Ep 149 | What Makes For a Great Leader - QUIZ

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick and welcome to the No Days Off Podcast. We believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into today's topic. Today I want to talk about leadership. Specifically, I want to talk about what it takes to be a great leader. I think leadership's always a great topic, but I think right now what we're going to cover is very, very timely. And I believe this because so many of our listeners are in the process of business planning for next year. We're going through business planning right now, or we're about to embark on business planning. And, and you're probably asking yourself questions like, what am I going to do different next year to get different results? You're probably reflecting on your current year and saying, okay, where did we win? And where did we not have as much success as we'd like to have? And so as you're kind of doing this analysis, I think it's only fair to ask yourself as the, as the leader of the business, as the owner of the business, or, or maybe as someone who's leading clients or others, I think it's fair to ask the question, well, How was my leadership? How did I do? How will I do next year? I would drill down even further and I'd say, you know what, what actually makes for a great leader? And that's what we're going to talk about today. So here's a list of things that I think about when I think about great leaders, things that I think that all great leaders possess. Uh, some aspects they may possess even more so than others. But I think all great leaders have these characteristics. And I want to go through this list. And here's what I want to ask you to do. I want you to rank yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 where you stand with respect to these characteristics. 10 being I nail it. That's me. That is exactly me. 1 being the opposite of that. Uh, I am, I am completely, you know, I'm, I'm failing in that regard or with respect to that characteristic. Now here's the kicker. If you know me, you probably already know what's coming. Scale of 1 to 10, can't use a 7. So no 7s allowed. You got to commit to a 6 or 8, no 7s. All right, here we go. First characteristic that I think every great leader possesses: you must have a set of core beliefs. You must have a set of core beliefs. So, uh, if you're asking yourself, well, gosh, do I have a set of core beliefs? I'd ask you, Could you define for me right now on the spot exactly what it is you stand for? And what you tell me, is it in fact consistent day in and day out? So if I ask you the question, what is it that you stand for? And you give me an answer, but maybe I ask you next week and you give me a different answer. All that means is you, you know how to answer the question, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have a set of beliefs. So great leaders have a set of core beliefs. On a scale of 1 to 10, Where do you stand? Can't use a 7. Next, great leaders must be optimistic. Great leaders must be optimistic. That, don't get me wrong, doesn't mean that great leaders don't have difficult days. It doesn't mean that great leaders do not have, you know, uh, negative views from time to time, but over, like, over the course of time, normally They're rather optimistic. Great leaders must be optimistic. Scale of 1 to 10, where do you rank? Next, great leaders must be able to let it go. They must be able to let it go. Simply put, they've got to roll with the punches. They've got to let go of any challenge or obstacle or something that gets in their way mentally more than anything else. They've got to be able to just let it go and move on, dust themselves off and get to work. Scale of 1 to 10, where are you at? Next, great leaders must have courage. People will disagree with you. And so you're going to have to tell people that they are wrong. That takes courage from time to time. If in fact you believe that they are wrong, you also are going to hear that you in fact are wrong and you're going to have to accept that, analyze it. It takes courage to do that. Scale of 1 to 10, do you have courage? Next, great leaders must prepare relentlessly. Scale of 1 to 10, where do you stand with respect to your preparation? Next, Great leaders must have a strong team. Now, as I said in a recent episode, when I was talking about Jocko Willink, there are no bad teams, there are just bad leaders. So maybe a different way to look at this: you have a strong team. If you have a strong team, odds are you're a strong leader. That's how it became that way. Rank yourself there. Next, great leaders must be an effective communicator. That one is, uh, pretty straightforward. How do you communicate? Scale of 1 to 10. Next, great leaders must care for other people. They must care for other people. Are you empathetic? Do you care for other people? Next, great leaders must get everyone to think and act like owners. This is a tough one here. Great leaders must get everyone to think and act like owners. This was a late addition to my list, but when I got to thinking about the best leaders out there, they get buy-in from their team members. And I think about buy-in, when I think about buy-in, I think ownership of outcome. Great leaders get everyone on board to think and act like owners. And the last of 10, great leaders must satisfy all constituents. Great leaders must satisfy all constituents. What does that mean? Great leaders have the ability to manage and satisfy the requirements of all stakeholders. Now, do they fulfill or honor the requirements of certain stakeholders or constituents more so than others? Yes, no question. No two constituents or stakeholders are going to be equal, but great leaders must satisfy all constituents, particularly those that have a stake in the outcome that they are in fact leading. Great leaders satisfy all constituents. Scale of 1 to 10, where do you sit? Now you've gone through 10 characteristics, you've ranked 1 to 10. What I want you now to do is sum up your score. What is your total score? Take a moment, sum it all up. Now it's out of a grading scale of what? 100. So much like we do with our kids, guess what? You got an A, you got a B, you got a C, you got a D based on 90 to 100, 80 to 89, 70 to 79, and so forth. So as you look at that grade, how do you feel about it? Maybe you feel great. Maybe you feel you have some work to do. If in fact you believe you have some work to do, which I'm guessing we all do, where's the greatest opportunity for improvement given the, the 10 characteristics I just outlined? Where can you make the greatest improvement? What area are you rather weak in right now? That you can't move the dial on immediately, but it's going to take a longer time to do it? What area are you excelling in right now that you need to have systems and models in place to make certain that you continue to excel? Lots to take away from here, but it, but depending on where you're graded, and I'm certain there's no 100s here, I'm going to guess there's not a lot of 90s or even 80s. If you're sitting in the 50s, 60s, or 70s, tremendous opportunity to improve your leadership. And, and again, I mentioned this at the very start. When you're looking at business planning, when you're looking at driving your business forward, as we trend into the— as we move into the next year, we can talk strategies and tactics and all of those things with respect to building business. But don't forget that the guy or girl in the mirror may be the single greatest opportunity for improvement. And in doing so, in raising your leadership lid, it will have a domino effect. It will have a snowball effect on the strategies and tactics included in that business plan that you're putting together. Lot to think about here. Hopefully you got something out of today's episode. On that note, that's all we have. The No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]