MMiller eBook LeadersGoFirst

LEADERS GO FIRST M A R K M I L L E R

GREATLEADERSSERVE.ORG

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http://www.greatleadersserve.org



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TABLE OF

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION 4

PEOPLE ALWAYS WATCH THE LEADER 6

COURAGE IS REQUIRED 8

IF YOU WANT TO LEAD WELL… 12

HUNGER FOR WISDOM 16

5 IDEAS TO RECHARGE YOUR BATTERY 20

TAKE BACK YOUR LIFE 24

SIMPLIFY 28

YES… YOU CAN BE CREATIVE! 32

LEADERSHIP IS STEWARDSHIP 36

ABOUT MARK MILLER 39




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INTRODUCTION

LEADERS GO

FIRST

Leadership is a fascinating and challenging topic. It’s an arena millions participate in on a daily basis

and yet, many leaders struggle to have the influence they desire. Why would that be the case? Aren’t

the core practices of effective leadership widely known? They are. Aren’t the skills within reach of

most adults? Yes, they are. So what’s up? I think, in part, the root of the problem is close at hand.

When you and I look in the mirror, it is possible we’re looking at the number one stumbling block to

greater leadership effectiveness – more often than we’d like to admit, we are the problem.

This is a complex and multi-faceted issue. I don’t pretend to offer the complete solution in the few

short pages that follow. However, I will make you a promise...

If you’ll set the example for your team, you’ll be on the path to more influence and impact.




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You’ll still need to do all the other things leaders do including: set vision, recruit and select the right

team, solve problems, drive performance, etc. But all of this will be easier IF you set the example for

your team.

People always watch the leader. I believe they are looking for two things. They are looking to see if

you and I are trustworthy – do you and I walk the talk? The second thing they are trying to discern is

what’s important. They take their cues from us.

Certainly we can help the process along by telling them what’s important. But that’s almost never

enough. We must show them. More of leadership is caught than taught.

That’s why what we do matters. That’s why leaders go first.

I work for a guy who picks up paper in parking lots. I’ve seen him do this for decades! Guess what,

I pick up trash too. Why does this matter? If I was told to pick up trash, I would – for a while. I’m

guessing I’d get distracted and soon enough, I wouldn’t pick up trash anymore. But, because my leader

continues to pick up trash, I do too. Let me say it again: People always watch the leader.

So, if you believe in the power of your example, how might it change your behavior? It could have

a profound impact on how you lead. Leaders Go First is not just a cute title or an admonition to do

something novel; it’s what the word leader actually means - The one in the lead - The one who is out

front - The one who goes first!

On the following pages, you’ll find ten articles on behaviors we can influence through our example.

You’ll find thoughts on stewardship, listening, creativity, work-life balance and more. I trust you’ll

find a few ideas here to help you be even more effective as you get out front.

If you’ll go first, others will follow.




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PEOPLE ALWAYS WATCH

THE LEADER




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People always watch the leader – whether you want them to or not. What are they looking for?

Fundamentally, people are watching the leader for clues – clues regarding what’s important to the

leader and clues to determine if the leader is trustworthy.

The good news is that a leader can take a quantum leap forward on both of these fronts simultaneously

if he or she is willing to embrace the final practice of great leaders

Embody the Values.

When we do what we say we’re going to do, when we walk the talk, this builds trust and confidence in

our leadership. When we fail to Embody the Values, we erode or destroy our opportunity to lead. As

leaders, we must be adept at building trust.

3 Steps to Embody the Values

Know your values. What are the beliefs that you want to drive the behavior of your organization?

You need a short-list, 4 – 6 would be best. You want these values to be an active filter for decision

making and action in your organization. If the list is too long, it will be nothing more than the short-

lived product of the last off-site leadership retreat.

Share your values. People ask me if you can build a great organization without stated values. You

certainly can. But, why would you want to make leading harder than it already is? If you don’t tell

people what’s important, they will guess – and they may guess wrong.

