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(U) Leadership: Your View of People
FROM: Charles H. Berlin III
SID Chief of Staff
Run Date: 08/21/2003
(U) Leadership is about working with people and it
really starts with how you look at them - how you
judge their motivation and their basic qualities. It
comes down to how do you take the measure of a person. Effective
leadership depends on getting this right, so listen up!
(U) Here's the first lesson: people are wonderful . They are, in
general, good and true. They can be trusted and will constantly
amaze and surprise you with their imagination and capacity for
innovative thought. Shakespeare: "What a piece of work is man!
How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty! In form and
movement how expressive and admirable. The beauty of the world;
the paragon of animals." Wow!
(U) First related revelation: this does not emanate from
social background, education, or ability to say "Down 'na
ocean" correctly. It is the natural state of human kind. This
trait allows us to live in large clusters and cooperate and
generally make giant leaps that we could never make alone.
Of course, this doesn't mean we aren't competitive. I saw
riding lawn mower races on TV last week. Jeesh! We'll race
anything that moves! But we will have rules and demand
that they are adhered to even as we do our best to beat out
the other guy. It is a pretty good combination to have basic
goodness and a competitive spirit. Naturally, there needs to
be balance in this (like so many things). When these get
out of balance, things do not go well. Leadership plays a
role in keeping that balance for the leader as well as the
"led".
(U) Second lesson: people are not perfect . Yeah, I know this is not
news, but why then do we have so much trouble accepting people
as imperfect and forgiving honest mistakes? The fact is that,
overall, people have a very low bit error rate. We make thousands
of decisions every day and put in tons of honest effort and rarely
make many mistakes. Even when we do, there are lots of external
factors helping to share the blame. The really good news is that we
are almost always working in a team environment where one
mistake can be easily made up for by the rest of the team. The
likelihood of the whole team all making a mistake simultaneously is
just about absolute zero. Even just two people teaming up bring
the chances of a major screw up to somewhere around nil.
(U) Second related revelation: we have to find a way to
flexibly try out new ideas, and team up to prevent the
stinkers from having too much of an effect. By the way,
making a mistake is an active notion. Doing nothing is the
only surefire way to avoid mistakes. I like the concept of an
engaged, active person trying out new ideas and
occasionally making a mistake, more than the potted plant
that never makes one. Leaders create an atmosphere where
SERIES:
(U) Charles Berlin
Discusses Leadership
1. Leadership: Your
View of People
2. Leaders Really Do
Make a Difference
3. What Does a Leader
Do?
4. Are Leaders Made or
Born?
the active person constantly innovates safely. Leaders
constantly foster the notion of mutual support. Excellence is
having a stake in someone else's success.
(U) Third lesson: not all the people are doing well . Unlike Lake
Wobegone where all the women are strong, the men are good
looking and the children are all above average, there are some
people who are not performing well. Yes, it really is true. The good
news is that the ratio is not too bad. My experience is that around
95% of the people are doing well and meet the standards for
performance and conduct. This is a very good thing. About half of
the last 5% are not performing well but don't know it. A leader can
easily salvage these folks with mentoring, honest feedback and
corrective training. This also is a very good thing. Sad to say,
however, there remain a few percentage points of people who are
not performing well and know it - and some who actually are
screwing up on purpose. A leader supports all the others by quickly
and professionally moving these people on to another career,
somewhere else.
(U) Here's the last lesson: you work with and around the best
people in the world - they have courage, heart and compassion.
Consider yourself lucky, cherish this idea and remember it is a
privilege to lead Americans with a mission like ours. As a leader
you will necessarily have to judge performance and behavior, but
you need not judge your teammates as people - it has already
been established: they're the best.
(U) What is the foundation of your leadership? Do you think people
are basically good? Why would you want to lead? Can you really
make a difference?
(U) Next part: Leaders Really Do Make a Difference
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