Written by Banchi

1 – Leaders set the direction

Once upon a time, a group of soldiers became lost in the Alps. They were hungry and disoriented. They argued about which way to go, but in the fading light every peak looked the same. The soldiers had no chance of surviving the night in the freezing temperatures.

Suddenly, a miracle.

One of them found a map sewn into the lining of his kitbag. He plotted a route, and marched them briskly back to base. Later, when they were warm and well fed, the soldier looked closer at his map. It actually was of the Pyrenees – hundreds of miles away.

It’s like the old saying – when you’re lost, any old map will do.

LESSON: Leadership entails vision. Otherwise where are you leading people to? If you don’t know where you want to go to – and if you can’t communicate that direction effectively – then you have no right to ask people to join you on the journey.

2 – Great leaders let people get on with it

Bad leaders like to ‘shake the pan’.

You see this a lot on TV cooking shows. The producer tells the chef to keeping shuffling the risotto around the pan. It’s more fun to watch, but apparently it’s not always the best way to cook.

To top chefs, learning when to leave food alone – when to resist the temptation to flip the steak – is as important as learning when to manipulate it. It’s the same for leaders.

Great leaders know when to stir things up and when to let it simmer.

3 – Leaders hire the right people

One thing a lot of people miss: being a great leader starts before your team even start work.

Publishing magnate Felix Dennis used to say: never seek a replica of yourself to delegate to, or to promote.

Apparently, it’s a common error in leaders. You have strengths and you have weaknesses in your own character – so it makes no sense to increase those strengths your organisation already possesses and not address the weaknesses.

Ad man David Ogilvy was also a big proponent of only ever hiring people who were smarter than them.

He kept a set of Russian nesting dolls, and would place sets around his offices to illustrate a point: “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

LESSON: Consistently hiring people who are smarter than yourself could be the greatest legacy you leave.

To Your Inspiration,

Banchi