Live your values. This is the part that matters most. If you are going to say something is important,

you’d better be ready to live like you mean it. If you don’t, you’d be better off keeping quiet about

your values. People always watch the leader. If we are consistent in our attempts to live our values, we

can build trust and confidence in our leadership. Nothing shapes a culture faster than a leader who is

willing to tell people what’s important and living like you mean it.

What are your core values?




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COURAGE IS

REQUIRED




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Courage is the catalyst for great leadership. Without courage, our leadership is latent, unseen and

nothing more than unrealized potential. Leadership without courage is not leadership at all. It is

courage that puts leadership into play. Its presence in our lives empowers us as leaders; its absence

quickly disqualifies us as someone people want to follow.

Courage is needed virtually every day in the life of a leader. Courage is needed to…

• Establish a bold vision.

• Confront big problems.

• Allocate resources strategically.

• Deal with difficult people.

• Stay the course when things get hard.

• Make decisions without all the information.

• Challenge the status quo.

• Bust bureaucracy.

• Get out of your own comfort zone.

• Make unpopular decisions.

• Break with tradition.

• Tell the whole a truth.

And the list goes on and on and on – forever!

One additional benefit of becoming a leader who responds with courage: our courage will be contagious.

Our courageous response in challenging and difficult situations will embolden

those we lead.

If we are going to lead well, courage will be required.

The question you may be asking, “What if I’m not courageous?” First, I don’t think courage is a binary

function – meaning you either have it or you don’t. I think it is much more complicated.




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For me, I find my courage is situational. As an example, I may be very courageous when facing

questions of strategy. To say, “Burn the boats” and move into uncharted waters is usually not that

difficult. However, I often have trouble finding the courage to make hard people decisions.

The other complicating factor about courage is that it’s not a constant. Even in arenas where you are

typically courageous, you may find, from time to time, your courage waning.

The bottom line is simple – you and I need courage to lead well. The more courageous we can become,

the better we’ll lead. If we can’t muster significant courage in the day-to-day situations like the ones

I mentioned earlier, we’ll forever limit our influence, our impact and our leadership.

Courage may seem like a good idea to you but you may be wondering, how to make it so in your life

and leadership. For today, I’ll offer one tip: be courageous in the little things.

I know this may sound strange, but think of courage like a muscle. The more you use it, the more

you’ll strengthen it. Look for opportunities throughout your day to respond with courage. Here are a

few examples…

• When you’re in a meeting and you have a question, ask it.

• When you see a problem, confront it.

• When you hear of a new cross-functional team being formed that you’d like to

be a part of, volunteer.

• When you make a mistake, own it.

• When someone treats you poorly, forgive.

Decide today that you will become a more courageous leader and begin talking small steps every

day. When you do, you’ll be amazed at the effect.




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IF YOU WANT TO

LEAD WELL...




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Everything rises and falls on leadership – EVERYTHING… schools, businesses, churches, hospitals,

nations and homes. Leaders are the architects of the future. However, before we can create the future,

there’s a significant hurdle all aspiring leaders must clear.

Followship – yes, followship. Being a good follower is a prerequisite to leading well.

Followship matters because it tests our motives. Are we really striving to serve? If so, we’ll serve in any capacity we can. If we’re asked to serve through leadership, we will. If we’re asked to

serve as a follower, we will. Besides, most of us will always be under someone else’s authority and

leadership. Even if we’re the CEO, we are still accountable to the board. I don’t know many successful,

unaccountable leaders.

How can we be better followers?

Work diligently to make your leader successful. How many times have you thought about this?

This can take many forms, including challenge and feedback. Certainly we need to do the things we’re

asked to do, but where can you demonstrate initiative that will benefit your leader?

Give 100% when executing their directives. Sometimes you will not agree with the decisions and

directives your leader makes. That’s okay. Your role is not to agree but to execute… with excellence.

Half-hearted execution will sabotage your leadership more than it will impede your leader’s decision.

Your followers are watching too.

Acknowledge their unique perspective. Accept the fact your leader has a different vantage point

than you. Perhaps this is because of their experience, maybe it’s because of the meetings they attend,

or their relationships with other leaders you don’t associate with. This will be particularly useful when

you disagree – it may explain why.

Refuse to talk bad about them. I don’t know why people seem to want to talk bad about leaders.

