Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business2023-12-15
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger famously summed up leadership as "leadership is leading people to achieve what they can't achieve on their own", and its key role in the team is self-evident.
When it comes to leadership, the first thing that comes to mind is the "born" leaders who are charismatic and attract people to follow. But is leadership all there is to it? Is leadership a personality or can it be Xi?
Today I share with you the book "Framework Leadership", the author Owen believes that there is no perfect leader, and that leadership, like an athlete training physical muscles, can be acquired and Xi through continuous practice. This article excerpts 7 positive thinking Xi of good leaders in the book, I hope you will be inspired.
Framework for Leadership
Author: Joe Owen.
Publisher: People's Posts and Telecommunications Press.
Publication year: September 2023.
Pursuing the sea of stars: the power of ambition.
The best leaders strive for excellence. They usually have a vision of not only doing things better, but doing them differently.
All the great businesses of the digital age are started by ambitious leaders like the social giants, Amazon, Tesla, Apple, PayPal, and all the other leaders of the new economy. They are not satisfied with improving the old way of doing things, they want to create a completely new way of doing things.
The best leaders fit Kissinger's definition of leadership: leading people to achieve things they couldn't achieve on their own, and they all have a radical and ambitious idea and big ambition.
Great ambition is built on these four simple Xi.
1.Focus on the future.
All managers and leaders must pay attention to the leadership clock, which is a virtual clock.
Junior managers see the second hand, and they're very focused on making things change today and next week; More senior managers are focusing on the second and minute hands, and they are thinking about how to improve in the next quarter or two; And the best leaders look at the second, minute, and hour hands, and they can cope with the present, but they are also willing to look to the future and set a vision for the company and themselves. Real change takes time.
Develop a Xi of focusing on the future, from asking "how to improve your business today" to thinking about "how to create a different, better future."
2.Focus on your goals.
Good managers and leaders grasp the rhythm and regularity of business and improve them; And the best leaders change the rhythm and the pattern: their focus shifts from process to goal.
Develop the Xi of focusing on your goals, from asking "can I do this" to thinking "how can I do this?" Keep asking "how can I do this" until you find an answer that will allow you to take action.
3.Selectively unreasonable.
Reasonable leaders will always hear from colleagues that something is impossible, or that deadlines need to be extended, or goals need to be adjusted. Excuses are always there, and when you accept excuses, you accept failure.
The best leaders don't understand the word "impossible" and don't accept failure. On the contrary, they only say that they did not succeed "for the time being".
"Temporary" is one of the most powerful words in the leader's dictionary, and it treats failure as a belated success. "For now" allows you to try again and start looking for another way to achieve your goal.
The best leaders don't compromise on their goals, but they are flexible about how they get there and are highly supportive of teams trying to achieve them. This "unreasonable" Xi treats every objection and every "no" as a challenge to find a better solution.
4.Put yourself in the right situation.
Leaders face the same choice throughout their careers: Do you step up or take a step back when it matters most?
In fact, no matter where they are in the organization, leaders are willing to put themselves in a situation where they can make a difference, Xi, and grow, even at the cost of taking extra work and personal risk.
The Xi of thinking in the right situation is to change from asking "what is the risk in this situation" to asking "the opportunity is **", and if the opportunity is big enough, it is worth the risk. However, if you only focus on risk, you will miss out on too many opportunities.
Dare to Succeed: How to Xi Courage.
Pursuing big ambitions means you have to take risks, which takes courage. When others take a step back, you need to muster the courage to step up, be innovative and try new ideas, challenge the status quo, and take people where they wouldn't be able to reach on their own.
So, can you Xi courage?
Once, at a workshop, someone asked me if courage could be Xi. I was stumped, so I turned to the local fire chief, who also came to the workshop. I asked him how he managed to get his firefighters to do brave things, like rush into the fire to save people.
"First of all, I don't want a firefighter who is just brave," he said. It doesn't mean anything to me that a firefighter who is just brave will turn into a dead firefighter. He explains: "I'll show them what to do with burning buildings, train them, one step at a time.
On the first day, we introduce the basic equipment for firefighters and make sure they know how to wear the gear properly. Then we show them how to extinguish the fire in the pot. Then, we show them how to use the short ladder. Slowly, the equipment became more complex, the fire situation became more complex, and the ladder became longer. That's how they learned. ”
Training is more important than courage.
In the business world, you don't need to go to the battlefield to destroy enemies, but you do need to have the courage to do something simple, like give a presentation to an executive.
If you want to gain the courage to be a leader, start small early, take small risks and learn from Xi and summary. If you're afraid to give a presentation, start practicing Xi by doing an uncontroversial two-minute briefing for your colleagues. Then, you can slowly try to give presentations on a larger scale and over a longer period of time.
Xi like a firefighter: One simple step at a time, you can turn risky incidents into daily routines.
Staying Strong: How to Survive Adversity.
In the event of success or failure, the important thing is not to give up.
