Below is an excerpt from Eric Schurenberg’s column in the March 2015 edition of Inc. Magazine. He is the editor. I also think Inc. is the best source of leadership advice for entrepreneurial minded leaders. Here is the full post.
. . . ideas alone don’t build companies. Building takes leadership, and leadership takes continuous, counterintuitive, ego-minimizing work. That was one lesson I took from a recent half-day meeting led by Alan Mulally, retired CEO of Ford and Boeing. . . . . “Keep reminding yourself,” he kept reminding the room, “it’s not about you.” It’s about the plan. The leader’s job is to ensure that the team has a compelling vision; to help everyone understand the strategy for realizing that vision; and to see that everyone is working together to implement the plan. When teams truly need to mesh, it doesn’t matter whether you were once the world’s best coder or salesperson or idea man. Your job is now facilitator. Behavior matters. . . . what was allowed at Boeing and Ford: admitting problems and asking for help. What was not: texting in meetings, finger-pointing, putdowns, or anything else that interfered with a sense of shared effort. “Working together works,” says Mulally. “Smart people working together always works.”
In my second chapter of my book(People-Centered Performance) I talk about the OBN leader – the one who knows what they OUGHT to do, BUT they DON’T. Mulally’s gives some practical advice for fighting the OBN trap.