Leadership and Business Growth

As a continuation from last week’s overview, I read the expert from MSP magazine and wanted to share its breakdown.

The First Law of Combat (and leadership) is cover & move.

It’s a straightforward concept.

“Let’s say there are some bad guys in a building we want to take out. I’m going to start shooting. Then, while I’m shooting, my buddy moves to a better position. He starts shooting, so I can get up and move to a better position. Cover. Move. Cover. Move. We work together as a team until we take the bad guys out and take that building.”

The principle of cover and move is simple and effective, but it requires working as a team.

The challenges we face today require the best minds working together to solve them. Indeed, the complicated nature of systems and projects requires you to deconstruct problems into many different parts before giving team members shared responsibilities, each having the other’s back as they work through the list of tasks.

This also highlights the importance of cross-training in certain applications, so if someone is called in to handle a specific client emergency, you have a backup in place to cover those responsibilities.

You need every member of the team working together to “cover & move” to make your services and your business better and better.

These are Jocko Willink’s 4 laws of combat listed in bold, which can be applied to your leadership.

Next to the law, I listed a very simple description. 

In the next few weeks, we will be diving in on each law and how you can apply to enhance your leadership.

1. Cover & Move – teamwork is everything.
2. Keep Things Simple – simplicity is true genius.
3. Prioritize & Execute – Execute the 1st priority 1st. Rinse and repeat.
4. Decentralized Command – Everyone on the team leads.

Leadership is influence, nothing more or less.

If you peel the onion of influence..

1 “weapon of influence” is likability. 

And since leaders lead people, being likable is a very important quality. 

As such, I just re–read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” which is absolute gold.

So in todays lesson, I wanted to provide 6 simple yet very effective ways you intentionally become likable which will make you a better leader.

Six ways to Make People Like You

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. …
5. Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
6. Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.

“There are no such thing as bad teams. Only bad leaders”. – Leif Babin

Let that sink in for a moment. #truth

Want to learn a little secret about leadership?

Expect far more of yourself than anyone else ever will.

Very simple, but very effective.

With that mentality, you will transform into being the hardest worker in the room.

And when you’re the hardest worker in the room..

People will be PULLED, not PUSHED to follow you.

This is key.

Very simple, but very effective in growing your leadership.

Leadership is influence

Nothing more or less in the words of NY Times Best Selling Author John Maxwell.

If you can influence, you can lead.

The best part?

Creating influence is a skill.  Just like reading or writing.

Be a student of it and ensure to keep digesting & implementing this weekly content to improve your leadership aka influential skills.

In leading yourself, realize that emotions are a powerful tool.

Unfortunately, many people let their emotions take control and why they get a bad rap in leadership (rightfully so).

But as a leader, you have to do the opposite.

Embrace your emotions as that what makes you human. 

Use them as a tool for growth. 

As you must be in control, not the reverse.

To illustrate this, I will leave you with insights from Tim Grover, former personal trainer to Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and author of “Relentless”.

In the book, he cites that both players used to “unleash 48 minutes of controlled rage at their opponents”.

The 2 words are “control” and “rage”.

If harnessed, properly channeled emotions can be a superpower. 

Candidly, I have to remind myself of this on the tough days which many times are more often than the lighter ones.

Leadership at its core is about solving problems.

The bigger problems you can solve, the better leader you will become.

And consequently, the more money income you will receive. 

Thus, do not complain or shy away from problems.

Realize the value of leadership is having problems to solve.

Embrace them, solve them, and level up your leadership.

Leading from the front.

As a leader, it’s essential you develop delegation skills. Ultimately, you are orchestrating your team’s performance so you need to have a higher-level perspective of the entire mission. This skill will aid you in ensuring better execution for the benefit of your team, clients, and following.

Although the dichotomy of leadership is that you also must never lose the willingness to lead from the front.

As there are many times you must roll up your sleeves and do the dirty work when needed. This too will give you the needed ground-level perspective and also garnish support from your team.

In summation, delegate early and often. But keep in mind that you should never ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t be willing to do yourself. This is effective leadership.

Onward.

“There are no bad teams, only bad leaders.” – Jocko Willink

This is a tough pill to swallow for any young leader, but it’s the truth.

The leader’s attitude sets the tone for the entire team.  The leader drives performance – or doesn’t. 

This applies not just to the most senior leader of an overall team, but to the junior leaders of teams within the team.

As leadership is needed at every level up and down the chain if an organization is to be successful.