My Leadership Style

This week has been very interesting and I have learned a lot about myself and how to do things differently.  I learned that I have a Participative or Democratic leadership style that means I like to let other participate in the decisions that we have to make.  I learned also that you have to be careful with this kind of style because if you are having lots of meetings then things are not getting done and sometimes you just have to tell people what to do and then you can go back to your style.  I learned that I am more of a leader than a manager and that my husband is more of a manager than a leader.  Leaders have a passion for equality and managers think the idea of equality is repugnant according to Hugh W. Nibley.  This really helped me understand why my husband and I have a hard time with the way we get things done. 

In the talk by Bob Sutton he said that a boss took everyone in and they listed everything that needed to be done.  There were 100 things on the list.  They then categorized them into easy and hard jobs and then they were asked if they felt they could get the easy list done in two weeks.  They did and then they were more prepared to do the hard list.  I probably liked it because of the leadership style I have.  I also liked that he said that if you work for jerks you start acting like them.  I think this is so very true.  If you don't like your boss and his leadership style you may need to quit before you become someone you don't like. 

I also learned this week that we need to work on our emotional intelligence.  Lucky for me emotional intelligence gets better with age and so that is a plus in my direction.  Emotional intelligence can be learned but you have to be willing to work hard to change.  You need to become self-aware or know yourself and be honest with yourself and with others.  You need to recognize how your feeling affect you and those around you.  You also need to be self-regulating and find ways to control bad moods and emotional impulses.  This is hard for me and something I have to really work on.  As a Participative leaders I sometimes get stuck in the feeling that things are not equal and I am doing more than I should be.  You also need to be motivated and driven to achieve beyond our own and others expectations.  The other thing we need to do is to have empathy for others which is the easiest for us to recognize in ourselves but will help us to gain important knowledge that will help change our business in subtle but important ways.  The last thing we need to work on is social skills which help us with our ability to manage relationships with others.

Being a good leader takes work and a willingness to learn and change.  But it is important to those who want to have a successful business.

Action Hero:

Russ Rosenzweig and a group of colleges started the Round Table group that advises law firms on the search and referral of expert witnesses.  He said that it was an expensive experiment and that for two years there was no one coming through the door and no phone calls.  He said that as soon as they started to laser focus their marketing and really decided who their target market was they started to do better.  They also realized that they needed to say no to customers who were not customers.  If you were not a lawyer or expert then they did not want to talk to you. 

Rosenzweig said that after he started making money he wondered what he should do with it and looked around at the Jones’.  What did they have?  He lived in a one bedroom condo he should have a three bedroom condo.  He found himself wanting to acquire things.  The more he acquired the more he wanted.  When he was in India he realized that he was addicted to acquisition and this realization was a life changing event for him.  He realized that freedom comes from internal rather than external forces.  He said that external things do not measure our success.  “We are all successful”, he said.  He then decided that he needed to do something significant with his wealth and that it is important for us to help the world.