"The Code" to Leadership

MY LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

In the movie franchise Pirates of the Caribbean, they speak of a ‘Pirates Code’ in relation to parlay or deal making.  At one point when the ‘code’ isn’t followed, Captain Barbossa remarks that they aren’t really ‘rules’ but more suggestions or guidelines.  The following discussion is about my Leadership Rules.  Or if you prefer, feel free to call them suggestions or guidelines rather than rules.

 

In my career as an engineer, an executive, an administrator, a teacher or any combination of these, I have spent considerable time and effort attempting to be an effective leader.  I have never really wanted to be a manager.  I actually differentiate them.  From my perspective, one manages things; one leads people.  It is the people side that has always piqued my interest and held my attention.  And I’ve learned it is the tougher challenge by a wide margin. 

 

When going about learning what works and doesn’t work in leading people, two overarching ideas have become apparent to me:

 

You cannot lead if no one follows.  And no one follows if they don’t trust you.

 

Well duh! you say.  But how does one develop trust? One doesn’t bargain for someone’s trust.  Or insist upon it.  It isn’t bestowed.  You cannot demand someone’s trust by virtue of position, title, rank or birthright.  Trust must be earned.  And it must be earned over extended periods of time.  It must be earned by consistent and long-term application of well thought out principles and behaviors. 

 

To that end, I have collected the following 13 items titled Dave’s Leadership Rules.  I keep them posted on my office wall as a reference and reminder. Please note that I claim no authorship on any of them, and I hope I am not guilty of plagiarism.  So here they are.  My Baker’s Dozen if you will:

 

Dave’s Leadership Rules

(in no particular order)

 

1. Hire for work ethic, initiative, alacrity and creativity.  The rest can be taught.
2. If you bring me a problem without also bringing at least one solution, you’re just complaining.
3. Give people the right tools to do their job well, then sit back and prepare to be amazed. 
4. Always provide the best tool you can afford.  You will never be disappointed.
5. Hurry up and screw up.  You WILL make mistakes, so make them early and often, the quicker to get to the solution.
6. Never say blah, blah; when blah will suffice.
7. If you take good care of your people, they will take good care of your department.
8. Don’t let bad data stand in the way of a good decision.
9. Get the ship moving.  Course corrections are simple by comparison.
10. People rarely learn anything of lasting value from their successes.  It is our failures that teach the indelible lessons.
11. The extra mile is NEVER crowded.
12. If you and I think exactly alike, one of us is extraneous.
13. A leader’s main task is to remove obstacles that prevent truly great work.

 

In an effort to more fully understand my thinking, here’s a brief discussion of each.

 

1.  Hire for work ethic, initiative, alacrity and creativity.  The rest can be taught.

Have you ever hired someone who had great skills but it was nearly impossible to get them to apply those amazing skills?  Alternately, have you ever been hesitant to fire someone who is a poor performer because they are ‘just so dang talented’?  Don’t get me wrong, skills and experience are important but not if you can’t bring them to bear on the task.  I want someone who will work hard and effectively even when I am not looking.  No, especially when I am not looking.  I want someone who is a self-starter and doesn’t need me to give them a task list.  I want someone who is teachable and eager to succeed.  I want someone who will find a solution when one might not be readily apparent.  And by the way, alacrity is a great word….look it up!

 

2.  If you bring me a problem without also bringing at least one solution, you’re just complaining.

This one relies heavily on the success of the previous one.  I don’t want people on my team who expect me to be their problem solver.  If someone comes into my office with a problem and I provide a solution (any solution) they will expect the same response in the future.  If they do a little thinking about the solution before coming to see me, a remarkable thing happens-----we become collaborators.  When this happens, they have ownership in both the problem AND the solution.  It takes a bit of practice, but next time someone brings you a problem, ask them what they think should be done.  If they say something like, “I haven’t really thought about it”, invite them to go think about it and come back at a later time to discuss.

 

3.  Give people the right tools to do their job well, then sit back and prepare to be amazed.

You cannot do the job right with the wrong tools.  This seems painfully obvious, but you see it everyday in the workplace.  Dated software, worn-out hand tools, obsolete processes, bad lighting, insufficient training, uncomfortable workspace, yesterday’s hardware...the list goes on.  You make an attempt to hire the best people, and then you give them poor tools and you seem surprised when you get poor results.  In the long run, tools are cheap and people are expensive.  However, when your people have the right tools, they will use them to incredible effect and the results will indeed amaze you.

 

4.  Always provide the best tool you can afford.  You will never be disappointed.

Although this one seems identical to the one above it is indeed different.  Sometimes even the correct tools can be of poor quality and don’t last very long.  Then we are forced to either repair or replace them.  This activity consumes valuable time and is rather frustrating for the person attempting to use the tool.  I realize that budget constraints don’t always allow for the purchase of the best tool on the market but that does not prevent us from buying the best tool we can afford.  Personally, I have yet to be disappointed by a quality tool.  I have, however, been frequently frustrated by poor quality tools and their failure to perform the task for which they were purchased – usually during my direst need.