Maybe it’s because people aren’t always happy with their leaders. Regardless of why this trash talking




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phenomena exists, don’t do it. It will lower your standing in the eyes of others.

Do the work they don’t like to do. This may sound bizarre to you, but if you stop and think about it,

it makes sense. I received this advice from Jimmy Collins, former President of Chick-fil-A. The idea,

simply stated, is to identify the activities your leader would rather have someone else do and find a

way to make it happen. Brilliant.

Assume the best about them and their decisions. When you and I work with anyone, we get to make

a fundamental choice: Do we believe their motives are pure or self-serving? Is their heart right or not?

The way we answer will taint our actions. If we want to be better followers, assume the best where

your leader is concerned. It will change your behavior.

Encourage them often. Do you work in an environment known for encouragement? Most people

don’t. Even if encouragement is part of the culture, it is often the leaders doing the encouraging. Who

encourages the leaders? Usually, no one. Genuine, appropriate appreciation and encouragement will

set you apart as a follower.

If we can’t learn to submit to authority, we’ll have a hard time earning the trust and respect of those

we wish to lead. To lead well, we must follow well.

Always lead… always follow!




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HUNGER FOR

WISDOM




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I believe there are five core leadership character traits that set leaders apart from those they lead.

Unlike more common character traits like integrity, honesty and loyalty, the traits I’m referring to are

what enable a leader to lead. They shape who the leader is as a person and also drive their day-to-day

actions. Let’s go a little deeper on one of those traits - Hunger for Wisdom.

The best leaders are wise – some are wise beyond their years. Wisdom is the intangible ingredient that

enables leaders to make good decisions in challenging or uncertain circumstances.

As you know, for a leader, the way forward is often unclear. Rarely do leaders have all the facts or

complete mastery of the subject when a decision needs to be made. In other situations, a leader must

choose between conflicting priorities or between multiple, good options. Wisdom allows a leader to

consistently make good choices.

How can you and I grow in wisdom? Here are four ideas…

Embrace our Need for Wisdom. Arrogance and pride derail the career of many leaders. If we lose

sight of our need for wisdom, we are doomed as a leader. As Toynbee discovered when studying the

rise and fall of civilizations, one of the factors that repeatedly triggered demise was the application of

yesterday’s answers to today’s questions. The same is true for organizations. This behavior is fueled

by leaders who feel they’ve already got all the wisdom they need.

Seek Feedback and Counsel. When we seek feedback and the advice of others, we are on the path to

wisdom. However, we need to understand the difference between the two – feedback is about the past;

counsel is about the future. Both are critical. When we seek counsel, we are borrowing the wisdom of

someone else.

Learn by Observing Others. Leaders pay attention. They are observant. We often see things others

don’t. My theory is it’s because we’re looking for things others aren’t. One of those things leaders are

constantly looking for is ideas that work – or don’t. Truett Cathy taught me this. He said “We don’t

have to make all the mistakes ourselves, we can learn from the mistakes of others.” That’s one way to

grow in wisdom.




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Commit to Life-long Learning. The more I learn, the more I know how little I know. This is the ideal

posture to grow in wisdom. The realization of our personal limits opens our hearts and minds to new

possibilities. Possibilities fuel options. Options contribute to better decisions. A spirit of curiosity,

combined with the humility required to learn, are the embers from which the fires of wisdom can

ignite.

One of my favorite TV commercials these days is the “Most Interesting Man in the World” series from

Dos Equis. I love the tag line: “Stay thirsty, my friends.” My encouragement to you is similar: Stay

hungry my friends…hungry for wisdom!




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5 IDEAS TO RECHARGE

YOUR BATTERY




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I’m writing this article from the lake. Yesterday, I had the privilege to spend the day with great

friends and their families. I’m trying to recharge my battery before a crazy short week – coast to coast,

multiple cities – with one red-eye thrown in for extra fun. How do you recharge your battery?

This is no trivial question. You know how demanding leadership is. You throw in family responsibilities,

community or church involvement and my battery can get drained quickly. Plus, if you have any

additional stressors in your life – health issues, financial concerns, aging parents, etc. –the pressure

increases.

