We found that five of
the attitude questions correlated strongly
with overall leadership effectiveness.
Leaders who strongly agreed with these
particular attitudes also had higher
overall leadership effectiveness scores. As we looked through the items, we came to the
conclusion it was possible their attitudes
on these items may have influenced their
effectiveness as leaders. Now let's describe
these five attitudes and see if you agree.
(listed in order of the
strength of the correlation)
Attitude 1 – If I disagree, I usually let others
know.
Twenty years ago organizations wanted
to hire “yes” men and women. They
wanted people who didn’t ask questions,
did what they were told and kept their
opinions to themselves. Over time, most
organizations and leaders have
discovered the opinions of others are a
valuable asset. They’ve discovered that
90% of the time, the wisdom of groups is
better than the wisdom of any one
individual. It takes courage to disagree
with others. It takes even more courage
when the person you are disagreeing
with is your boss. Personally, I appreciate
people who speak up (respectfully, of
course) when they disagree.
Attitude 2 – I am willing to take more risks
than most of my peers.
Most of the clients I work with in large
companies are risk takers. Many
potential clients in other companies are
risk avoiders. My clients have a very
strong desire to make a difference and to
create value. However, there are many
people who avoid risks at all costs. For
me, the risk avoiders approach work
much like people who go to the water
park and ride around the lazy river all
day. They go with the flow and never
make the effort to walk upstream.
Making a difference in an organization
means taking some risks.
Attitude 3 – It’s easy for me to make friends.
Leaders are people who have the ability
to influence others. It’s very difficult to
influence others who don’t know who
you are. Having the ability to make
friends and build relationships is a
critical skill for all leaders. Most people
have worked for another person they had
a very positive relationship with and had
that person ask them to do a very
difficult task. The positive relationship is
often the key factor in their ability and
willingness to accomplishing a difficult
goal. Often people will say something
like, “I did not want to let him (or her)
down.” This kind of dedication only
occurs when people have positive
relationships.
Attitude 4 – I take the time to look at all the
facts before making decisions.
Because I travel frequently I find myself
in a lot of lines or waiting with nothing
to do. Over the last few years I’ve found
a few mind-numbingly simple games on
my smart phone to entertain myself.
Several of the games I play show the next
object coming up in the game. Noticing
the next object is incredibly beneficial in
getting a good score. I have noticed,
however, a tendency I have when I see
an opportunity to make a good move to
focus all my attention on the move
instead of looking at the next object
coming, which causes the good move to
quickly turn to disaster. This much-
repeated experience has gotten me
thinking about all the poor decisions I’ve
made by failing to look at all of the facts
before pursuing an opportunity that
appears to be great. I admire people who
can pull back, examine all the facts, and
weigh the consequences before making a
choice.
Attitude 5 – I am strategic and future-
focused.
Have you ever spent most of a day just
responding to emails and attending
meetings? It’s so easy to get caught up in
the grind of your job that you never take
the time to ask, “Why am and doing this?
What’s really important?” This is a
critical skill. In many companies,
everyone is so focused on their product
that no one is looking at the competition
and discovering the cases where the
competitor’s product is much better and
costs less.
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