Best Advice: Lead From the Front

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers share the best advice they've ever received. Read all the posts here.

Former New York City schools chief Joel Klein is a great mentor and friend of mine—someone for whom I have deep admiration. So when he offers up advice, I listen. Only, when it comes to the best piece of guidance he ever gave me, it took me a long time to really understand what he meant.

It was late 2007, about three months into my tenure as chancellor of the Washington, D.C. school system. D.C. was one of the most dysfunctional and lowest-performing districts in the nation, and we were beginning to implement a series of aggressive—and very controversial—reforms, one of which was closing down failing and under-enrolled schools.

This was a turbulent and taxing process. In dozens of neighborhood meetings over a 10-week period, people were not afraid to express their anger, oftentimes yelling directly at my face.

I understood well that a school can be a treasured part of a community’s identity; I also understood that operating so many half-empty buildings was a big reason our schools were so poorly resourced.

Right in the midst of this undertaking I received a phone call from Klein, who at the time was the NYC chancellor; he was also the driving force behind me having gotten the D.C. job. I was in the car late at night, and it was raining, so I pulled off the road and answered.

“How’s it going,” he asked.

“It’s okay, sir,” I sighed. “We’re going through this school closure process, so it’s been a little rough.”

“I have two pieces of advice for you,” he interjected. “Number one, do you have a boyfriend?”

Admittedly, I was a little taken aback. I was prepared for professional, not personal, advice. Also, what single woman doesn’t love to be reminded about her relationship status?! No boyfriend, I quickly informed him.

“Get a boyfriend then, and let me tell you why,” he explained. “This is a lonely job. You’ll get beat up every day, with people constantly yelling and complaining to you about something.”

Alone in the car, my head began nodding in agreement.

“The only way I survive,” he went on, “is because my wife is next to me in bed every night, soothing and reassuring me: ‘Baby, you’re not crazy; they’re the crazy ones. You’re doing the right thing.’ Without that support, I’d go nuts. So get a boyfriend.”

My head nodded quicker. That made sense.

“The second piece of advice is to lead from the front,” he said.

He spoke those final words in such a convincing and definitive way that I simply replied, “Ok, got it,” then hung up, got back on the road, and realized I had absolutely no idea what he meant.

About one year later it would become very clear.

We had completed the closing of 23 schools. As painful and chaotic as it was, this meant the district was no longer spending money to heat, light, and air-condition half-empty buildings. As a result, we were able to hire an art, music, and P.E. teacher, a librarian, a nurse, and a social worker or counselor in every school—for the first time in that city’s history.

A lady approached me at an event at one of the newly consolidated schools.

“Do you remember me?” she asked. “I was always screaming at you in those meetings about closing schools.”

Before I could respond, she continued: “I just want to say that you were right. We couldn’t see it at the time because it was such an emotional process, but this school is soooo much better.”

Lead from the front. Now I understood.

Good leaders have to lead from the front so they can see things others can’t…so they can see the end game. If you’re making the right decisions, people will also begin to see your vision, and they’ll eventually follow—just as that lady had.

Leading from the front also allows you to stay singularly focused on the task at hand.

Imagine trying to coach a basketball team from halfway up the stands, or drive a school bus from a middle row. Not only will your vision suffer, but you will also be constantly distracted and unfocused, consumed by the yelling and complaining all around you.

If I led from the middle of the pack during that school closure process, I would have been so worried about trying to make everybody around me happy, nothing would have ever gotten done.

Of course, leading from the front also means you have to be okay with not being liked. But whether you’re in charge of a school district, a small business or a 5th grade classroom, that is a simple reality of being a leader.

So, Lead from the Front—that’s a characteristic I now know is true for every great leader. Oh, and Get a Boyfriend...but only if that advice resonates with you like it did for me!

Top photo: sculpies/ Shutterstock

Lower image: thinkstockphotos.com