Leadership
Secrets

The experts tell all!

Michael Heath

Table of Contents

Cover Page

Title Page

A memorable leader – for the right reasons!

Leadership character

1.1 Put courage first

1.2 Be mentally tough

1.3 Discipline yourself

1.4 Value your character

1.5 Project confidence

1.6 Get passionate about your enthusiasm

1.7 Patiently does it

1.8 Be a warm touch

1.9 Develop yourself or get left behind

1.10 Work to live – live to work

Leadership responsibilities

2.1 Transform the abstract into concrete

2.2 Lead but don’t forget to manage

2.3 Lead to bring about ‘climate change’

2.4 Be confident as a strong leader

2.5 Have enough humility to avoid humiliation

2.6 Open up to people

Leadership strategy

3.1 Think of forests – not trees

3.2 Avoid a short-sighted vision

3.3 Strategy: get it into their heads

3.4 Turn your strategy into action

3.5 Be a business expert

Leadership and execution

4.1 Get tough with tough decisions

4.2 Deliver or die

4.3 Mind your way through ‘roadblocks’

4.4 Collaborate and make everyone happy

4.5 Fight battles worth winning

4.6 Recruit and encourage ‘response-ability’

4.7 Respond to underperfomance

4.8 Negate the negative conflict

Leadership and change

5.1 Develop a vision of change everyone sees

5.2 Convince people why they must change

5.3 Be sensitive to the change process

5.4 Maintain momentum

5.5 Invite resistance

5.6 Feedback: watch the ball

5.7 Accept ambiguity

5.8 Innovate for a great Plan B

Leadership influence

6.1 Get wise to the politics

6.2 Influence: open an account today!

6.3 Give to gain when you network

6.4 Negotiate so everyone wins

6.5 Listen to learn

6.6 Prepare to present

6.7 Write as you lead

Leadership and the team

7.1 Build an empowered team

7.2 Stretch that team!

7.3 Upset your team’s thinking

7.4 Mentor your leaders-in-waiting

7.5 Trust the virtual team

7.6 Inject life into your teleconference

Jargon buster

Further reading

About The Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

A memorable leader – for the right reasons!

Over the last 50 years there have been over 1,000 studies to establish what leadership is. How leaders behave. What traits they have. I don’t have much time for them, and nor should you. Instead I’ve filled this book with the convictions, skills, beliefs and techniques that great leaders need. The behaviours you see great leaders demonstrating every day.

And what experience am I drawing on? It’s not only the 20 years or so I’ve been working in the world of leaders as a consultant. But all the other years when I experienced leadership first hand, as a corporate employee. I’ve been around leaders it was a privilege to know and leaders it was dangerous to know. Both extremes – and all the leaders in-between – provided me with insights into what really great leadership is.

So I’ve done all of the research for you. If you’re a leader or an aspiring leader, then let us spend some time together. I want you to be a memorable leader – for all of the right reasons! And I’m willing to share my 50 secrets of leadership with you. These secrets are spread over seven chapters:

 Leadership character. There is a core of behaviours, values and characteristics that great leaders have. They’re the backbone that makes them the strong, principled individuals that people look up to.

 Leadership responsibilities. Leaders change things. Their responsibilities are to take what they see and reshape it to meet the demands of the world tomorrow.

 Leadership strategy. The ability to set a strategic direction is where leaders thrive – or fall. But strategy is much more than the ‘where’, it’s also the ‘how’ and the ‘why’.

 Leadership and execution. It’s the plain old ‘getting it done’. It’s so easy to ‘talk the talk’. But execution is about getting everyone to ‘walk the walk’.

 Leadership and change. Change happens. The working world doesn’t have a habit of waiting around for others to catch up. But not everyone who works for you is going to think the same…

 Leadership influence. You need friends. Not so much in high places but in the important places. They need nurturing if you’re serious about getting your initiatives off the ground.

 Leadership and the team. You need great people around you. You also need to repeatedly challenge them to keep them great. They’re going to have to pick up the goals and make them their own.

Dip into the book or read it front to back – whichever you prefer. But promise me this. You won’t skip the questions I ask of you. These questions help you gain the insights into the skills that will turn you into a truly memorable leader.

Great leaders leave their values in the hearts of those who worked for them.

Leadership character

There are different styles of leadership but all of them depend on character. That’s why I’ve made character the subject of the first chapter of this book. Later chapters deal with practical aspects of leadership, but first and foremost the leader must possess the essential attributes of leadership: courage, patience, a steely mental toughness and the passion and enthusiasm needed to bring about change. Leadership that doesn’t demonstrate these principles is spineless.

