Leadership on a Napkin

If you want to be a powerful leader “give the credit to others” and “take the responsibility and blame on yourself”. Most managers and executives do the opposite: when things go well they take the credit and when things go badly they cover themselves and blame others.

This is typically because they are overly concerned with their own success, brand and position. They are either insecure, they operate in survival-mode and/or they are selfish. And, ultimately they don’t trust others and/or their own ability to succeed.

But the leaders that people most admire and remember are those who are always focused on empowering, supporting, nurturing and inspiring them, no matter what the circumstances.

There is a saying “there are no bad students only bad teachers”.

Well, it takes courage to stake your success to your people’s success and to bet on your people for your success. It takes courage to truly own your people’s success to the degree that you see their failure as your responsibility and their success as your accomplishment.

Well, it takes courage to stake your success to your people’s success and to bet on your people for your success. It takes courage to truly own your people’s success to the degree that you see their failure as your responsibility and their success as your accomplishment.

This mindset shapes a specific set of behaviors. It makes leaders more compassionate, caring and empathetic. They listen more rigorously and generously in order to make a difference. But, it also makes them more relentless, demanding and uncompromising about their people’s performance. This comes from an empowering place of “I will do whatever it takes to NOT let you fail!” This stance requires courage.

Leaders who are oriented around their people’s success often experience an augmented sense of accomplishment and gratification when others succeed around them. And people who work for these leaders tend to be more eager to achieve great things in order to not let their leaders down.

On the other hand, people who feel their leaders care about their own personal success and gain first tend to get angry and resentful. They do their best to succeed but if they fail they take comfort in seeing their leaders fail too. And, this mindset weakens any team environment and undermines high performance.