"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.

Is That Your Best Work?

I held the nail, an 8d, in my left hand, tapped on the head a few times with a very old hammer to set it in place and then began to drive that nail through the plywood into a floor joist just below.  No easy feat for an up and coming 10 year old framer.  I’m sure it was a knot in the wood, but that nail bent under my onslaught in 3 different directions.  It was NOT going to go in without a fight.  I lost.  It was just easier to finish bending it over and wail away until the nail was beneath the surface of the wood.  If I were to guess a full 2/3 of the nail was exposed and bent over.  It wasn’t holding anything.

 

Those of you who are a fan of this blog and have read it from the beginning recognize that each one of my brothers have referenced our father and his example to us.  You might remember the article my older brother David wrote about building Dad’s dream house.  Well, this nail was supposed to be driven into a piece of flooring on the second level of that home.  More precisely in my parents’ bedroom on the west side of the house, 3^rd piece of plywood from the south west corner of the second floor.  Believe it or not, that location is not an exaggeration.  I know this because of the struggle I had with that nail, and another of the life lessons my father taught me.

 

“Are you going to just leave it like that?” was all he said to me.  I didn’t know he was standing behind me the whole time.  And truth be told I wasn’t happy about it.  You see, my brother David had it right, I didn’t want to be building “Dad’s” house at all.  My friends were all out on their bikes getting into all sorts of trouble and I wasn’t there to “save” them.

 

“It wouldn’t go in right” was my lame response.

 

“It wouldn’t?  Well it’s going too.  I want you to straighten that nail and drive it in properly.”  Now keep in mind that I could NOT pull the nail completely out to replace it with a new one.  No, I had to straighten it in place.  The tip of the nail had to stay in place while I struggled to get the nail un-bent and straight enough to make another attempt at driving it in properly.  I didn’t know the good swear words yet, but I was doing my best to make up a few new ones.  A tweak here with the claw hammer, a nudge there, a few grunts and several hundred angry thoughts and the nail was somewhat straight. 

 

Fast forward 38 years.  My two sons and I were finishing their bedrooms in the basement.  The older of the two, who was just 14, was driving some screws into the drywall when one screw hit something behind the board and went off on a bad angle. 

 

“Are you going to just leave it like that?”  I said standing behind him.  He didn’t know I was there.  And you guessed it, his response was the exact same one I gave.  “It wouldn’t go in right.”

 

I lifted the hammer, and began to gently tap the head of the nail.  It didn’t bend, much.  Slowly it began to creep deeper into the wood.  My courage began to grow as I hit the nail harder and harder.  All it needed was one final blow.  I lifted the hammer higher than usual…Dad walked away with a little, albeit smug grin on his face as he said, “Better”.

 

My son, grumbling under his breath, removed the screw, moved it slightly and drove it right home.

 

“Better”, I said.

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Roger D. Laws is a Commercial Construction Superintendent.  He has been a builder for the past 30 years.   His completed projects include many homes and basements, a Walgreens, a dentist office, a rehabilitation center, a community living center and many others.  He is an avid motorcyclist; touring most of the western half of the United States.  Father of 6 children and 2 sons-in-law.  Roger has a B.S. in Technology Management from Utah Valley University.

Life Is An Injection Molding Machine

Most manufacturing processes take somewhat useless raw materials and turn them into something much more valuable.  This is generally done by reshaping the raw material using a variety of different external forces.  Simple examples might include extreme temperatures or pressures (or both), imparting very high stresses and strains on the material.

 

Injection molding is the process by which small pellets of plastic are quickly shaped into an endless variety of products.  The cold plastic pellets are fed into a heated barrel, where a precision screw advances the material down the barrel.  The screw and barrel work together to melt the material in preparation of forcing the material through a very small hole and into a mold.  The cavity of the mold will determine the final shape of the product.  The product quickly cools, and is removed from the mold, and the process is repeated.  Most of the small common plastic parts you encounter each day are likely injection molded.

 

 

Call me strange, but I have often rehearsed what a conversation might sound like between myself and these little pellets of plastic.  I am quite convinced that it would be full of complaints and confusion coming from the plastic pellets. 

• "Why are you doing this to us?" 
• "We are just fine the way we are." 
• "Don't you know how much this is going to hurt?" 
• "It's too hot!" 
• "The pressure is just too much for us to handle." 
• "The stress and strain is more than we can take."

And with each complaint, I know how I could respond.  After all, if they could just see what I see.

• "Trust me, I know what I am doing."
• "You can take it, I know you can."
• "It wouldn't make sense for me to put you through this if I didn't already know you can do it."
• "It might be hot and stressful, but it will be worth it."
• "If you could see the part you are going to make, you wouldn't be complaining this much."
• "If you could just understand how much worth you will soon have ..."