1.1 Put courage first

Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend.” Leadership courage often means experiencing emotional or even physical discomfort. Is it the first of the leadership virtues? There have been many instances in history where a failure in leadership was the result of a failure in courage.

When people told Terry Anderson, the US journalist who was held hostage in Lebanon for seven years how courageous he had been, he modestly pointed out, “People are capable of doing an awful lot when they have no choice, and I had no choice. Courage is when you have choices.” Leaders are constantly faced by choices and the kind of courage they have to display is often moral and ethical. It is the mark of the leader who stands up for a principle when others would prefer

one minute wonder What one great thing could you achieve if you knew you could not fail? Describe the outcome to yourself. What is it that holds you back from achieving it? Are there too many obstacles? Time? Energy? Or a lack of courage?

“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”

Nelson Mandela, South African political leader

to walk away. It is about acting out of integrity and being true to one’s principles. It is the courage of the person who, when they realize that something important is being lost, will take a stand and ask the questions that no one else dare ask.

This bravery, this sense of principle is inspiring to others. It makes its mark in people’s hearts. It is a stand for truth and what is believed to be right. Such behaviour sets out clear boundaries and inspires those who feel they are working in ambiguity. When, for whatever reason, a team loses heart then it takes a great leader to make them address their fear. To show that the doubts and fear in the team are the very things holding them back.

A leader who displays this moral courage honours those who also show the same behaviour. It is the beginning of an ethically motivated team. It leads on to ethically motivated departments and even whole organizations.

The moral courage needed to follow your principles and take difficult decisions will inspire your team.

1.2 Be mentally tough

We all have moments in our lives when we come to a difficult situation that screams to us to give in. Everyone else has given up so why don’t you? Do you stay and fight? Or do you suddenly feel lonely and join the others walking away? Welcome to the world of mental toughness.

Being a leader calls upon mental toughness many times over. For example, you’ve communicated the goal to everyone. But now you find that circumstances have changed in a way you could never have foreseen. You still want the goal. But people are telling you to ‘get real’ and let the goal go.

case study Times were hard and Manish was told he had to make cuts in his management team. The problem was that the manager whose role was least needed happened to be the most popular. When Manish gave Vijay the news he took it badly. He made the remaining weeks of his notice hell for Manish. Many staff refused to talk to Manish. Likewise, peers who liked Vijay also made sure he had a hard time. Then Manish’s boss asked if he’d made the right decision! At every turn Manish was doubted. Vijay left. Within weeks he was rarely talked about. Relationships settled back down. Manish had made the right decision and stayed with it. His mental toughness was tested and he triumphed. He is now a director in that company.

Such moments are lonely. And it’s often these moments that highlight just how isolating the position of being a leader is. It’s the ‘moment of truth’: to carry on or give up.

The American football coach Vince Lombardi said of mental toughness: “Its qualities are sacrifice and self-denial. It is combined with a perfectly disciplined will that refuses to give in. It’s a state of mind – you could call it character in action.”

Mental toughness is about recognizing the fight as a long one. There are times when you have everyone with you. And times you’re on your own. Either way, a mentally tough leader will be determined to see it through to achieve what they know is the right outcome.

One person is a great example of this combination of passion and patience: KFC’s Colonel Sanders. He experienced 1,009 rejections before the first restaurant agreed to sell his chicken for him!

Mental toughness is the determination to carry on against the odds to achieve success.

1.3 Discipline yourself

Self-discipline is putting aside what you’d like to do to concentrate on something you need to do. It’s recognizing the temptations, desires and habits that can seduce you towards an easier path. But a leader calls upon an inner strength that makes them choose the harder – and right – path. And that path involves sacrifice and commitment.

In Greek mythology, Odysseus was warned about the sirens. The sirens sang music so beautiful that it lured sailors to their death on the rocks around their island. To escape, Odysseus made his men plug their ears and tied himself to the mast. Because of this they successfully kept their ship on course.

one minute wonder Which habits could you change by asserting more self-discipline? Write them down. What alternative behaviours would bring better results? What justifications do you give yourself for your negative or unhelpful behaviours? What’s the first thing you can do to exert self-discipline and get these habits under control?

Self-discipline is the same choice. If you go with your emotions rather than your inner strength and logic, your purpose or goal may smash upon the rocks. You need to exert will-power over your desires and exercise real self-control. Your self-discipline will be recognized – and often imitated – by those you lead.

So what prevents us from conquering these emotions and choosing the right path? What some do is fool themselves and find justifications for their choices. Why don’t I exercise more? I haven’t the time! Why don’t I get up earlier? I work so hard and get so tired. Why do I drink? If only you knew the stress I’m under!

