LEADERSHIP.md

Leadership

Table of Contents

1. Leadership on a nutshell
2. New leaders/managers
3. Feedback
4. Delegation
5. Expectations
6. 1 on 1
7. Onboarding
8. Mentorship & Sponsorship
9. Decision Making
10. Coaching
11. Hiring
12. Communication

Leadership

Leadership on a nutshell

Step by step guide to building high performing teams

1. Hire and fire well. Ruthlessly screen for culture fit. Prepare in advance what success looks like to you and the new hire. Let go of employees who are not high-performers.

2. Create trust with clarity, care, transparency and consistency.

3. High performers will need ongoing development. If new hires don’t meet the bar, have clear talent density requirements to let under-performers go gracefully.

People are complicated. Leading them isn't. A simple plan for leading well

• Clear expectations
• Genuine care
• Helpful feedback
• Authenticity and embody the culture
• A smile

Imagine you've spent an hour with each member of your team.

• They know how to win.
• They know who can help.
• They know how not to lose.
• They know what you expect.

Can you help me become a great leader?

“... it's not about acquiring more skills, but rather allowing our true self to shine through more.”

• Wish to become a better speaker? Find small events or gatherings to talk at about something that is easy for you to talk about.
• Wish to connect more to those you engage with? Make them feel heard by repeating back to them what you heard them say.
• Wish to be more assertive? Find small ways to stand up for yourself and practice asking for what you want.

Amazon Leadership Principles

1. Customer Obsession
2. Ownership
3. Invent and Simplify
4. Are Right, A Lot
5. Learn and Be Curious
6. Hire and Develop the Best
7. Insist on the Highest Standards
8. Think Big
9. Bias for Action
10. Frugality
11. Earn Trust
12. Dive Deep
13. Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit
14. Deliver Results
15. Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer
16. Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility

What I thought management was vs What I learned management really is:

What I thought management was:

• Giving direction
• Delegating tasks
• Calling out mistakes
• Being the smartest person

What I learned management really is:

• Giving authority
• Delegating goals
• Calling our the wins
• Hiring the smartest people

Tighter loops are better

1. State the goal
2. State the expectations
3. Inspire
4. Measure progress. Expect results. Stay engaged
5. Praise when good, correct when bad
6. Treat everyone fairly (not the same)
7. Look for other leaders. Let them loose on sub goals
8. Repeat

The Big Four leadership traits by Ryan Breslow

1/ Dreamer:

• This is your Visionary leader who can’t help but live in the future.
• They value creativity and a bold long term perspective.
• They spew innovation.
• Usually, the CEO is a Dreamer.

2/ Thinker

• This is your leader who can do the hard thinking around strategy to make dreams come true.
• They invest in reason and analysis to test assumptions.
• A CFO creating budgets for the organization must be a strong Thinker.

3/ Lover

• A Lover is engaged with the emotions and relationships within an organization.
• They provide the glue that keeps everyone connected.
• Feelings matter to a Lover and they operate from a place of humanity.
• A CHRO should be a Lover.

4/ Warrior

• Warriors are determined to achieve results in an organization.
• They provide the conviction, energy, and drive towards these results.
• Without a Warrior in the organization, it’s all talk and no action.
• Typically a COO is a Warrior. A healthy organization has a balance of all of these leadership traits.

Good managers react quickly. Great leaders prepare in advance. 8 essential management skills to master now by Dave Kline

1. Establish Clear Employee Expectations
2. Delegate Work That Empowers
3. Hold Effective One-on-One Meetings
4. Deliver Honest Feedback
5. Deftly Handle Poor Performers
6. Avoid Making a Bad Hire
7. Build A Magnetic Team Culture
8. Architect Your Professional Competitive Advantage

New leaders/managers

New leaders: Here’s the playbook to run on Week 1 by Dave Klein

New leaders: Here’s the playbook to run on Week 2 by Dave Klein

Resources for new managers by Lara Hogan

Feedback

The recipe for constructive feedback by Dave Klein

• Clarity -> You understand what good looks like
• Contrast -> You can spot meaningful deviations
• Connect -> You empathize with the person struggling
• Coach -> You guide them to the unlocking action
• Challenge -> You invest because you believe

Giving critical feedback constructively is hard. Here is a playbook

How to fire people with grace, podcast by Matt Mochary

Delegation

The 60% who fail make one mistake: They don't delegate. Here are 9 tactics to win more by doing less by Dave Klein

Delegate everything :D

Expectations

If you want to become a better leader overnight, I would teach you this one skill: Setting expectations by Dave Klein

Co-authored expectations answer the following:

• What opportunities do you see to execute better?
• What are the key milestones you'll deliver?
• What are the expected deviations?
• When do they need to pull you in?
• What is the chance of success?