The entire scenario just seems so obvious from my perspective.  I am taking an insignificant handful of pellets, and shaping them into something wonderful.  The value of which completely justifies the conditions of the process.  In fact, it can't be done any other way.  Without the heat, without the pressure, without the stresses and strains, the end result simply can't be achieved.  The pellets will experience no change, and no progression in their respective purpose.  If I chose to listen to the pellets and relieve them of these extreme conditions, I would be doing them a disservice.

 

Life ... is no different I think.  How often do we, as pellets, find ourselves shaking our fists at the heavens?

• "Why are you going this to me?"
• "I was just fine before things changed."
• "Don't you know how much this hurts?"
• "It's too hot, too much pressure, too much stress, too much strain."
• "I can't take it any longer."
• or the ever popular, "If you loved me, you wouldn't allow this to happen."

And with each confused complaint, a loving Father in Heaven responds in a variety of ways.

• "Trust me, I know what I am doing."
• "You can take it, I know you can."
• "It will be worth it."
• "If you could see what you can become, you wouldn't be complaining this much."
• "If you could just understand your potential and worth ..."

 

The entire scenario must seem so obvious from His perspective.  He is molding us unto something wonderful, the value of which completely justifies the conditions of our existence.  In fact, it can't be done any other way.  Without the trials, without the disappointments, without the pains, the end results simply can't be achieved.  We would experience no change, and no progression. 

 

I believe He has a plan for us.  Faith requires us to trust His experience and perspective.  I get excited when I think about what He is shaping me to become. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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R. Dru Laws is Senior Vice President of Seljan Company in Lake Mills Wisconsin, and the Vice President of ARM (Association of Rotational Molding).  He just concluded a valuable few years as a global contributing editor to RotoWorld Magazine. Dru has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University, and an MSc in Polymer Engineering from the Queens University of Belfast.

 

 

That Old Grizzled Guy

It was 9:01 a.m., I know because I had just looked at my phone.  I was walking down one of the newly framed corridors of the latest project when I heard, “Good morning, Sir, I have a question”.  This interaction was nothing new and I didn’t really give it much thought until I was walking back to the construction trailer 10 minutes later.  When was the term “Sir” attached to me? 

 

Sir.  The military uses that title regularly and it denotes respect.  My father always taught me that the term "sir" was for men of age and experience.  But I’m not old.  Most of the time people say “sir” to “That Old Grizzled Guy” in the corner.  You know, the guy that’s been around so long that no one seems to know where he comes from.  He’s just always been there.  However, you know he has the answer.

 

So I started to thinking back on my career.  My first job was at 15 with Coach Jones.  He was the High School Basketball Coach that worked with the County Rec. Department looking over public parks and the swimming pool during the summers when school was in recess.  He was a pretty good egg.  He taught me a lot.  I called him "Sir".  Tragically he died early in a trucking accident.  He seemed like that “Old Grizzled Guy”, at the time.

 

After High School I became an apprentice electrician.  I was hired on as a gopher, shuffling wire here and there for the Journeyman.  Conduit in bundles of 10 gets very heavy after the first 3 flights of stairs.  The Superintendent of construction was most definitely one of those Old Grizzled Guys.  People said “Sir” to him all the time.  For heaven’s sake he must have been way over 50.  I know this because his side burns were very grey.  My boss even referred to him as “Sir”, and my boss was old too.  I don’t remember him being overly harsh.  I don’t remember him yelling, screaming, being demanding or anything some might expect from the “Bosses boss” but I was nervous in his presence.

 

I soon moved to painting, then framing, then a stint in roofing and on to drywall.  Each time I can think of one or more persons that I worked for or purchased materials from that fit the title of “That Old Grizzled Guy”.

 

Eventually, my brain had to take over because my body was braking down, and I went back to school to finish a degree that I’d started 25 years earlier.  I really had fun sitting with class mates young enough to be my son or daughter.  Even some of the teachers were younger than me.  In fact, one of the mandatory classes was a framing class.  The instructor was a young man that used to be my employee.  You can imagine what that might have been like, especially when he had taken my oldest daughter out on a date once.   Was I a “Sir” to him?  Some of my Professors were well established in their career, and had grey hair, or no hair.  They were “That Old Grizzled Guy” as well.  But what I began to notice about "that guy" was he was becoming a lot more fun.  He listens to the same music as I did.  Watches the same kind of movies and remembers who and what the Bandit is.  We might even talk about our glory days in Football. 

 

So as I sit here I have to ask myself, when did I become“Sir”?  I do have a piece of paper saying I finished school.  I do have 30+ years in the industry.  Most of my kids are out of the house.  I am grey on the sides.  And I am the Superintendent.  But now I realize, I’m probably that “Old Grizzled Guy”.  And I hope I have earned and deserve that great label.

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Roger D. Laws, an old grizzled guy, is a Commercial Construction Superintendent.  He has been a builder for the past 30 years.   His completed projects include many homes and basements, a Walgreens, a dentist office, a rehabilitation center, a community living center and many others.  He is an avid motorcyclist; touring most of the western half of the United States.  Father of 6 children and 2 sons-in-law.  Roger has a B.S. in Technology Management from Utah Valley University.