On Leadership

This is a lose collection of tips and links on leadership I want to save in a permanent location. These are the best of the best.

Tips

  1. Only do what you can do.
  2. Don't worry about most things because most things don't matter.
  3. Don't hold grudges against yourself.
  4. Keep a journal.
  5. Own your weaknesses.
  6. Hold regularly scheduled 1-on-1's with your Team Members.
  7. Know you're playing the long game and embrace it.
  8. Cultivate a culture of autonomy and empowerment. See Turn the Ship Around.
  9. Ask great questions and wait for a response.

General

Delegating

The following section is a summary of this Watercooler thread, summarized by Claire Lew.

  • For proper delegation make sure you:
    • Clearly articulate your request.
    • Have the person receiving the task repeat it back.
    • Agree on how you're going to follow up.
  • Keep these things in mind:
    • A common tendency can be to either take on work yourself, or dive into the details and hand over a "to do" list. Both don't scale, and both behaviours underutilize the incredible people on your team. Instead "invite the team into both the thinking and the doing.
    • Delegate outcomes, not activities.

Meetings

The following section is a summary of this Watercooler thread, summarized by Claire Lew.

How to actively have less meetings

Make the distinction between DOWNLOADS or DISCUSSIONS. Many meetings are little more than downloads, where a group of people show up to receive a handout or a slide deck, a status report or a list of excuses. Shift to schedule meetings where any “downloads” are sent out ahead of time and participants come prepared to discuss, to bring something to help move things forward.

One-on-ones

Ownership

Remote Work

Tools