At the base level, one of the first things you’ve got to know about yourself is your energy orientation.

Do you tend to get energy from others or do you get energy from time alone? That’s a great place to

start. My answer to this question seems to have changed over the years. Maybe that’s normal – I’m not

sure. However, here are a few things that have helped me.

Rest – When I was younger, it didn’t matter as much. However, today, I’m not as fresh after

pulling an all-nighter as I used to be. The folks I’ll be with in my meeting Friday (after the

red-eye) had better be ready – I’ll try not to be too grumpy.

Recreation – My pastor told me 40 years ago that the word is Re–CREATION. What re-

creates you? Is it long walks or softball, sailing or kickboxing? You need to know the answer

to this question. If you don’t, start experimenting, and put whatever works on your calendar

often.

Solitude – This is not everyone’s cup of tea. I understand. However, some time alone may

help you re-focus, re-prioritize and re-charge. Even a few hours may work magic. If you

haven’t tried it, give it a whirl.

Reflection – Think about your purpose – I hope you have a sense of why you’re on earth. I

believe you’re here for a reason. If you know why, think about what you’re doing to fulfill

your purpose. If that doesn’t light your fire, your wood may be wet.




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People – Who are the people in your life that give you energy? When you see them coming,

your energy, enthusiasm and engagement go up – spend time with THOSE PEOPLE on

purpose. Put it on the calendar. By the way, you also have a list of people who drain you –

they have the opposite effect as those you energize you. Minimize or eliminate time with

those people.

It’s natural for a leader’s battery to drain – what we do is extremely hard. But we can do the things

necessary to recharge our lives and our leadership. We must own this. No one else can do it for us.

Let’s stay charged up, so we can serve those we lead.

How do you recharge your battery?




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TAKE BACK

YOUR LIFE




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I seem to be busier than ever before – how about you? I’ve always been busy, but I’ve got a check in

my spirit that tells me I’ve slipped from busy into hurry. Busy, hurry, what’s the difference? Busy is

about your calendar, hurry is about your heart.

When we’re in a hurry we…

• Don’t fully appreciate the people around us.

• Miss opportunities to serve.

• Set unrealistic expectations for ourselves and others.

• Fail to see the contributions of others.

• Don’t honor the people around us.

• Are unable to see beauty in the world.

• Do not lead at our full potential.

How does this happen? I don’t fully understand it, but I believe excessive, sustained busyness leads

to a state of hurriedness. Following are four potential contributing factors and a few ideas to help take

back your life…

1. We lose sight of our primary role/calling. How much of what you have on your calendar for

the next 30 days is actually outside the scope of your current responsibilities? For many of us, our

excessive busyness and hurry, can be attributed to activities we shouldn’t be doing in the first place.

Action: Clarify your calling and affirm your role. Use this as a filter. Eliminate activities, even good

activities, that are not aligned with your unique contribution and responsibility.

2. We don’t have (or follow) a plan. Without goals and strategies, every tactic is of equal

value. If you don’t know what you really want to do, or need to do to be successful, unfocused busyness

and hurry are predictable outcomes.

Action: Create a personal plan and reference it often. For me, the more I read my plan the better I

activate against it. It is a great daily discipline to cultivate. I’ve been great at this in the past – I’ve got

to get back on track with this one.




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3. We let others set our agenda for us. Understandably, this will happen from time to time. However,

it should not be the norm. If we don’t own our time someone else will gladly commandeer it.

Action: Own your calendar. Schedule the most important things early. This includes down time. Set

appropriate boundaries. Don’t be a victim.

4. We are afraid to say no. For some people, this tendency has deep psychological roots. Perhaps it’s

an over-inflated ego or chronic self-esteem issues. Maybe we’re trying to prove something to someone,

maybe ourselves. In any of these instances, it’s not a good approach to allocating our time and energy.

Action: Focus on saying yes – to the right things. Once you’ve said yes to the right things, it will be

much easier to say no to other things – If you say yes to a family vacation, it’s much easier to say no

to a request to do something else that week.

Stay busy my friends, but don’t hurry.

What actions have you taken in the past to take back your life?