If we can fool ourselves so easily, are we fit to lead others? If we can’t be truthful to ourselves, how truthful are we to those we lead? We need to train ourselves to control our behaviours. Show the strength of our own willpower by refusing to be ruled by weaknesses or habits.

Management consultant Stephen Covey thought that discipline was freedom: “The undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”. Leadership is about freely choosing thoughts and actions that lead to improvement. It’s denying the easy gratifications that surround us and keeping true to our goals. To ask others to demonstrate self-discipline involves us setting the example.

Self-discipline means denying yourself what you want to do and doing what you need to do.

1.4 Value your character

You may think your words count. But they don’t count anywhere near as much as your deeds count. Your deeds speak to your team about your character. They convey what you value and who you are. They are your values in action. So you must make sure that your actions are driven by the right values.

Everybody has values. Unfortunately some people’s values are unattractive. They value themselves and their own feelings of superiority. They value their own needs being met – even at others’ expense. Do you recognize those values? You’ve probably witnessed them in someone you’ve worked for. And that’s the interesting thing. Even when people try and cover up their negative values, they can’t. They leak out. They become visible.

case study When Tony told me how popular he was as a manager, I straight away began to have doubts. Why did he feel the need to tell me? Tony told me other things as well. He said his door was always open to his staff. That his values were respect and putting his employees first. Talking to his staff proved the opposite. “He hasn’t time for anyone,” complained one employee. “Always has one eye on his career,” said his team leader. Tony was a man who thought that by merely repeating his declared values to people, they would not notice the real values that he had. Real values always become visible.

“Character is doing what’s right when nobody’s looking”

J C Watts, US congressman

But positive values leak out as well. These values appear in the way that we behave towards our team. As General Norman Schwarzkopf said, “The main ingredient of good leadership is good character. This is because leadership involves conduct and conduct is determined by values.”

We probably have two sets of values. The first values are those that we tell people about. They are our ‘declared values’. The other set of values are those that people actually see in action – our ‘demonstrated’ values. A person who has a strong character is always trying to make sure that their declared values match their demonstrated values.

When the two sets of values match then you have someone who is truly authentic. They possess the right values-driven character. As a leader they make decisions based on these values. And an authentic leader usually makes the right decisions.

Authenticity is when your declared values correspond with your demonstrated values.

1.5 Project confidence

Is it possible for a leader always to project confidence? Surely every leader walks into situations which they don’t feel confident about. It could be a presentation in front of a large audience. It might be dealing with a very emotional issue. There are many things to throw the leader out of their comfort zone.

Work is always going to put these challenges in our way. The way we deal with them conveys a lot to those around us. So it’s vital that we maintain a confident manner. We need to approach difficult or ambiguous situations with the conviction that ‘all will come good’. So how can you sustain a belief in one’s powers and abilities? Here are some practical techniques to help you appear – and feel – more confident.

1 Project a positive attitude. There’s a link between our physiological and psychological selves. If we tell ourselves to appear confident, the body assumes the posture of confidence. This begins to make us feel genuinely confident!

2 Maintain appropriate eye contact. Every culture has rules about eye contact. In many Western countries, failure to maintain eye contact can be interpreted as submissive.

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you”

African proverb

3 Watch those hands. Hands are often a big ‘give-away’ about how someone is feeling. Keep them in control and still. You’ll appear much more relaxed.

4 Prepare thoroughly for any task. What often drains confidence away is the feeling that we are out of our depth. Preparation reassures us before we go into challenges and is rarely wasted.

5 Dress confidently. Going into situations knowing that a shirt or blouse is too tight makes us lose confidence. Dress appropriately and always feel you look smart.

6 Choose your opinions carefully. Don’t commit to definite opinions that you have trouble defending. Give opinions which you feel confident of defending and do so if challenged.

7 Notice any feelings of vulnerability. When people start to feel ‘out of their depth’ they can feel vulnerable. This vulnerability might express itself in aggressive or submissive behaviour. Stay calm, focused and assertive.

Being able to display confidence, even during difficult periods, gives confidence to the team and keeps morale high.

Good posture and appropriate eye contact project confidence to others.

1.6 Get passionate about your enthusiasm

Enthusiasm and passion are two emotions leaders must possess. And they have to be able to inspire those same qualities in those who surround them. Employees are often swept along by an enthusiastic leader’s determination and single-mindedness to realize a goal. In time they too become enthusiastic and passionate about the same things.

