Leadership Caffeine: Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leadership Skills, Life and Business, Management Education, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Note from Art: this one’s with a little help from my friends. I’ve been working a great deal with first-time leaders recently (my favorite groups!) and I posted a tweet to the extremely talented group of great people that I follow on Twitter asking what they wish someone would have told them when they started out in their leadership careers. Here are a few of their insightful thoughts with attribution, commingled with thoughts of my own.
Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I Became a Leader
One of the motivations in writing Practical Lessons in Leadership a couple of years ago was to take a stab at leaving behind that letter we all wish we would have received when we first became leaders. You know the letter…it’s the one that if we had read it and actually followed the advice, we might have short-circuited a few years of learning things the hard way.
The short-story on what my letter to early career leaders includes:
- Not everyone should lead. It’s OK to be an individual contributor, although you will still need to develop and draw on your leadership skills to succeed.
- You need to realize sooner than later that your role as a leader is about creating the environment and providing the support for others to do great things and prosper.
- Leading is hard work. As one wise man indicated, it’s a profession, with a body of knowledge waiting to be discovered.
- Credibility is your most valuable currency as a professional and a leader. Everything you do must reinforce your credibility.
- Treat everyone with respect. All of the time. No exceptions.
- Leading is all about everyone but you. Get over yourself.
- You’ll spend too much time with the wrong people. Focus on the people that want to grow, develop and succeed.
- The highest respect you can pay someone is to truly pay attention by supporting their development.
And from some of my colleagues on Twitter
-From: @GinaAbudi on influence and communication:
“Even as a leader you STILL must be able to influence others effectively.”
On communication: (paraphrased): Keep your communication open.
-From @DavidWLocke on the power of a thank you
“Years ago, I almost fell over when an engineer thanked me for working on his project.”
-From @wallybock:
“I wish I knew the importance of role models and mentors.”
“People in my classes talk about skills they wish they had or knew to get training in. The most desired skill clusters were (in order) talking to team members about performance/behavior and dealing with the boss.”
-From @mjasmus
“I wish I knew that the people part of leading would be the most complex, messy and difficult.”
I wish I knew that leading isn’t about the push. It’s more about the pull.”
-From @rseres
“Leadership is not about control.”
“As a leader, you don’t have to have all the answers.”
-From @SherpaDe
“Good listening is a skill to be taken seriously.”
“Learn to ask great questions and stay curious.”
–
Some smart, experienced people with great advice for early career leaders! Thanks to all.
The Bottom Line
If you are an experienced leader with responsibility for supporting the development of leaders around you, remember to pay forward the lessons that you’ve learned over time and frequently learned the hard way.
While we will all have our own unique leadership experiences, we owe it to the next generation to do everything in our power to help them along. Never mind that no one was there to help you. You’ve learned that you are better than that.
And for those of you embarking on your leadership careers, read, listen and learn. Oh, and while you are at it, heed Wally’s advice and seek a role model or mentor. There are more than a few experienced leaders out there happy to help you along your journey.
Comments
23 Comments on Leadership Caffeine: Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader
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Monica on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 6:20 am
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Art Petty on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 6:27 am
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Mark Allen Roberts on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 12:21 pm
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Art Petty on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 12:24 pm
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Steve on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 1:30 pm
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Art Petty on
Mon, 27th Jul 2009 1:41 pm
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Wally Bock on
Tue, 28th Jul 2009 6:42 am
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Art Petty on
Tue, 28th Jul 2009 6:44 am
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Three Star Leadership Blog on
Wed, 29th Jul 2009 9:33 am
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Wally Bock on
Wed, 29th Jul 2009 2:24 pm
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Bret Simmons on
Wed, 29th Jul 2009 3:20 pm
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Art Petty on
Wed, 29th Jul 2009 3:21 pm
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Momentor » Blog Archive » 7/30/09: Top Career Posts this Week on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 6:10 am
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Laurie Gripshover on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 6:53 am
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Art Petty on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 6:56 am
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A must-read for ALL leaders « The Resourceful Coach on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 7:15 am
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Sue Leonard on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 7:27 am
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Dan McCarthy on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 9:17 am
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Art Petty on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 9:27 am
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Andy Parkinson’s World » Blog Archive » 7/30/09: Top Career Posts this Week on
Thu, 30th Jul 2009 11:33 am
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Leadership Development Carnival « Bret L. Simmons on
Sun, 2nd Aug 2009 8:14 am
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The CEO’s ONLY Job » client k on
Mon, 3rd Aug 2009 4:01 am
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Three Star Leadership Blog on
Wed, 5th Aug 2009 12:48 pm
My most important learning as a leader was about letting go. If the team is performing well, you are doing exactly what you need to do, even if it is just staying out of the way sometimes! 
Monica, that’s a great add! How many leaders continue to hold on in spite of the fact that there job is now to let others grow and learn. This is a huge issue in technical environments where brilliant individual contributors are put in positions of leadership and miss the memo that their technical skills are not the issue any longer. -Art
Great Stuff Art,
Challenge is, if they told you back then…would you have listened?
