You Can Be a Leader: Leadership Principles to Achieve Excellence

Chapter Ten A Few Leadership Rules

In this chapter I will cover some of my personal non-negotiable leadership rules.

One thing is true of every leadership position: You never have enough resources. Time, money, personnel, good-weather, you name it; you will always be short of something critical. As a leader, you need the wisdom to efficiently allocate these resources where they will have the most impact. The skill and art of resource allocation improves with experience.

Another truth is: Teamwork matters. You can't go it alone every time. In the end it is the team that makes or breaks the project or mission.

Treat everyone, I do mean everyone, with respect and be polite. Showing favoritism to one or a few select employees doesn't create a positive work environment. Most likely, it will not create a healthy competitive attitude and may create resentment among your employees. Being fair and friendly with all of your employees pays dividends in team-building and maintaining an upbeat work atmosphere. Being polite with employees whom you are not very fond of is challenging; in these situations, my recommendation is to keep your workplace conversations light and keep them professional.

At one point in my career, I had a commander who would regularly say, "There's my favorite Captain." The commander had his Golden Boy and it wasn't me. My fellow Captains and I all felt some level of resentment towards this individual. The Golden Boy Captain basked in the glory, but ironically was disappointed or confused when the rest of us didn't readily jump on board with his ideas. You can play the Golden Boy or Girl role to your advantage, but don't expect much help or sympathy from your colleagues.

If you are the boss' favorite, my recommendation is to build good relationships with your peers and keep them informed about the issues the boss discusses with you to avoid potential jealousy or resentment. Build a level of trust and respect with your peers.

If you are somewhat Machiavellian in your career advancement, take full advantage of the favoritism of your boss. When you play your cards right, this can accelerate your career. In the end, it is your choice of how many dead bodies you want to walk over on the way to the top.

Here is a question: How do you handle a workplace friendship with the boss or a friendship with a subordinate when you are the boss? Most likely your boss isn't your friend. In my opinion, he or she shouldn't be your friend. Don't take this personal. In this situation it can become very difficult to enforce discipline on a friend or to tell them their work is sub-par. Most likely it will feel like a personal betrayal of the friendship bond with this person. Also these relationships put the boss in a very difficult situation when the time comes to write evaluations. The friend of the boss usually expects a glowing evaluation whether they deserve it or not. Then comes the inevitable favor...I always hated this. At a couple points in my career when I did make friends with one of my subordinates, they would eventually ask for the inevitable favor. Usually it was just a small favor, but to me, it did not feel right or ethical to give them special treatment. Do yourself a favor and do your best to keep your work relationships at the professional level.

Another potential issue is the discomfort that comes when the boss may need to (nicely, of course) treat his or her friend like a subordinate in front of his or her boss or peers. The boss feels uncomfortable for having to behave this way, and usually the friend is hurt because the boss publicly made them feel like less than a friend. The saying, "It's lonely at the top," has some merit. Many bosses do make friends with their employees, but if you choose to do this you must realize these friendships come with some extra-baggage fees.

Keep in mind, at every level of leadership, your peers may not be your close friends nor should every one of them be your friend. They are most likely your main competitors for a limited number of high ratings on annual evaluations that directly affect your chances of getting promoted. The next big chance to shine on a project, field problem, or meeting may go to them instead of you. You will need to decide if you will have an adversarial or a respectful competition with your peers on the way to your next level of leadership. Having a certain level of trust and respect with your peers makes the work environment more productive and enjoyable on a day-to-day basis.

Be careful of the not-so-nice tactics a select few of your peers could feasibly use against you. Some of your peers may employ backstabbing or some others may just publicly stab you in the chest to get ahead. Maybe one of your peers enjoys openly frying your ideas at staff meetings, just to make you look bad in front of the boss.

Learn to read people, know the ones you expect to treat you this way, be ready to immediately defend yourself and your reputation. Let them get away with it once, and they won't stop. Unfortunately turn the other cheek doesn't always work well in a competitive workplace environment. Take the high ground when possible, but know when you need to do what it takes to protect your own career. Leadership is a competitive sport. In some cases it could be considered a blood sport.