The best leaders anticipate changes, challenges and implications. And they succeed by staying grounded in reality and results. Here’s how.
Have you ever had the sense you were spinning your wheels as a team member or leader? I think we’ve all had the experience: We attend a lot of meetings, we talk about a lot of stuff, but we don’t seem to have much to show for it.
More often than not, we’re usually constrained by people and process issues. Our team members aren’t buying in, we don’t have a clear vision for where we want to go, and worst of all, we may be imagining road blocks that don’t even exist.
Cy Wakeman has a special brand of leadership thinking and training designed to deal with many of these problems. She’s the author of “Reality-Based Leadership: Ditch the Drama, Restore Sanity to the Workplace, and Turn Excuses Into Results.” Who doesn’t want what’s in this title, right?
I like Wakeman’s direct, no-nonsense approach, and the principles she covers in her programs and keynotes. Some of these are worth framing for your office wall:
- Reality Based Leaders Refuse to Argue with Reality.
- Reality Based Leaders Know that the Stress in Life Is Caused by Thoughts, not Realities.
- Reality-Based Leaders Greet Change with a Simple “Good to Know.”
- Reality Based Leaders Value Action over Opinion.
- Reality-Based Leaders Work with the Willing.
- Reality Based Leaders Lead First, Manage Second.
- Reality Based Leaders work to Bullet Proof Employees so that They Can Succeed, regardless of the Circumstances.
- Reality Based Leaders Make the News Rather Than Report the News.
- Reality Based Leaders Are Very Careful About What We Think We Know for Sure.
- Reality Based Leaders Work to Be “Happy” Rather Than to Be “Right.”
Don’t get wrapped around the axle on people and procedure issues. Determine what’s real and what’s not and what success looks like for you. Wakeman does a nice job of reminding us that it’s much closer than we might think.
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