Leaders today need to be taking the “young bucks” under their wing and getting them ready for the challenges ahead. As I meet with young leaders I feel like I need to write a song…” where have all the mentors gone?” because some of what they are saying to me is so basic they obviously never had a mentor. I was blessed to have many.
This has become such a pervasive issue I started a track on my blog called Mentor Moments for those who need advice and are not receiving it. Perceptions become reality for young soon to be leaders, so I wrote a post titled: You don’t have to be a Prick …http://nosmokeandmirrors.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/mentor-moment-2-you-dont-have-to-be-a-prick-ly-person-to-become-a-leader/.
I enjoyed your book and highly recommend it as well.
Mark Allen Roberts
Mark, thanks as always for sharing. I love your “Mentor Moments” track. That sounds like an idea worth emulating! -Art
GREAT post Art! I believe my most valuable learning is how your leadership credibility will cultivate & foster your professional relationships, both up and down the hierarchy.
You’ll need to either filter down or deflect firedrills & unproductive assignments that come from above – your credibility is what will allow you to deflect the unnecessary firedrills & projects without too much objection from whoever’s making the request. Meanwhile, your team is smart enough to realize that you’re looking out for them by shielding them from unnecessary assignments, strengthening the team bonds as well as your position as their leader.
Steve, it is always great to hear from you! Thanks for the contribution on Credibility. I agree. Credibility is most definitely the leader’s currency! -Art
Thanks for this, Art. I consider it a public service.
Wally, thanks for serving as such a great mentor to many via your writing! -Art
7/29/09: Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs…
Every week I select five excellent posts from this week’s independent business blogs. This week, I’m pointing you to posts on one of your jobs as a boss, giving performance feedback, Zappos, scenario planning for compensation, and great advice for bo…
Congratulations! This post was selected as one of the five best independent business blog posts of the week in my Three Star Leadership Midweek Review of the Business Blogs.
Wally Bock
Art, this is exceptional. Glad I found your blog – Wally to thank for that. Keep up the good work. Bret
Bret, thanks so much for stopping by and for the kind words! Much appreciated. -Art
[...] From Management Excellence: Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader “One of the motivations in writing Practical Lessons in Leadership a couple of years ago was to take a stab at leaving behind that letter we all wish we would have received when we first became leaders. You know the letter…it’s the one that if we had read it and actually followed the advice, we might have short-circuited a few years of learning things the hard way. ” [...]
GREAT post, Art! A must read for all new leaders, and a great reminder to experienced leaders as well.
One additional area a new leader will want to address is the ENERGY they exude. How they are “being” in their role, whether experienced or not, will impact the people they lead. If they approach people with mistrust and aggressive behavior, they will create a defensive environment. If the are fearful, people may seek to overtake them, etc. Being a leader who is clear on the reason they have two ears and one mouth will be a first step towards gathering valuable information about how to lead their team. Looking for the positive learning opportunities in each challenging situation will also lay the groundwork for dialog, collaboration and creative problem-solving along the way to becoming an outstanding leader.
Thank you for your post ~ I thoroughly enjoyed it!
~Laurie
Laurie, thanks for your enthusiastic response and your great addition to the group’s wisdom. I love when the comments start to add more than the post! Best, Art
[...] July 30, 2009 by ldgcoach I just had the pleasure of reading a post by Art Petty on his Management Excellence blog titled “Leadership Caffeine: Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader… [...]
Leading is living it from the bottom of your soul – whether it is being a parent or a business person. A big task to live up to but it is something to aspire to constantly.
Art –
Great idea, using Twitter to collect these words of wisdom.
I would tell a new leader to read your book, Practical Lessons in Leadership. Then read it again. It’s a must for any new leader.
I’d also have them answer these questions before they accept the postion:
http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com/2009/07/three-questions-for-potential-managers.html
Dan
Dan, thanks for your kind words on the book! Of course, they would have to subscribe to “Great Leadership” as part of their on-going education and development!
Sue, very nice philosophical and foundational addition!
Thanks!
Art
[...] From Management Excellence: Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader “One of the motivations in writing Practical Lessons in Leadership a couple of years ago was to take a stab at leaving behind that letter we all wish we would have received when we first became leaders. You know the letter…it’s the one that if we had read it and actually followed the advice, we might have short-circuited a few years of learning things the hard way. ” [...]
[...] sure to read Art Petty’s Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me When I First Became a Leader and Wally Bock’s Productivity is a Product of a Great Working [...]
[...] a leader, how much time do you devote to purposefully crafting your company’s environment? Art Petty has an insightful list of other concepts leaders should [...]
8/5/09: Midweek Look at the Independent Business Blogs…
Every week I select five excellent posts from this week’s independent business blogs. This week, I’m pointing you to posts on dealing with a good person who’s a bad culture fit, advice for new managers, learning from experience, workplace flexibilit…
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