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| Posted by | Message | ShortyRob 
LSU Fan
Savannah, GA
Member since Oct 2008
23974 posts
| Some basic ideas on leadership (Posted on 5/2/12 at 7:45 pm)
These flowed through my head a bit today. I've got MANY more, but I like these as a start. I'm posting them here because yes, leadership CAN be a political discussion. However, these are really ideas that I try to apply in my own leadership approach and life.
Of course, these ideas being on my mind made me wonder, what might some of you add?(Please, no, "I would do what those idiot republicans/democrats do" responses).
Oops. Should add them!!!
Some random Leadership Observations.
1) Past mistakes made by someone else should not obligate you to duplicate those mistakes yourself just to be consistent.
2) Same as 1 except it also applies to your own mistakes. A past error in judgment on your part should not obligate you to keep making the same error just to be "fair".
1&2a) Applies to both of the above(and many other decisions). If you use "automatic" decision making in lieu of actual evaluation, you are almost always doing so to avoid ever having to defend your decisions. "Well, that's just what the policy is" or, "we do that in EVERY case like this" are really just cop outs. It's that kind of diminished thinking that leads to brilliance like suspending children for 7 days because they handed an Advil to their best friend with a headache.(actual case) Sometimes, the decisions you make will be questioned. Blanket policies are more often than not, used to eliminate the need for REAL decision making. Very few cases are identical. Treating them as such is for people who are afraid to defend their choices. If you're afraid to defend your decisions to your superiors(peers or subordinates), you should consider a job in a less mentally challenging arena.
3) "Worst they can say is 'no'". One of my favorite phrases. When confronted with whether or not to seek a particular result, the option to just do nothing is almost never logical. If the worst case scenario to seeking a result or a change is that you'll just end up where you are already, you might as well seek the result/change. Only if seeking the result could leave you WORSE off should this not apply.
4) How CAN we do a thing should always be the jumping off point in a decision matrix. ESPECIALLY when it comes to something that benefits those you lead. Sure, often the answer is that you simply cannot do it. But, it's amazing how different the ideas flow through your head when you start from the idea that you WANT to facilitate the idea in question.
5) You will inevitably make bad decisions. You will inevitably make bad choices in your own actions. Those decisions and choices are not what defines you or anyone else. It is how you recover and react from those choices/decisions that will be your measure.
6) Hypocrisy is a GROSSLY overused word. Sure, it has meaning. However, choosing to do the right thing today when you did the wrong thing yesterday is NOT hypocrisy. It's called LEARNING!!!
This post was edited on 5/2 at 7:48 pm
| | Back to top | Share on  | LSUgusto
LSU Fan
Member since May 2005
15575 posts
| re: Some basic ideas on leadership (Posted on 5/2/12 at 9:20 pm to ShortyRob)
quote:
Sometimes, the decisions you make will be questioned
Excellent. Applied politically, I used this rule on Bush and waterboarding. He didn't need to make it policy. If it was done to two convicted terrorists in the throes of post-9/11 interrogations, I don't think the American people would have reacted so harshly. But, by making it policy and then defending the policy as the justification, it became a much more weaseled approach.
quote:
How CAN we do a thing
quote:
It is how you recover and react from those choices/decisions that will be your measure
 Good stuff.
| | Back to top | | foshizzle
LSU Fan
Member since Mar 2008
25097 posts
| re: Some basic ideas on leadership (Posted on 5/2/12 at 9:39 pm to ShortyRob)
quote:
It is how you recover and react from those choices/decisions that will be your measure.
Not in the political arena it isn't. Totally different set of rules.
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