Think about those things you don’t typically have time to do. Usually they are things that, while they involve more time investment, also return much more value — like hiring new team members, investing in training, or building relationships with business partners. (View Highlight)
He went on to say that a leaf is a leader who is too busy worrying about today’s emergencies or deadlines to invest in the future success for her team or herself. Leaves are too busy to meet with their customers or to analyze feedback from their stakeholders. They are not producing the results needed despite tremendous efforts, and they do not have a seat at the table when business decisions are being made because they have not earned the trust of the business. (View Highlight)
The primary reason why a leader becomes a leaf is often the transition that tech executives make going from operations to leadership. We are accustomed to being measured by how much we produce, rather than how well we communicate or how effective our teams are. (View Highlight)
new tech execs have often never been told that the key responsibilities of a leader are to set direction for the team and drive measurable results for the team. (View Highlight)
I chose to reassure them that I empathized with their current challenges. I made it clear that while I was very approachable, I trusted and expected them to solve their day-to-day problems and only escalate when they ran into insurmountable roadblocks (View Highlight)
I took a long-term perspective to my role and recognized that if I didn’t build the necessary relationships and set a vision for my team, we would never be truly effective. Next, I realized that I needed to maintain a healthy separation between leading and doing. That meant I needed to delegate and trust my team; and make sure they had the resources and support they needed. Finally, I needed to reestablish trust from the broader organization, by being a reliable partner. (View Highlight)
Bottom line: Organizations value effective leaders over busy leaders and a leaf is not an effective leader. Effective leaders are the trunk of the tree that lays strong roots over many years leading to healthy growth. (View Highlight)
