“Under poor leaders we feel like we work for the company.
With good leaders we feel like we work for each other.”
Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Together is Better
Category: Book review
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Jack Eckerd – The Genius With Thousand Helpers
Jack Eckerd’s company Eckerd at one point of time was giving Walgreens a run for money but when Jack Eckerd left to pursue politics , the organization capsized
Though Jack was a genius what separated him from Level 5 leaders is the fact that he believed in having a team of Thousand Capable Helpers rather than investing in great people
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
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Knowing David Maxwell , the Level 5 leader
David Maxwell the top person at Fannie Mae was prepared to sacrifice wrong people for great people to eventually take the company from “Good to Great”
His leadership style involved the following:
“If I start with the right people , ask the right questions and engage them in vigorous debate we will find a way to make the company great”
“First Who then What” thus is a very important Level 5 leadership strategy
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
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Two key people aspects in “good to great” companies
The two key aspects are:
1) First get the right people in the bus before deciding where to drive it
2) Degree of sheer rigor needed in people decisions to taks the company from “good to great”
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
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Level 5 leaders Understand this truth about people
There are three simple truths –
1) When the organization has to change direction due to a strategic reason , once the right people are on board , they will align with this new course
2) Right people are self motivated towards a cause
3) If wrong people are there onboard , the good to great journey becomes irrelevant
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
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First Who Then What
Level 5 leaders who have their taken their companies from Good to Great always believed in this:
“If we get the RIGHT PEOPLE on the bus , the RIGHT PEOPLE in right seats , and the wrong people off the bus , then we will figure out how to take it someplace great.”
Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good to Great
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Leadership as an education
“Leadership is an education and the best leaders think of themselves as the students and not the teachers.”
Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game
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The only choice we have in the game of life
“In the game of life the only choice we get is whether we want to play with a finite mindset or an infinite mindset.”
Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game
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Why is it harder to put people over resources?
Will is intangible and entails motivating and inspiring the feelings of people so that they give off their best at the workplace.
Resources or profits on the other hand is easier to measure , tangible and relates to the financial metrics that contribute to the health of an organization.
Focusing on Resources leads to benefits in the short term and hence finite minded short sighted leaders sacrifice people for resources to show profitability to shareholders.
The harder aspect wherein focus on people leads to satisfied customers and hence profits is not something for the faint hearted. This is why the true visionaries focus on this for realization of long term benefits and the benefit of the entire ecosystem.
Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game
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The order in which a business communicates responsibility matters
The three pillars of a business’s responsibility are:
- Advancing a Purpose
- Protecting the people involved with the business
- Generating profits
The order of communication of its responsibility separate an infinite minded business from a finite minded business.
Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game