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SIMPLIFY




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Leaders are called upon to do many things for their organizations – we’re called on to articulate a

vision for a better tomorrow, mobilize people, constantly drive improved outcomes, and on and on.

However, there’s one thing I constantly see the best leaders do that I’ve never seen anything written

about – they are masterful at simplifying things.

Here are some examples of how this happens in real life…

Leaders simplify the mission. Exactly what are we trying to accomplish? If your answer takes more

than a sentence or two, you may not have simplified the mission enough. Drucker is quoted as saying,

“If you can’t put it (the mission) on a t-shirt, you don’t have it yet.”

Leaders simplify the values. What are the beliefs that you want to drive the behavior in your

organization? The longer the list of values, the less the impact they’ll have on your organization. So,

how many should you have? I don’t believe there’s a RIGHT answer, but I do think it’s closer to 5 than

10 – Which values are CORE?

Leaders simplify the scorecard. What are the key metrics you use to drive your team and organization?

Again, the watchword is simplify. I’ve seen organizations with 20+ KEY metrics. You guessed it, it

didn’t work. Everyone picked the 3 – 4 they wanted to pursue. The result: no organizational focus, no

traction, no improvement.

Leaders simplify problems. Admittedly, many of the problems we face as leaders are very complex.

Don’t let that stop you from breaking the problem down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Leaders simplify processes. The best leaders I know don’t like bureaucracy. These men and women

are always interested in streamlining the process. The questions they ask include: how can we make it

easier, make it faster, reduce the number of steps? How can we simplify the process?

Leaders simplify the strategy. Can you write your core business strategy or strategies on the back

of a napkin? Better yet, can you do it in a picture a 10-year-old could draw? If you want everyone

implementing the strategy, they need to get it.




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Leaders simplify communications. The next time you’re tempted to present a 40-slide PowerPoint

deck, try to reduce it to FOUR slides. Here’s a sobering test: After you speak to a group, would the

audience agree on your core message? They should.

Leaders simplify next steps. Leaders ensure clarity on who will do what by when. If next steps are

not clear, next steps may not happen. I had a business leader tell me, this single practice revolutionized

his organization. Clear and simple next steps help.

Just recently, I was confronted with a statement that actually prompted this post. Someone said to me,

“Smart people make things complicated.” My response, “The smartest ones can make things simple.”

If you’re looking for a way to add instant value in your organization, look for something to simplify.




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YES…YOU CAN

BE CREATIVE!




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I’m amazed how many leaders I encounter who say, “I’m not creative.” When I hear this, it actually

energizes me, because EVERY human being on the planet has the seeds of creativity within them.

After studying and practicing the disciplines of creativity for over 30 years, I’ve concluded that the

realization of this untapped potential is only three steps away.

I’ll start with a clarification of terms. When some people say they’re not creative, what they are really

saying is that they are not ARTISTIC. If this is what they mean, many of these people are correct. I

believe there are billions of people who could legitimately say they are not artistic. But creativity is

different.

Creativity is the ability to generate alternatives. This is a basic human capability hard-wired into each

of our brains! Unfortunately, many of us have this “feature” of our brain disabled. There are three

things we can do to enable this function and unleash the countless ideas.

Expand Your World – We cannot create from nothing – only God can do that. However, we can

create from our reservoir of knowledge and experiences. The example I often use to illustrate this is

the artist’s palette. An artist cannot paint with paint that is still in the tube – it must first be placed on

the palette. Our lives are the palette, and our opportunity is to create a masterpiece. Every encounter,

every experience, every relationship is paint on our palette. My fear is that too many leaders have

chosen to live in a small world. I will not. I want to paint from a full palette!

Train Your Brain – There are scores of techniques/skills that can be learned to help our brains

generate ideas. These are neither complicated nor elaborate, but they must be learned. Examples

include things as common as brainstorming and stimulating questions. The techniques are simple. The

trick is to become proficient determining which ones will work best in which situation and to become

skilled at utilizing them. This is where step three comes in.