What’s so different about passion and enthusiasm is that they are not taught but caught. You can’t teach people to be passionate or enthusiastic. It’s contagious. It spreads like a positive virus through the team. It transforms the energy of people.

I love the origin of the word ‘enthusiasm’. It’s from the Greek word ‘entheos’ which translates into ‘the God within’. I prefer to think of it as ‘the spirit within’. A deep, profound energy that makes you work tirelessly to achieve your goals. So how do we create the right conditions for this magical virus to spread?

“If you aren’t fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm”

Vince Lombardi, American football coach

 Maintain an optimistic outlook. Pessimists and cynics drag everybody down. Face up to all obstacles with the conviction you will succeed.

 Find people who share the same passion. There will be others outside your team who equally share your enthusiasm and passion. Seek them out on bad days!

 Control your emotions when faced with disappointment. When setbacks occur a team might try and read the reactions of the leader. Be aware of this and hide any emotion when confronting setbacks.

 Allow people to experience temporary lows. It’s human nature. We all lose enthusiasm occasionally. Just don’t let them stay there. Move them quickly to the next tip…

 Concentrate on what can be done. Negative teams meet an obstacle and immediately respond, “Typical. I knew this would happen.” You’ll only overcome it by concentrating minds on what can be done.

 Never let your enthusiasm interfere with your objectivity. Enthusiasm can, with some people, turn into obsession. Healthy doses of good feedback help you retain that objectivity.

And remember that enthusiasm and passion are not necessarily about bouncing around as if you’re on springs all the time. There are many people who are equally enthusiastic but, because they are not as extroverted, will show it in their own way.

Passion is contagious and can spread rapidly through a team.

1.7 Patiently does it

Are you about to rush through this page to get on to the next topic? If so, how much would you really take in? When someone’s speaking, are you similarly waiting for them to move on? Being impatient may look dynamic but it rarely has a positive outcome. In fact, impatience often leads to misunderstanding, rework and repair.

 Leadership demands patience. After all, we’re taking people not into the next hour, day, week or even month. We’re leading them to a distant place. A place that lies over the known horizon. Therefore we must have patience and self-control. So what do we need patience for? We need patience to deal with people, politics and perspective.

 Most people are not immovable in their thinking. But they have to feel that they have control over the decision to change. When pressure is applied they might comply. But they will not be persuaded.

 Goals often mean that you will need the assistance of others. Winning them over to your cause may take time. Thinking that you’ll just force it through anyway creates instant enemies. With people, time is a friend – not an enemy.

“Sit by the river long enough…your enemies will float by”

Confucius, Ancient Chinese sage

 Every organization has its politics. You have to read the politics and learn to wait patiently for the right time to move. There are better times to ask people to help you in your goals. Lose patience and you could move too quickly. Worse still, your miscalculation could end that person’s good will for ever.

 Finally, you must retain perspective. When it comes to standing your ground for things you really believe in, you want to be sure it’s for the right things. Impatient people do not choose their conflicts wisely and suffer as a result. Perspective is also about thinking twice when you’re asked to help others. If you’re a generous person then you may help. But what you could be doing is sidetracking your team’s energies into things that divert them from their goal. Patience involves assessing opportunities and seeing if that’s what they really are.

We must patiently take people with us. Take the time to understand the political environment we work in. Retain a cool perspective and make sure that short-term activities really do contribute to our long-term goals.

Impatience can often waste more time, especially having to repair the problems our impatience caused.

1.8 Be a warm touch

We sometimes describe people as ‘a really warm person’. We might also refer to someone as being ‘cold and distant’. A leader doesn’t necessarily have to be liked. But they make life so much easier for themselves when they are. The ability to show genuine personal warmth towards employees can be a real advantage.

Showing personal warmth to people must be genuine. Haven’t you noticed that those who only pretend to be personally warm often come across as patronizing and insincere? Insincerity in a leader is usually disastrous. Better to be a cold – but honest – leader than a false, insincere one.

So let’s look at those characteristics warm people might possess.

 They like people. They know that everyone has their faults (including themselves!) but they accept people for who they are.

 They make the person they’re dealing with the centre of attention. They show strong eye contact and listen carefully to what the other person is saying.

“One kind word can warm three winter months”

Japanese proverb

 They take a genuine interest in the lives of others. They know many people take great pleasure talking about their lives and their families.

 They smile and look pleased to see people. They greet people and show that they are genuinely pleased to see them.

 They have open body language. They appear relaxed and at ease when chatting. They stand in a way that the other person finds comfortable. For example, not standing full on to a shy person.

 Their voice has a wide pitch range. Cold people have a very limited range when speaking. A warm person’s wide pitch range conveys real enthusiasm.

