Winning

Common mission trap for companies: trying to be all things to all people at all times.

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

You can look at the situation and feel victimized. Or you can look at it and be excited about conquering the challenges and opportunities it presents.

No vision is worth the paper it's printed on unless it is communicated constantly and reinforced with rewards.

Effective people know when to stop assessing and make a tough call, even without total information. Little is worse than a manager who can’t cut bait.

When launching something new, you have to go for it—“playing not to lose” can never be an option.

The mission announces exactly where you are going, and the values describe the behaviors that will get you there.

When you are a leader, your job is to have all the questions. You have to be incredibly comfortable looking like the dumbest person in the room. Every conversation you have about a decision, a proposal, or a piece of market information has to be filled with you saying, “What if?” and “Why not?” and “How come?

Take every opportunity to inject self-confidence into those who have earned it. Use ample praise, the more specific the better.

Underneath, you would surely see that the best care passionately about their people—about their growth and success. And you would see that they themselves are comfortable in their own skins. They’re real, filled with candor and integrity, optimism and humanity.

We've all been guilty at one point or another in our careers of boasting of perfect hindsight. It's a terrible sin. If you don't make sure your questions and concerns are acted upon, it doesn't count.

Differentiation favors people who are energetic and extroverted and undervalues people who are shy and introverted, even if they are talented.

The third way is less common and certainly less of a layup—a culture of integrity, meaning a culture of honesty, transparency, fairness, and strict adherence to rules and regulations. In such cultures, there can be no head fakes or winks. People who break the rules do not leave the company for “personal reasons” or to “spend more time with their families.” They are hanged—publicly—and the reasons are made painfully clear to everyone.

RULE 2. Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it.

If a job doesn’t excite you on some level—just because of the stuff of it—don’t settle.

When you own your choices, you own their consequences.

IT’S SAID that you can only live life forward and understand it backward.

Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach, and build self-confidence.

In my experience, an effective mission statement basically answers one question: How do we intend to win in this business?

At the end of the day, effective mission statements balance the possible and the impossible. They give people a clear sense of the direction to profitability and the inspiration to feel they are part of something big and important.

The boss would be present at the beginning of each session, laying out the rationale for the Work-Out. He or she would also commit to two things: to give an on-the-spot yes or no to 75 percent of the recommendations that came out of the session, and to resolve the remaining 25 percent within thirty days. The boss would then disappear until the end of the session, so as not to stifle open discussion, returning only at the end to make good on his or her promise.*

People development should be a daily event, integrated into every aspect of your regular goings-on.

When you are an individual contributor, you try to have all the answers. That’s your job—to be an expert, the best at what you do, maybe even the smartest person in the room. When you are a leader, your job is to have all the questions. You have to be incredibly comfortable looking like the dumbest person in the room. Every conversation you have about a decision, a proposal, or a piece of market information has to be filled with you saying, “What if?” and “Why not?” and “How come?

It sounds awful, but a crisis rarely ends without blood on the floor. That’s not easy or pleasant. But sadly, it is often necessary so the company can move forward again.

Companies win when their managers make a clear and meaningful distinction between top- and bottom-performing businesses and people, when they cultivate the strong and cull the weak. Companies suffer when every business and person is treated equally and bets are sprinkled all around like rain on the ocean.

Lack of candor blocks smart ideas, fast action, and good people contributing all the stuff they’ve got. It’s a killer.

Every job you take is a gamble that could increase your options or shut them down.

Working to fulfill someone else’s needs or dreams almost always catches up with you.

learning is truly a value, growth for every employee is a real objective, mistakes aren’t always fatal, and there are lots of people around whom you can reach out to for coaching and mentoring.