Ancient Leadership lessons...

Installment two of ancient military lessons is trust. Napoleon in his memoirs wrote “Leaders deal in the currency of trust.”, but how do military leaders gain that trust? Most civilians think it is simply rank. The higher the rank the "mindless" troops just follow, barking orders to the left and right of them the loudest always works. Nothing can be farther from the truth without the currency of trust.

In the “Art of War” Sun-Tzu writes…”Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved children, and they will stand by you even unto death.”

One of the fundamental qualities associated with successful leadership is ensuring that your team members and colleagues trust you to lead them in the right direction and this requires acting compassionately and by aspiring to inspire confidence through your actions. Your actions will create either an environment of trust or a toxic culture of blame.

Leaders must trust their teams in order to gain the confidence of those working along with them. Believe in yourself to display compassion and humanity by being vulnerable and transparent. On active duty in the military I made it a point to not only know my teammates families and their personal needs, but to attend to them if could. I displayed to them my human and compassionate side. By doing whatever possible for my troop’s families at home they in turn would realized I could be trusted on the battlefield to do whatever it took to get them home every day.

One of the best teams I was privileged to be in charge of at the Four Seasons NYC downtown was the housekeeping department. I am blessed to be the caretaker of my elderly mother, a chance to give thanks to her not many sons have. Sharing this personal challenge with the team and being honest when especially I faltered was a sign of leadership in my teams’ eyes. This simple action made me accessible and reassured them that I not only would treat them with humanity, but that I could inspire trust through vulnerability and humanity myself. That housekeeping team in turn gave their best and made sure I got home employed every day.

Employing this principle may pose a challenge at first, even to the most experienced leadership teams. Personally, I believe that by being human and thinking compassionately about our actions we can improve ourselves and increase your team's trust level at the same time. The ROI that any business and all teams will value.