc.). If you act like a jerk, you're making it clear that you don't want to work here, hence I'll bring out the counseling (See my 6 Days A Week post) and the 'we're gonna fire you' words. But short of that, my job is to keep you employed, come heck or high water.
The days I felt like this protecting my team as their leader were plethora.
Never think that you can out-think your team.
I had one PhD. My team had 14 PhDs. How could I possibly out-think them?
This one is simple to activate. Watch how Captain Jean Luc Picard handles issues on the bridge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. 
He always:
1. Confronts the issue via the viewscreen or audio message. Mutes it.
2. Turns directly around on his heels to look at his crew. He says one word, "Options."
And of course, being ST:TNG, Riker advocates for aggression, Warf advocates to start shooting, Deanna says the enemy is being deceptive but she doesn't know about what, and the Doctor, if she gets a voice, advocates for the health and rescuing of everybody.
That method gets you the MOST viewpoints into an issue, rather than one way into an issue.
BTW, there were a few times when I could see further down the road them my team. So I thought my way was best. But, I did NOT force them. I always tabled my viewpoint and just waited them out. They were such good folks that sooner or later, they'd usually arrive at a suggestion I'd made months earlier and they'd exclaim "Hey, let's do it this way!" and I'd just privately smile and think "Yeah, lets!"
*BTW, this is why my blog is called Cogitate and Percolate. It was what I asked my team to do on issues that they were not ready to arrive at a good answer about. I'd ask them to 'cogitate and percolate' about it, think about it and drink coffee about it-- both items that take time to do.
Bonus Points!
I'm going to squeeze in one more leadership section, the Bonus section.
In a battle, I'd rather have a historian by my side, than a general.
If you haven't gotten the memo, I'll tell you: Historians read minds.
They read the minds of people from the past--and they are good at it. They can almost always give you 2 reasons why something happened. Give them some time, they'll come up with 10 more! But more importantly, on-the-ground, they can tell what your enemy is thinking.
I'd rather outmaneuver an enemy by having a more powerful mind on my side than any physical force. Brute force only points one direction: death. Live beyond the moment. Yup. Right here is where I put my Obi-Wan Kenobi point.
"You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting."
Start Somewhere
If you have not had the chance to study leadership, start now. Don't wait. Pick a leader and start watching videos, reading books, and thinking about the decisions you make.
My Jean Luc Picard reference isn't fake or funny and I'm NOT the first to pull upon him as a leadership source. On Twitter, the @PicardTips account is a must-follow.
BTW, leadership is not always "First up the hill!" or "Last up the hill!" despite my quippy image. You see, if you took a Leadership Course (ahem, circling back to my first point) you'd get exposed to Situational Leadership--which means you do different actions at different times.
I have a "First up the hill!" story here. The point my image is trying to make is to really knock the "LeaDeRS ArE aLwaYS fIRst" storyline off the headlines.
Other sources I use:
1. Jesus. Hey, I have to pick the OG of leadership. ESPECIALLY #ServantLeadership. It all goes back to here, yos.
2. Walt Disney. Yes, the original stuff--the original ideas, vision, and feelings that Disney wanted to evoke. Definitely 'bottom up' leadership style with he walking the trenches and getting solutions from his employees on the front lines.
3. Daniel Pink. I guess I could sum up his influence as "It's not always intuitive. Actually, it rarely is."
4. Simon Sinek. This guy has the pulse of both military (where it really IS do or die) AND business leadership. Every video of his is a must watch. But bear in mind, this isn't just mind decisions, it's heart decisions.
5. Jeepers, all guys, Heather? Can't you put ONE woman on the list? Maybe because I know women and because women have been the most cutthroat in my life experiences, I can't raise them up this time. (OK,I know I worked a little Wonder Woman into this article. But I can't 100% endorse her. Maybe 98%.)
#leadership #LeadershipCourse #LeadershipTraining #LeadershipPhilosophy #ServantLeadership #JungleLeadership #SituationalLeadership #EveryOneIsALeader #PickTheHillYouAreGoingToDieOn #BardTheBowman #TodayIsAGoodDayToDie #LeadershipIsNotAJobTitle #LeadersServe
#StartSomewhere
#Jesus #WaltDisney #SimonSinek #DanielPink #WonderWoman
* FWIW, this is almost the only positive thing I have to say about my PhD program. But most of my beef is wound up in the exorbitant price.
^ For more entomology on this phrase, start with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_good_day_to_die