Avoid these 5 mistakes when setting employee expectations

1. No target or timeline. No bueno.
2. Concise >> Comprehensive
3. Don't dictate. Collaborate.
4. Revisit & revise regularly.
5. Not just What, but How.

One on one (1on1s)

As leaders, 1:1 meetings we'll consume most of our time. Here's the blueprint I use to ensure they're excellent.

1. Why are you meeting? Build trust, show you care, develop your team.
2. What is the focus of the meeting? 70% listening, 20% development, 10% relationship.
3. Whose meeting is? It’s their meeting.
4. What about individual performance? Self-grading lets you quickly find alignment and disagreement.
5. How do I build trust? Be human, own your mistakes, caring accountability. Don’t cancel, remember last agreements.

Effective One-on-One Meetings

• Avoid Cancel culture
• Make It Their Meeting
• Good Questions >> Great Answers
• A Shared Vision (template)

Onboarding

Most companies suck at on-boarding new team members. Here's how to on-board yourself when starting a new job by Wes Kao

1. Take charge of the process. No one is as invested in your success as you are.
2. Start developing a point of view. Write down: What you agree/disagree with,  Ideas that provoke a reaction, Questions & hunches
3. Review information with an active stance. If you’re setting a meeting, think about how to make the best use of the time.
4. Gather what you need to suggest next steps. There’s a difference between passive vs active observation. You should take time to absorb because you're learning the business, context, etc as a new hire.
5. Assume you’ll lead the meeting. You behave differently when you’re a participant versus the meeting leader.
6. Identify the types of decisions you’ll make. Knowing the type of decisions—and when you'll need to make them—helps focus your efforts.

The 10 must-haves in an employee onboarding packet:

1. A personalized welcome letter
2. Important passwords and log-in information
3. Onboarding checklist and a company vision one-pager.
4. Important HR paperwork
5. Org charts and team structure
6. Important training information
7. Case studies, best practices, and applications
8. A schedule for the first week
9. Introductions to the people who are essential to them getting their job done
10. Stories about the business that reveal how it came to be.

Mentorship & Sponsorship

WHAT DOES SPONSORSHIP LOOK LIKE? By Lara Hogan

1. Learn the opportunities you have to raise people’s names each week.
2. Find a person to sponsor.
3. Listen to their experiences, learn about their skills and how they want to grow.
4. Raise your sponsee’s name in those opportunities.

Decision Making

Cheat sheet to confidently make hard decisions by Dave Kline

1. Consider my level of confidence -> If high, I go fast.
2. Determine the consequence of being wrong -> If fatal, I go slow.
3. Expose the data and logic that supports my view -> Not exhaustive, only what matters.
4. Seek alternatives perspectives open-mindedly -> Great thinkers and those with experience.
5. Actively try on their opposing views -> Dismantle my prevailing choice.
6. Refine, Repair, or Retreat -> Reform the decision based on what I've learned.
7. Decide and move forward-> Not choosing is choosing the status quo

How to make great decisions async (and avoid endless meetings)

1. Identify key people
2. Give full context
3. Use one channel for communication
4. Use nested numbered lists to provide feedback
5. Push for a decision

Coaching

Less status updates, more Coaching

• Following their interests in conversation in order to find the most impactful topics that they consciously or subconsciously need your help with.
• Continually pushing the thought bubble back over their head by asking open-ended questions so that they are able to find the answers to their own problems.
• Try to create the space within your one-to-ones to act as a coach.
• Have your direct report write a weekly digest that outlines the main status updates and highlights elements that they want to bring your attention to.

Hiring

Super thread about hiring by Harris Fanaroff

• Onboard your new hires effectively
• Develop emotional intelligence
• Understand how to prevent quiet quitting
• Use the best interview questions

Communication

Weekly summary by Paulo Andre

• 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.
• 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀.
• 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁.
• 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲.
• 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀.