This blog series is comprised of lessons from growth minded leaders—the result of dozens of CEO Interviews from the famous to the obscure—but all successful.
This is the third of our five-part series on lessons of successful leaders. We’ve looked at vision and the importance of employees, and today we are looking at the difference between leadership and micro-managing.
High performance leaders know how to major in the majors. They don’t get distracted and pulled in conflicting directions and they don’t try to copy their competitors. They play offense not defense. They live their passion.
Thinking Bigger Magazine: The Leader’s Job is to Lead
Passion inspires reasonable risk taking, a necessary part of successful growth. Passion inspires sticking to something when it gets hard. Passion inspires others to get on board with the project. The leader’s job is to lead, according to Kelly Scanlon, Owner and Publisher of Thinking Bigger Magazine, Founder of 25 Under 25 and Past National Chair of NAWBO, The National Association of Women Business Owners. That means sharing your vision and demonstrating your passion for it every day. It is that conviction that will inspire others.
Delegate Day-to-Day Problems
Effective leaders focus on the jobs that only they can do AND that have the most impact on the organization and its journey to its vision—and are able to delegate the rest. They don’t spend their time trying to fix day-to-day problems but rather find permanent, more strategic solutions as they march consistently to the drumbeat of the vision.
Monitor Progress, Practice Success
Some, like Jim Wright, past CEO of Tractor Supply and Cordia Harrington, CEO of the Tennessee Bun Company, believe in regularly monitoring progress by tracking leading market indicators. The early warning system lets them know when they need to move with caution as well as when they can move more boldly. It doesn’t change the fact that they continue to move forward against the vision.
Tim Corbin, Head Coach of the Vanderbilt Baseball Team, champions a culture that practices success. In many environments success is as much about belief as it is about discipline. He instills both and has landed his teams consistently in the top ten, including several trips to the College World Series and winning the national title in 2014.
How are you spending your time?
Assess how you are spending your time. Are you majoring in the majors? Are you using your passion to inspire others? Before you can fix the company you need to address your role in successful growth. Remember that high performance leaders maintain a focus on the vision and the strategy to achieve it, and they allow their great employees to manage the details of implementation. Be that Leader.