 They’re careful not to dominate the other person. They make sure that the other person has an equal input to a conversation.

 They avoid aggressive behaviour. Unfortunately, some people start by showing personal warmth but let it turn into the heat of anger!

 They care about people. When someone is upset they quickly look to help. They show empathy with someone who is having a difficult time and listen patiently.

A leader has to be persuasive. And one of the qualities that can aid their ability to persuade is the degree to which they can build and maintain the necessary personal warmth with their team.

People who fake personal warmth can appear insincere and patronizing.

1.9 Develop yourself or get left behind

Early on in my career I remember a saying on the office wall, “When you stop learning, you start dying.” Years later I discovered it was by Einstein. A man whose life was a perfect example of continuous self-development. So what is self-development and what can we do to make sure we don’t “start dying”?

Self-development is about taking responsibility for our learning. The real benefit is that it keeps our skills relevant – especially in this constantly changing world. It’s an appetite that devours new thinking. And if we demonstrate this appetite, our team will also want to eat from that same table.

case study A director I used to work for would often ask me, “Michael, what have you learned lately?” At first I’d be confused. I must have learned something! I’d think back and mumble a few words about a book I’d read or something I’d been told. In time, I got clever and, when I did learn something, would make a mental note to use it when I next saw my director. After a while I was amazed at how many examples I was storing up! I wasn’t ‘the brightest bulb on the tree’, but I was learning so much. What my director had done was raise my awareness of how much learning I was exposed to every hour of my day.

So how do we develop ourselves? Try these tips.

 Take personal responsibility for your own growth. It’s not the training team or HR’s responsibility. It’s yours.

 Develop a plan that identifies key areas you want to know more about. Keep a learning log where you make notes of important lessons from any book, CD, programme or conversation.

 Get yourself a mentor. Someone who can facilitate your learning.

 Broaden your reading. Don’t just read the same publications. Go for something that’s different. Shake up your thinking.

 Regularly ask yourself, “What have I learned today?” Don’t settle for the obvious. Think about issues in a deeper way.

 Really listen to someone with whom you’re having a disagreement. Ask questions about their point of view. Don’t just turn off! You may emerge with a real insight.

 Tap into other people’s experiences. How have they done things? Be a sponge and absorb all of that free education.

Self-development keeps our skills relevant in a constantly evolving workplace.

1.10 Work to live – live to work

Work-life balance has always been a big issue. Go back in history and you find that many people worked long and punishing hours. Look around the world and you’ll see the same lack of balance in many people’s lives. So what balance should we have?

If you have a problem getting the balance right, then I would point you to the website www.worklifebalance.com. They have three simple statements about this subject:

 Work-life balance does not mean an equal balance. Scheduling an equal number of hours for each of your various work and personal activities is unrealistic. Life should be more fluid than that.

 Your best individual work-life balance will vary over time, often on a daily basis. The right balance for you today will probably be different for you tomorrow. The right balance when you are single will be different if you have a partner or have children.

 There is no perfect, one-size fits all, balance you should be striving for. The best work-life balance is different for each of us because we all have different priorities and different lives.

one minute wonder How well balanced is the time you spend at both home and work? If work dominates, what home activities are suffering? How much do these activities enrich your life? When you’re on your deathbed, will you be grateful for the extra hours you put in at the office?

A wonderful boss I had when I was just starting work told me: “You never get something for nothing. Everything has a price.” Over the years his words have stayed with me. Do what you want to do, but be willing to pay the price for it.

The work-life balance website agrees: “Achievement and enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. You can’t have one without the other, no more than you can have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one-sided life is why so many ‘successful’ people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.”

Yes, the organization and you have a responsibility to help employees achieve a balance. But we all have an individual responsibility to ourselves to ensure that our personal needs and wants are met.

A work-life balance will constantly change according to different factors in your home and working life.

Leadership responsibilities

Is leadership different from management? My conviction is that it is. A company appoints a leader because it has expectations. This chapter begins by clarifying those expectations and examining how to deliver against them. We then explore the range of behaviours required in a leader – taking command one moment, then demonstrating genuine humility the next, employing the right approach that restores a team to its previous effectiveness.

2.1 Transform the abstract into concrete

Leadership theories are everywhere – the Internet, books, television. But let’s ignore the experts’ theories for a moment and get back to the basics. Let’s look at what your company wants from you. After all, they’re the ones paying your salary.

Companies have expectations of their leaders. I believe their expectations are usually that you will deliver the following:

1 Look to the future and anticipate how you think things will look. Can you describe it out loud to someone? What challenges will there be in this future?

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