Take Me to Your Leader

Happy Saturday Friends,

Last week I had a little rant about a few new-age leadership principles that don’t sit too well with me. So I thought if I’m gonna bash something I better have an alternative to back it up. Below are my current principles for leadership. I say current because, with everything in life, I believe you should review and adjust all the time.

1. Ownership

Leaders are owners. They think long-term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. They act on behalf of the entire company, beyond their own team. They never say “that’s not my job." Lead from the front and take ownership of both decisions and outcomes whether those outcomes are good or bad.

I was managing a restaurant in South Africa, many careers ago. I can’t recall exactly what happened but something went wrong at Friday’s lunch service. It was chaos and there was a mess in the kitchen and out on the floor.At the end of the shift, the owner came to me and asked what had happened. I remember blaming a few of the waiters. I said I’d told them what to do but they didn’t listen. Or something along those lines. I wasn’t lying in blaming them but I still blamed my team even though I was the manager.

Then the restaurant owner told me something I’ll never ever forget.He said; “You’re the leader here - take ownership of what happened. Even if it may have been someone else's fault, NEVER come to me and blame others!” You step up and take responsibility. Take the hit, learn from it and get better. Your team will never respect you if you continually throw them under the bus.

An excellent read on this topic is Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink.

1. Sweat the Small Stuff

I recall in my twenties I had a job as an affiliate marketing manager. I was not a manager but for the projects, I was working on I reported directly to one of the company’s directors - I wasn’t nervous at all.

I would sit for days pulling together all the data I thought we needed for each meeting. I would spend hours making sure it was all correct. I would then go into these meetings with 3-4 spreadsheets and tons of data to present. And, every single time he would find stupid little mistakes. One time, frustrated, I asked what the big deal was, and stated that all the main points were there. He simply replied, “details matter Jarren”.

Don’t let the little things slide. Attention to detail is what separates the good from the great.

1. Don’t Avoid the Trenches

“Finally I don’t have to do all the grunt work!” Almost every person is in their first management position. The truth is, every great leader still gets filthy in the trenches with their troops.

Yes, as a manager you are required to step out of the weeds and work on strategy and systems. But let me tell you, if you aren’t in the dirt with your team often you’ll lose touch. You won’t be able to set the best strategy and create the best systems needed. Not only that but your team will always respect you if they know you will do what they do. And, when it’s needed, you will grit and bear it with them when times get tough.

Great leaders do what needs to be done. Sometimes that means doing menial, admin tasks to free your teams so they can focus on what’s important.

1. Nurture an Open Culture

Create a culture of open communication and safety for your teams. One where they can express their thoughts and opinions. This will insure you build a habit of discussion and in turn innovation. 

When it comes to creative problem solving two or more heads are often better than one. Open up discussions, especially during the discovery phase of a project. You never know how someone’s experience may set them up better to solve a problem. I love creating systems and processes. I am great at it and it comes naturally to me. But whenever I put something in motion I make sure the team know that iterations must come from them. They need to be vocal with their opinions on how things are working. This is how we iterate and improve much faster.

1. Learn and Be Curious

Leaders are always learning and always seek to improve themselves. They are curious about new possibilities and act to explore them. When I’m interviewing managers I ask them the same 2 questions in every interview. “What’s the most recent book you’ve read?” And, “Teach me something from the book in 2-3 minutes.”

No one knows everything. It is important that everyone has the drive to learn and improve, especially managers. It doesn’t have to be books, it could be articles, podcasts, newsletters, or Youtube. The avenues for learning in 2023 are almost endless. And basically free.

There is no excuse not to expand your knowledge! I expect the leaders I work with to attempt to find their blind spots and improve on them. Or, be ahead of the game with the industry knowledge so you can coach others.

1. Bias Towards Action

I had a mentor in my early twenties. He was the first true entrepreneur I’d ever worked with. He was an inspiration and became a good friend of mine. He had a saying that he’d use almost weekly. “The difference between doing and not doing is doing.”

The grammar may not be perfect but the message is simple and profound. Many people talk about the things they’re going to do. They even spend hours, days and weeks planning their goals and to-do lists. But, somehow never start the work. Speed matters in business. Many decisions and actions are reversible and do not need extensive study. Great managers aren’t afraid to pull the trigger and get shit done. 

1. Delegate Problems, Not Tasks

What makes a great manager isn’t the problems they solve, but the questions they ask. Your job as a leader isn’t to help clarify your team’s thought processes – but to give confidence in their thinking. You don’t want to micromanage and tell people how to do things. Rather, tell them the problem or what needs to get done and let those smart people around you figure out how to do it.

A few strategic questions along the way can be helpful.

• What do you see as the underlying root cause of the problem?

• What are the options, potential solutions, and courses of action you’re considering?

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each course of action?

• How would you define success in this scenario?

1. Coach, Don’t Instruct

The biggest change in thinking as a manager is that your best work is not you doing your best work. Your best work is creating an environment for others to do their best work. You don’t think about, “Am I moving fast enough?” Instead, you now contemplate, “Am I removing obstacles so my team can move fast enough?”

I hope you’re in a leadership position because years of cocking up and learning from your mistakes have finally paid off. You have the stripes, and scars to prove it. Use that knowledge to make sure your teams don’t make the same mistakes. That’s your job now!

Peace, love and muscles.

JarrenThe Beginner CEO

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