If you have the ambition and courage, you will push yourself and your team to constantly innovate and take risks. At some point, you will inevitably experience setbacks and failures. If you've never failed, you've never given it your all.
Adversity can be temporary, or it can last for a long time. A momentary adversity is an immediate and dramatic setback that all leaders experience. Long-term adversity is more likely to be devastated – and there seems to be no end to it.
As a leader, you must be able to deal with any kind of adversity. Different strategies can help you survive different adversities.
1.Survive long adversity.
Teachers in some countries have a hard time: low or no pay, very poor working conditions and little training, etc. This has left many teachers no longer loving their profession.
Over the past 10 years, STIR Education (of which I am the founding chairman) has helped millions of teachers, staff, and children thrive in these adverse conditions. This approach is currently being rolled out in the enterprise and is based on the following four pillars: Relationships, Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose, which you can think of as the RAMP principle.
RAMP principle.
Supportive relationships: Sharing can double happiness and also halve problems. It's much easier to survive when you have a supportive boss and co-workers.
Autonomy: Professionals take pride in their work and don't like to be micromanaged. As a leader, the best way to manage professionals is to manage them less, empower them appropriately, and make them work for you.
Mastery: It's hard to thrive if you're overwhelmed with the skills needed in today's role and you're not preparing for the next level. To do this, you need to invest in yourself and never stop learning Xi.
Purpose: History is full of stories of people who have survived appalling adversity with a deep sense of purpose. Craft your work so that it makes sense for yourself.
If you can work where the ramp principle exists, then you can thrive even in the face of adversity.
2.Survive tough adversity.
The way to overcome adversity is to admit the problem as soon as possible, take control of the situation, take action, focus on doing what you can do well, and seek support. Don't do: deny or avoid the problem, become a "victim", hesitate, be anxious about what you can't do, worry about it alone.
Don't shy away from adversity, adversity makes you stronger. Every time you encounter some adversity and overcome them, you gain the confidence to deal with them.
As the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said, "What can't defeat you will make you stronger." ”
Mutual success: no more being a lone hero.
The essence of management has always been to make things happen through others.
As a manager or leader, you can't do everything on your own, but by coordinating the efforts of others. The fundamental shift that all leaders must make is to ask"What should I do"Turned into asking"Who can do this"。
In the 21st century, the nature of management has changed subtly but radically. You can no longer do things by controlling others. If you want to be successful, you need not only to deliver results through your team, but also to the help and support of colleagues in other departments, and perhaps even your business and customers. It's relatively easy to get things done with people you can control. It's much harder to get things done through people you can't control or don't want to be controlled by you.
The shift to hybrid work has made collaboration more difficult. Not only do you have to have people you don't control working for you, but you also have to accept that they don't have part of their working hours in front of you and can't see what they're doing. Hybrid work is the death knell for micromanagement.
The office is a control freak's paradise because they can move around at will to intervene ("help"). It's much harder to intervene when you can't see your team all the time.
Old command and control skills are becoming more and more ineffective, and you must learn Xi new set of skills to replace them:
Build a network of trust and influence, convince people, create an atmosphere and conditions where people want to work for you rather than have to work for you, build alliances to deliver and gain C-suite buy-in for your goals.
In other words, leaders have moved from control to collaboration. It's not just a new skill, it's a new way of thinking. True leaders make the transition and succeed.
The new way of thinking shifts from control to collaboration, from authority to influence. That's partnership thinking. You are a partner to colleagues inside and outside the team, a partner to businessmen and customers, and even a partner to senior managers.
This kind of thinking is the complete opposite of hierarchical thinking. Instead of being held back by people because they're lower or more senior than you, look at how they play different roles in helping you achieve your goals.
Look on the optimistic side:
An optimistic guide for pessimists.
I've been trained to be a 100% pessimist since I was a kid, and I believe that the only reason it doesn't rain at the moment is that it will definitely rain later. This is very unfortunate.
All studies show that optimists live longer and have a better life than pessimists. Who wants to work with pessimistic and gloomy people, let alone such leaders.
Leaders must be messengers who can spread hope, clarity of purpose, and certainty, especially when there seems to be no hope, clarity, and certainty.
So, how can you become optimistic?
Being told to be optimistic, happy, or positive is absolutely not what makes one optimistic. You can't get optimism from your team or even yourself. Optimism is intrinsic: it is a Xi of thought. Like all Xi, it can be Xi over time.
There are two versions of optimism that you can learn.
1.Professionalism of optimism.
All leaders must wear a leadership mask from time to time.
You may feel angry and frustrated inside, but expressing them can often make things worse. You have to show an optimistic and positive leadership face, especially in difficult situations. How to put on an optimistic and positive leadership mask?
As a leader, you don't do: ask what went wrong, analyze the past, ask who did it wrong, spread anxiety – focus on risks and problems, criticize, ask and whether it works.
