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Tag: Leadership Lessons

  • How NAVY SEALS train leaders?

    The highly skilled NAVY SEALS are interested in whether or not leaders can cross a water hazard or any other arbitrary obstacle.

    They are interested in training leaders who can create an environment in which everyone feels trusted and trusting so that they can work together to overcome any obstacle.

    Performance is technical competence whereas trust is related to character and hence NAVY SEALS end up giving more emphasis to Trust or EQ than IQ or performance.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled The Infinite Game.

  • When leaders take short sighted decisions out of fear

    The most anxiety inducing place is to be alone where we feel we have to protect ourselves from the people on our own team.

    Fear can push us to choose the best finite option at the risk of doing infinite damage.

    This inherent fear of saving ourselves entices many of the finite minded leaders to take short sighted decisions.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game

  • Why is it natural to put numbers before people?

    For finite minded leaders the natural instinct is to put profits and numbers before people.

    This is because resources or profits fuel an organization’s growth and are tangible.There are various short cuts that can be adopted to report an improvement in profits and hence these short cuts are adopted by most leaders.Resource is tangible and related to financial metrics associated with an organization.

    True infinite minded visionary leaders take the difficult path of putting people over resources.Putting people over resources entails investing in the intangible asset of “will” which cannot be manipulated by money.Motivating people to get the best out of them by creating a good environment goes a long way in inspiring the “will” of people to in turn take care of resources.

    Thus being an infinite minded leader needs risk as well as a lot of hard work.

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “The Infinite Game”

  • Why challenges should not scare us?

    “If the challenge we face does not scare us , then it is probably not that important”

    Adopted from Together is Better

  • It is human to NOT know everything

    “When we say out loud what we do not know , it increases the likelihood that someone who does know will offer help”

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Together is Better

  • The courage to go first

    “Leaders are the ones who have the courage to go first , to put themselves at personal risk to open a path for others to follow.”

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s great quotes

  • When leaders show their bias for scores

    A finite minded , short term oriented leader tends to show a bias for the score.

    As  a result they often opt for choices that demonstrate results in the short time frame even if doing so “regrettably”

    Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book titled “The Infinite Game”

  • When top executives choose weak successors

    Companies where powerful executives set their successors up for failure or choose weak successors are doomed for failure

    Stanley Gault the top executive in once iconic Rubbermaid did not want to leave behind a company that would be great without him

    His chosen successor lasted just a year and eventually Rubbermaid was acquired by Newell

    Adopted from Jim Collins book Good to Great

  • TWO QUALITIES of LEVEL 5 LEADERS

    In his best selling book, Good to Great, Jim Collins mentions about Humility and will power as the  two most essential qualities of level 5 leaders.

    “These are leaders who build enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will” – Jim Collins’s book Good to Great

  • How Level 5 leaders channelize their ego

    Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into a larger goal of building a great company

    It is not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self interest, they are incredibly ambitious but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution and not themselves

    Adopted from Jim Collins’s book Good To Great