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Invest the Time – To become more creative requires time. It’s that simple. A time on task analysis

would reveal that for most people, time is the key variable that determines their level of creativity. If

you want to be more creative, how should you invest your time? Primarily in three ways:

— Time expanding your world – going places, reading widely, meeting people, etc. These

type activities require time.

— Time learning and practicing the skills – like any skill, competency comes with practice

and practice requires time.

— Time actually generating ideas – Most leaders really do want more and better ideas, but

rarely do we invest the necessary time to discover the breakthrough ideas. The great ideas are

most often like rare gems – you’ve got to move a lot of dirt to find them.




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LEADERSHIP IS

STEWARDSHIP




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Stewardship is not a word you hear a lot in day-to-day conversations. However, I think it’s an important

idea for leaders to keep in mind. If you look at what the word really means, it implies a relationship and

an understanding. The core idea is that we don’t really own what we think we own – we are merely

managers, or stewards, of these things. And, as a steward, we are accountable to someone else for how

we manage that which has been entrusted to us.

As leaders, most of us would quickly acknowledge our role and agree with the premise that we don’t

own our job, and for most of us, we don’t own the company either. Does this reality affect the way

you lead? It does for me. I believe we make better decisions when we firmly grasp the implications of

being a steward.

Have you ever thought about what you steward as a leader?

We are stewards of…

Time – How we invest our time is how we invest our lives. Good investments yield good

returns.

Money – This is often our default when we hear the term stewardship. It is certainly important,

but only a small piece of our total stewardship opportunity.

Relationships – The people we come in contact with on a daily basis are often overlooked in

a conversation about stewardship. How are we investing in others? How are we encouraging

people?

Opportunities – When opportunity knocks, do we answer the door? To squander an

opportunity is as much an issue as wasting time or money.

Challenges – If we don’t learn and grow from pain and trial in our lives, we will have failed

to steward it well. Stewardship is ultimately about what you and I do with what we’ve been

given – both good and bad.




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What do we need to do to be better stewards? That’s a question I ask myself constantly.

Here are three ideas to consider:

Stewards Take Action – Passivity is not what you want from a steward. Think about the

money manager you’ve selected to steward your retirement account. You don’t want that

individual to do nothing for 40 years and see how things turn out.

Stewards Take Risks – If a steward wants to maximize what has been entrusted to them, risk

is inevitable. Wise, calculated risk, but risk none the less. No risk equals poor stewardship.

Stewards Expect Accountability – If I want to be the best possible steward, I have to live

with an understanding that the day will come when I will have to give an account for what I

did with what I was given.

I think stewardship is one of life’s greatest privileges. Stewardship is one of my personal core values.

I guess it’s one of the drivers behind my leadership journey. At the end of it all, I want to be found

faithful regarding what’s been entrusted to me. I see every day as a stewardship opportunity. I hope

you do too.

How would your leadership be different today if you saw yourself as a steward?




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I began writing about a decade ago when I was fortunate to team up with Ken Blanchard to write The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. In 2011, The Secret of Teams outlining the key principles that enable some teams to outperform all the rest was released. Great Leaders Grow: Becoming a Leader for Life came next in 2011. The Heart of Leadership was released in the fall of 2013.

With more than 600,000 books in print, the response has surprised and delighted me. It’s an honor to serve leaders through my writing.

In addition to writing, I really love speaking to leaders. Over the years, I’ve traveled extensively around the world teaching for numerous international organizations. My theme is always the same: encouraging and equipping leaders.

I also sell chicken. My Chick-fil-A career started as an hourly team member back in 1977. In 1978, I joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom.

Since then, I’ve provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development. Today I serve as the Vice President for Organizational Effectiveness. During my time with Chick-fil-A, annual sales have grown to over $5 billion and the

company now has more than 1,700 restaurants in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

My high school sweetheart, Donna, and I have been married for more than 30 years and we have two sons, a daughter-in-law and a grand-dog named Jackson. I keep a full schedule and live an active life. I also love photography. I’ve had the privilege to shoot in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, including… Mount Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp, Antarctica and the jungles of Rwanda.

I look forward to the opportunity to serve you and grow in leadership together.

ABOUTMARK MILLER


MMiller eBook LeadersGoFirst

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