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Re: 3 Mantras for Leaders

You know what a mantra is. You say it to yourself to create a trance – a good trance – when need a shift in attitude.

Leaders need that shift sometimes. Leaders face difficult situations. Making tough calls, delivering forthright statements in adverse situations, taking command when others won’t, calling folks to dig down deep for exceptional performance, responding to crisis, staking a bet on a perceived future – at these times, we need to summon up our best.

Here are 3 mantras I counsel leaders to say to themselves when up against it:

Remember who you are...

Anne was looking down the barrel of a gun, from the wrong end. She was facing a testy one – a scenario involving sales ethics that had slowly unfolded in a direction that she felt was diverging farther from her stance and her comfort in facing the customer. She was being called upon to fudge a few things for the sake of convenience and a few dollars. Of course, there was a little mixing in of power – big power on the other side – and money. Power and money change everything!

The moment matters strayed over that line we all have, she recalled this one. Remember who you are.

“ I don’t do this!” – she said to herself. Not just from an ethical ground but from the standpoint of basic identity. More that the possible crossing of a line in a conduct code, she remembered: that she was – is – strong. That she doesn’t need or want the potential explaining that goes with compromise. She doesn’t want that stain in her life. That she would reduce herself if she agreed.

Remembering who you are” is a gift from Jim Quigley. He gave it to me as I was getting drawn into something that was pulling me away from myself at my best. He invoked the mantra – calling up the best, most noble parts of myself in the crunch. It brought, and brings – those qualities to the fore and puts them to work – now.

I can handle it...

We are all called to face seemingly insuperable difficulties. Maybe it’s the meeting from hell. Maybe it’s the culminating talk with that employee you must deal with but who afflicts you with major attacks of doubt.

You have had many moments when you were unsure, had to move ahead but didn’t know how. You managed to surmount those challenges – and you didn’t always know exactly how that was going to be executed before it played out. It’s easy to create a million scenarios of failure in your head. But that doesn’t help.

So, the next time you stand in that doorstep, wondering how in the world you’re going to get through a nice juicy “challenge” – just say this to yourself. I can handle it. Go ahead and mutter it a few times!

In doing so, you will call up your reserves. Banish doubt and fear. Bring up the courage. Remember how you’ve gotten through lots like this before. Otherwise you wouldn’t have a crack at this one! Thanks to Bernie Novokowsky for this.

The leader presumes...

There's a The Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson that shows sheep crowded into the living room of a house, drinks in hand, and one of them is saying frantically, “Henry! Our party’s total chaos! No one knows when to eat, where to stand, what to . . . Oh thank God! Here comes the border collie!”

Larson has a gift for saying it, doesn't he?

Occasionally, a crew will find itself frozen, perplexed by confusing signals, fruitlessly debating, milling about, not dealing with or facing what’s in front of them. A natural leader is like a triage physician – an emergency room doctor. He steps in, sizes up the situation quickly and says “Group, here’s the diagnosis and here’s how we’re going to deal with this. We’re starting now!” As if by magic, the fog clears, everyone sees it his way and gets into coherent action. The party can begin.

The leader presumes to do this. No one comes over and formally presents the problem to him. He sees the need, takes the authority and runs with it. Most often it works so much better than confusion that no one quibbles about why they were following him instead of someone or something else. The leader has crystallized the focus and galvanized the group into movement.

So leaders need to remember to give themselves that permission – the permission to presume to act – to presume to order – to presume to exercise power. At the bottom, that is how they got there and how they give their contribution.

Beware, this can become an overused muscle. People really will become sheep if they become entrained to leaders always stepping in the saying how it will be. And bad leaders succumb to the apparent ease of “directing”. If they start directing as a habit, they’ll be directing forever. And as soon as the sheep get out of range, they’ll go back to being – incapable of directing themselves. Having sheep on staff is expensive.

The essence of leadership is getting what needs doing done through other people. This has got to happen even when the leader is not there. Hence the caution against creating overdependence.

Mantras are for saying when you need them. May they serve you well.

Happy New Year!

Doug Bouey

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