James Laughlin shares three leadership mistakes: pretending you have all the answers instead of hiring experts, chasing revenue over investing in people, and playing the fast game instead of thinking long-term. He uses Roald Amundsen's hiring choices as an example of getting the right people in place.
You need to stop doing this. As a leader, I'm going to share with you three things I wish I had known earlier in my leadership career. Look, I'm so fortunate that I get to sit down with some of the world's greatest leaders, in sport, in business, in politics, in philanthropy. I'm really fortunate. And I interview them, I go deep with them, and I want to know what goes on in their minds. But most importantly, I want to learn from their mistakes. So get your pen and paper at the ready. I hope some of this really serves you. Here are three ways that are going to really help you to transform your leadership. Number one, stop feeling like you need to have all the answers. That's right. So many leaders feel like they need to have all the answers to every possible challenge and scenario. When something comes up, they have to be the person to fix it. You know, a CEO or a team leader who feels like they have to have all the answers. Well, we know that that's going to stress us out. We're going to make mistakes. We're not going to have a really diverse platter to choose from when it comes to possibilities and options. So please think about diversifying and getting a team around you where people are in certain roles and they're much more skilled than you. You know, if you have the ability to hire, hire people that are better than you in a very specific area and ensure that you let them know you are so much more skilled at this than I am, and then let them make decisions, because they're going to bring so much more to the table. Roald Amundsen, the Antarctic explorer, he knew exactly this rule around hiring people better than yourself. He brought in individuals who knew how to train and look after Arctic dogs. So when he was trying to get to the South Pole before any other human, he knew he needed experts. He hired people who were incredible with wood and metal work, who could maintain different parts of their equipment that he just simply couldn't do. And we all know the story. He got to the South Pole the first human ever to do so. And the other person who was competing to get there first, Captain Scott, him and his team perished on the ice. One of the greatest lessons in leadership is to hire people that are better than you. The second thing you've got to stop doing is please stop focusing largely on revenue. Stop focusing on the dollars and cents and the quarterly returns. That is important. But what's the most important thing as a leader? To focus on your people. Absolutely. Your people. I sat down some time ago with a Former prime minister and. And obviously he'd done a lot in his life in terms of leading others and made lots of mistakes, but did lots of good things as well. The one thing that sat with me that I want you to remember is this. He said, james, what's the most valuable asset to any organization? He said, james, it's something you won't find on the balance sheet, and that is the people that go up and down in your elevator each and every day. Your people are your greatest asset. If you start focusing on your people, you're going to get much greater returns for your team, for your organization. The revenue will reflect that, or if you're in sport, the results will reflect that. Stop fanaticizing over results and revenue. Start getting radically focused on your people and making them feel valued and creating a deep sense of belonging. Last but not least, stop playing the fast game. That's right, we want to play the long game. In my early career, I wanted to just win at all costs. You know, I'd won a number of world championship titles, you know, 10 or 11 national titles. All I wanted to do was win more, win more, win more, and at any cost. I didn't realize it was a long game and life is a long game. I ended up burning out and retiring from that part of my life and no longer compete because I didn't see it as a long game. I seen as that we must win right away today, tomorrow. Let's go. Business and leadership and sport are long game. So I'm going to challenge you. You know, if you're a fast game and you burn fast and you try to set really big challenging goals in the short term, I'm going to challenge you to park that thinking aside, try to stretch it out just a little bit. It's going to be easier on you, it's going to be easier on your people. And in the long run, you're going to be here, you know, whether that's you individually or your team or your organization. But please don't make the same mistakes that I did. And as I said, I get to sit down with incredible leaders from all over the world and here on the show. If you're watching this on YouTube, please hit that subscribe button and the like button, maybe share it with a friend. And if you're listening over on our audio platforms, and I hope you've enjoyed today's session, but please, for now, get out there and lead your life on purpose.
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