Ideas from a Successful Leader

At last month’s Global Leadership Summit, which was packed full of informative and inspiring presentations, one which particularly resonated with me was by Carla Harris, who I have heard before and I admire her insight into the principles of highly effective leadership. She is Vice Chairperson of Morgan Stanley.

Carla discussed:

• The importance of working with our team members – teaching, mentoring and coaching them, and not having them feel as if they are working for us, rather that we are their teammate, and assuring that they receive the appropriate credit.

• Creating an environment in which people feel comfortable sharing their ideas and that there are no consequences for being wrong. We want people to take initiative, and when there is a mistake, it is freely discussed and it is a learning opportunity. As the best ideas are bottom up ideas, we want an organizational culture in which ideas flow up.

• As leaders, it is our duty to raise up other leaders.

• Efficiency comes from our giving our people clarity of what success looks like, e.g., goals, expectations and wants, and being readily accessible to offer our guidance as needed.

To maximize the success of our team, as leaders, we must be:

• Authentic, no airs

• Decisive, the price of inaction exceeds the price of a mistake

• Establish accountability – for ourselves and for our team members

• Consistency

• Engage with our people, especially with two-way conversations so we can help mentor and coach them and they realize we are genuinely interested in their success and well-being

• Encourage everyone to contribute ideas and to take the initiative. If something goes wrong, we can fix it, and we can learn.

Each of Carla’s recommended principles is worth thoughtful evaluation, and in general, they are all about recognizing that it is our people who produce our results and that a leader stands with her/his people, not above them. This is how we help our people be fully engaged, and surely this is important, as research reveals that three out of four in the workplace do not, in fact, feel that they are fully engaged. 

I recommend leadership teams think about attending next summer’s 24^th annual Global Leadership Summit on Thursday and Friday, August 8 and 9. It is streamed live to hundreds of sites across the country, as well as globally. The summit’s mission is to help improve leadership in businesses, churches and our communities. There is nothing quite like it, and it is a rewarding experience to attend as a team. We have and the conversations about the ideas offered continue for months and even years afterwards. It is almost certain that leadership teams leave the summit “on the same page”, i.e., with the same principles about how to help inspire our people and their success.

Leadership is not about our being great, it is our helping our people be great.