Lead Me To The Building…F*ck You!
Brian Tracy and I have been fighting the last few days, all weekend really. After I read Chapter 8, “Self-Discipline & Work”, I went on a “I’m not your little worker bee!” tirade and started to burn some bridges. Remembering my promise to myself to just get through this book, I picked it up to read about “Self-Discipline & Leadership”. I can say that I feel better about our relationship now, Brian had some nice things to tell me… As I’ve said before, I notice that some of these chapters are hellishly irrelevant to my main aims to better discipline myself to write consistently, ultimately with the end goal of getting published. Talking about working earliest, hardest, and latest, doesn’t square with my “corporation of one” mentality. Talking about how you can be a good leader does.
For me, it’s hard to disagree when you’re talking about leadership; I have always felt a natural tendency to take charge and lead the group. What I also understand is that for me to be a true leader, both personally and professionally, I need to fix a few things first. Brian Tracy says, “The overarching characteristic of a leader is the fact that he is in complete control of himself and of every situation”. I agree 100%! When I’m freaking out with worry about the countless issues I see in my life, can I effectively lead a team? No. Saying that leadership and self-discipline go hand-in-hand, as Brian does, is a no-brainer. I’m also learning that self-discipline comes from more than just “knowing what to do”, it’s summarily knowing what not to do, and how to continuously reflect. Getting on the consistent train of continuous self-reflection and not doing what I shouldn’t be is my biggest challenge right now.
“Leadership is learnable” — oh my God, yes! I agree that there are some naturally-occurring qualities that help leaders stand out, but you can learn to lead because it’s all about leading by example. I once had a “leader” who functioned more as a manager with a penchant for intimidation and favoritism. When something went wrong, she would blame her way out of a corner. It worked, until too many people started catching on, and she had burned too many bridges for people to not notice the smoke. Nonetheless, while she was in charge, she was always right, and only subtle changes in her rhetoric gave away what her ultimate goals were. She was a piss-poor leader, and ended up hurting a great organization as a result; thankfully, though, like with most malignant growths, once you cut them out, you allow the body to heal.
Brian lays out the Four Stages of Development to becoming a leader — like most things it’s linear and very easily understood: Employee → Supervisor → Manager → Leader. The key to reaching that top spot, Brian says, is the ability to conceive a vision. Again, I 100% agree. Without the ability to foresee where your organization, team, or project can go, you won’t be able to effectively encourage and instruct those following you on where to go! I’m the vision guy, I love coming up with ideas, but that’s only one small part of being a leader. You have to set the tone, “walk the talk” (Brian said it not me!), and ultimately be the role model who doesn’t let it all hang out. I have a hard time keeping myself from letting it all hang out. I like to be the leader, but that’s a skill I definitely need to learn.
In addition to the life cycle of a leader, Brian Tracy also lays out what he calls the Seven Principles of Leadership. (Again, lucky seven, this time all starting with C’s). Clarity, Competence, Commitment, Constraints, Creativity, Continuous Learning, Consistency. If you exemplify all of these principles, congrats!, you’re a leader. If not, you have some learnin’ to do. I feel as though I have the Creativity down, the Commitment has been shaky, the Clarity not so clear; but at least I’ve been consistently inconsistent!
In my many jobs, I’ve had several managers who fashioned themselves as leaders, thinking that they had more clout than they really did. In the end, they proved themselves to be poor leaders. This only came about when they failed to rise up to the challenge that Brian lays out during times of crisis. There will always be crises, in handling them, true leaders rise up and deal level-headedly; bad leaders sew discontent and levy blame. If I’m ever given the opportunity to truly lead, I know that I will take with me the example of the bad leaders I’ve seen, but also the good ones that I’ve had.
A person who selflessly lives by their own example and makes it their job to ensure people are empowered to reach the goals laid out in front of them — that’s a leader.
As I said, there’s not much I can say about this chapter other than, I agree! I made up with Brian Tracy, and I think this chapter was the “let’s be friends again” cake I needed — too bad there isn’t cream cheese icing. I like that he says that being a good leader isn’t just about being the best in your field (winning by beating others); but that it’s about being able to see all the moving parts and setting the right example for the people following you. (A certain few people in Washington can learn from that). To be a leader, I need to keep myself in line with that philosophy. I need to sharpen my own self-discipline, become action-oriented, and turn my plans into accomplishments. I’m ready to start talking the game and playing it before I’m at the table necessarily. I’ll leave you with this from Brian:
“Treat each person around you as if he is competent, valuable, and important. This is the key to gaining the loyalty and commitment that you require as a leader.”
I picked up Brian Tracy’s No Excuses, and have decided to learn something about self-discipline. This page is going to keep me honest (mostly) as I tackle this book over the next 21 days! This is Day 8 of 21.
