Jan
25
Discovering Entrepreneurship - Class Two
January 25, 2008 |
The focus of this week’s class was leadership and team building, and I was surprised and impressed by the presentation we had today. Our guest visitor was Mike Rothenberg, a former Stanford student who is now working at Bain as a consultant. Before class we had to read Colin Powell’s article titled A Leadership Primer, and another selection from Kouzes, Posner, and Peters titled The Leadership Challenge. I personally liked Mr. Powell’s article better, and a quick Google search will yield the 18 lessons he outlines. For the most part of this post, though, I would like to highlight the lessons from Mr. Rothenberg’s presentation on leading a team.
Emulate Your Favorite Leader’s Strengths
I really liked this point and I feel that it is important to find individuals who you look up to and admire. Many times, though, I think individuals focus on being exactly like the leader involved, rather than picking only their favorite characteristics. An example Mr. Rothenberg gives is Steve Jobs. He admires Apple’s CEO for his innovative, futuristic thought on design and usability. On the other hand, Mr. Rothenberg also thinks much of this may have come to the detriment of his personal life, and as such, would not care to emulate that aspect. I personally have many role models, all of which embody certain qualities that I admire.
It’s Not About the Leader, but the Team
Being put in a leadership role does not result in the idea that everything you say, goes. The leader’s role should be to encourage their team to be as successful, innovative, and cooperative as possible. In fact, the ultimate goal should be to make yourself as team leader useless. To elucidate this point, a team that is working extremely well together doesn’t need the leader to facilitate discussion or ask questions - the leader is essentially cut out of the picture.
Key’s to Success with Teams
- Assemble a killer team. Find individuals with different talents and skills sets, and leverage these strengths when accomplishing your tasks.
- Get buy-in and define goals. Having everyone on the same page and knowing what they’re working to accomplish prevents being unproductive and making decisions in the dark.
- Plan how to meet goals. Once the team has agreed on end goals and everyone knows more or less what everyone else is good at, it is time to create a plan of action for achieving those goals.
- Have fun executing together. This is the most important aspect of success, because if it isn’t fun, you will eventually run out of steam and no longer perform excellently.
Qualities of an Effective Leader
- Regularly solicit the advice of the team
- Ask how they can get the team members fully engaged
- Don’t get in other people’s way
- Listen to what you’re team members say.
- Ask team members how we can accomplish our goals and tasks
- Presume trust first, because then you’ll get it back
Conclusion
Even though this post was short, the information is extremely valuable and I definitely learned quite a bit from Mr. Rothenberg’s presentation. I personally feel that being an effective leader is like being a cheerleader for your team. You support them, cheer them on, encourage them when they’re down, praise them when they’re succeeding, and always respect them. If you keep this one idea in mind, I feel you can act in a way that results in embodying all of the other tips and lessons from this post.