 

5.  Hurry up and screw up.  You WILL make mistakes, so make them early and often, the quicker to get to the solution.

Ah, this is one of my favorites.  Indeed is it probably my mantra.  As I coach and teach undergraduate engineering students, this is the phrase you will most likely catch me repeating.  Often, we are so afraid of failing that we go about our daily tasks in a rather timid manner.  And even though we try hard not to make mistakes, they inevitably happen.  Sometimes they are small and private and sometimes we crash and burn in a very public arena.  I work with hundreds of students each semester as they generate ideas and develop product prototypes.  And when they fail, I literally shout with excitement and congratulate them and give them high-fives (much to their initial surprise).  When this concept is followed to it’s logical conclusion, we should then celebrate our failures.  And doing so is actually kind of fun!

 

6.  Never say blah, blah; when blah will suffice.

 

There is immense power in brevity.

 

7.  If you take good care of your people, they will take good care of your department.

When you have been successful with #1, this one becomes self-fulfilling.  I even try to take it a step further and attempt when possible to get to know and take care of their families.  Remembering and mentioning birthdays, anniversaries, vacation plans, life events and other simple things can be very powerful.  Can you imagine the performance benefits from your employees if their spouse and kids are on your side?  I try to make family first for them.  I let them leave early for recitals, soccer games and science fairs.  I let them go for doctor visits and parent/teacher conferences.  Again, this relies on success with #1 but I have found that I always get ‘paid back’ and I always end up ahead.

 

8.  Don’t let bad data stand in the way of a good decision.

This one is a little tougher to define.  There have been several situations in my career where I just knew that if I went with the data, it would not end well.  Primarily it was data collected through consumer-type feedback, whether through surveys, questionnaires or focus groups.  I’m not suggesting this type of data is inherently bad but in these cases, it was apparent to me that the customer really didn’t know what they wanted.  It reminded me of Henry Ford who is purported to have said that when surveyed about better transportation, all the respondents wanted a faster horse.  I mean really, how many of us knew we had to have an iPod before Apple gave us one?  And if you know the data is bad, have the courage to dig a little deeper to find the good data.  And I don’t suggest finding only the data that support your preconceived solution.  Because data (like statistics) will admit to anything if tortured long enough.

 

9.  Get the ship moving.  Course corrections are simple by comparison.

In business, as in product development, I believe your most costly mistake is delay.  We often wait until things are just right before we begin.  This can be catastrophic.  We wait, and wait, and wait until we know all the facts and by then we are approaching our deadlines so we must sprint to the end.  We do this under the guise of patience or avoiding mistakes, but you already know my philosophy regarding mistakes.  If we get started in a controlled way with the information we already have, we can make gentle and intelligent course corrections as we go.  And these corrections take far less energy than the mad dash to the finish line.  In short, if you wait for all the lights to be green, you’ll never leave the house.

 

10.  People rarely learn anything of lasting value from their successes.  It is our failures that teach the indelible lessons.

I routinely ask students the following question.  “How many of you, when getting back a corrected exam, take the time to review the questions that you got correct to discover why you got them right?”  So far, I have yet to get an affirmative response.  We all review what we get wrong and make an effort to learn from it.  Take a few moments now and review the great lessons you have learned in life.  I’m willing to bet they all happened as a result of a failure, more than likely a spectacular one.  This idea is a close cousin to #5 and if you internalize them both, great things happen at a rapid clip.

 

11.  The extra mile is NEVER crowded.

 

If you go just a little further than everybody else, the view is better, the fields are greener, and the opportunities are greater.  It’s worth it, every time.  Remember this: The minimum you expect is the maximum you will get.  And in relation to #1 you can usually expect, and receive, a bit extra.

 

12.  If you and I think exactly alike, one of us is extraneous.

Sycophantic employees and team members are such a waste.  A waste of talent, a waste of money, a waste of time.  If I put such a person on my team, I am simply boosting my ego, not my capability.  This does not mean you and your team shouldn’t have the same goal in mind, or the same purpose, or the same end game.  But team members should be diverse in skills, in thinking processes, in experience and in method.  Some overlap is valuable but a high percentage of overlap has little rate of return.  I welcome contrary feedback and differing methods because it forces me to evaluate my own thinking – a healthy but extremely difficult task.

 

13.  A leader’s main task is to remove obstacles that prevent truly great work.

Again, if you’ve been successful with #1 you will find you are hard pressed to keep up with your employees.  This is simultaneously scary and exhilarating.  They will move ahead, and progress fast.  But in doing so, they will encounter obstacles at an increasing rate (especially of they are making mistakes really quickly J).  If you make it your primary goal to remove those obstacles as quickly as possible, the benefits are obvious.  I am not referring to problems like in #2, which your employees should be solving.  I am speaking of obstacles that only you can remove by virtue of your position, rank, experience or influence.

 

Let’s not pretend that I am accomplished at all of these.  In truth, the only ones in which I have any proficiency are #1 and #5.  The rest are all works in progress, but on the occasions when I am successful in applying them, it does indeed feel like I am becoming a better leader.

In conclusion, I should confess that as a professional engineer, I am very analytical by nature.  Indeed I admit that I don’t operate well in an emotional arena.  So to those of you who are at the opposite end of the spectrum from me, I admire you and hope to learn more about leading from that perspective.  I wish you progress and success in your efforts towards becoming a better leader.  If you have some ‘rules’ that work for you, please share.  If you can use any of mine, I am flattered.

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David J. Laws is an administrator and adjunct faculty in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Brigham Young University.  He has worked in the Automotive, Furniture and Medical Device Industries and holds 14 patents across all three fields.  Products he helped develop have sold in excess of $100 million worldwide.  David has both a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from BYU.