You can do: look for solutions, take action, ask who can rise to the challenge, spread hope – focus on opportunities and results, praise, ask how it works.
2.Optimism on a personal level.
If you're naturally optimistic and positive, you don't need to wear a leadership mask: you just have to be yourself.
If you're pessimistic in nature, you can help you see the world more positively with the practice of "magical" journaling, which Xi Xi has been repeatedly shown to help people become more positive and optimistic.
At the end of the day, write down three good things that happened that day. The act of writing is important, it forces you to be clear about what is a good thing and encourages you to look back and reflect on your life throughout the day.
Keep doing this for a month, and you'll start to notice the good things in life that we take for granted. Keep looking for the good things, and you'll find yourself appreciating modern life more and more.
This Xi variation consists of recording three things you learned today, three ways you helped or were helped by others. As before, it works by training your brain to be more mindful of what's good. Paying attention to good things will help you smile, not smile.
Believe in yourself: the power of accountability.
No one really likes to be held accountable because it opens the door to what could prove to be a failure. But good leaders don't shirk the topic of responsibility: they tend to be accountable.
Accountability works for leaders through the following four forms, each of which determines your relationship with the outside world. Victims will trust outside forces to determine their fate and feelings. But that's not how leaders think.
Apple founder Steve Jobs famously had a "reality warping field" view: he believed he could bend the world and bend reality to his wishes. He usually succeeds.
1.Take responsibility for what you do.
This is the traditional form of accountability. The clear goal is the antidote, which can eliminate the damaging effects of ambiguity. In other words, accountability is your friend, not your enemy.
Clear goals shape your work and allow you to have an important conversation with your boss: "How do I set myself up for success in this job?" This question will push you to have a clear idea of what you need to do, why you need to do it, and how to do it.
2.Take control of your destiny.
If you're in a bad company with a bad boss and a bad job, whose fault is it?
It's easy to blame someone else for your mistakes, but it's not right. Blaming others is typical victim thinking, and it takes away your power.
In addition to not blaming others, you should not blame yourself. In the process of inner chatter, you will become your own worst enemy. Learn to control your inner noise and make it your best friend and not your worst enemy.
When things go wrong, it's especially important to take control of your own destiny. You need to control the results and control the description of the process. You need to lead things in a good direction, show everyone that you have a plan for revival, and make it work. Even in the worst-case scenario, there are still steps you can take to start the road to revival, such as hitting ** or asking for help. It is important to retain control of events and to maintain control over your own destiny.
3.Take control of your feelings.
Let's imagine that you had a long, difficult day. At the end of the day, a colleague you don't really like shows up in front of you and most likely deliberately tries to you off. If you allow yourself to be angry, annoyed, and frustrated, you allow yourself to be a victim: you allow others to decide how you feel. If your feelings are determined by others and not by yourself, you fall into the victim mindset of ineffectiveness and unhappiness.
The key insight is that you can choose how you feel. You can choose to be optimistic or pessimistic, positive or unhappy or angry. These are personal choices. Once you know that you can choose how you feel, and have made your choice well, you are liberated and empowered.
4.Believe in yourself.
Many great leaders believe in themselves too much. Not only do they have a sense of superiority, but they also consider themselves saviors. This is even more true for some successful entrepreneurs. But the more common problem is "imposter syndrome," which a large number of leaders suffer. They are not sure if they are suitable for the job and even doubt their ability to take on the new job. It's a problem, if you don't believe in yourself, then no one will believe you.
Believe in yourself, there can be four solutions:
One is to gain more perspectives, there is no perfect leader in this world, only a successful leader in a specific situation;
The second is to focus on your strengths and focus on your weaknesses that will never succeed;
The third is to build your team, and the skills that team members have can balance your skills;
The fourth is selective deafness, where feedback can be brutal and you should listen to the feedback that others give you, but don't have to trust it completely.
Never stop learning Xi: Mastering the art of success.
The leadership role you have at age 50 is not the same as the leadership role you had at age 30. As you progress, you must keep Xi and adapt. This means that if you don't learn to Xi and adapt, it will be difficult for you to get promoted.
To use an analogy, imagine a soccer team. The team manager is gone, and you're a star player, so you're asked to take on the role of managing the team. So far, you've achieved success by running hard, passing, tackles, and scoring goals. So now you go the extra mile to repeat your formula for success: you run harder, pass more, steal more, and try to score more goals. And then you get fired. What went wrong?
As a team manager, your role is not to be the best player on the team, but to select, train and develop the team and decide on tactics.
Management is a completely different skill from sports. In the world of sports, many of the best managers are mediocre players, and few great players go on to become great managers.
In business, however, we insist that the best players will be the best managers. In practice, you have to Xi new skills every time you are promoted.
As a leader, you have to keep learning Xi and keep reinventing yourself. In the words of futurist Alvin Toffler: "The illiterate people of the 21st century are not those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn Xi, who forget Xi and who do not relearn Xi." ”