Good Leaders....In My Opinion

Good morning, good morning….Monday morning…Monday Monday, here we go. I hope you all have a great start to your week.

You know I’ve been fortunate my whole life to get to be around some great leaders. My father a commercial airline pilot had also fielded offers to coach baseball in the minor leagues. My godfather was a major league baseball coach for 30+ years, and really I’ve been pretty fortunate in my career, where in I have been placed under and alongside some great leaders. I’ve also had some pretty questionable leaders, as in questioning who saw what to have put you in charge of us. 

I’ve also had the extreme pleasure of acting as a leader in many different times of my life. As a catcher in baseball in hs and especially at the college level and beyond, you are automatically in a leadership role. You’re calling pitches, signaling your infield and outfield, moving them according to scouting reports, calling bunt defenses, shifts, and managing the game on the field. All 3 of my prior recruiting firms, I was in a senior level role, and of course now with AAA Nursing Care and Crusade Combat making choices that affect both of their success.

So now that I have kind of given a brief background to somewhat justify even giving my opinion on leadership, here is why I decided to talk about this today. Friday as I am going from a meeting to another, I briefly opened up my LinkedIn app and came across I swear like 10 different memes of qualities of a leader. Now where some of the “lists” (5 qualities of a leader) had a couple obvious and good selections as far as traits go, I saw some of the most ridiculous things that made me question, what people these days consider leaders. Also, noting that some people will post stuff even if it doesn't really apply to themselves, I guess just to get views and likes. Primarily ones that made it seem like once you got to a leadership role you were able to be lazy. Things like “surround yourself with Rock Stars”

Now I get that mentality, at least when dealing with surrounding yourself with good people…I mean let’s all hope if you are a leader you are hiring accordingly and not out there making hires that make no sense. At the same time, be careful, going out and getting all these high profile Rock Stars and placing them on your team can be a detriment to your company. Look at some of the Yankees teams over the last decade. One could argue that the majority of the time, on paper and some point in these players careers that the Yankees could put an All Star team on the field every single game. The end however a lot of those seasons were disappointment. Dealing with attitudes, different headlines, distractions. Flip that to teams that have built their teams gradually, bringing in some high talent, but also developing their own talent that will eventually come to flourish and become leaders in the organization.

So here are my 5 traits to being a good leader (in my opinion):

• Personal Integrity- This to me has been the one trait that I have seen get lost the most in watching people become new leaders. I’ve seen too many fall to being yes (wo)men, willing to bend or change in order to keep their position. Now I understand there is a change, and there are certain things the company that has given you that new opportunity expects from you as a leader, but we all know when that goes a little too far.

• Stay Working!!! In fact WORK HARDER- This goes along with my first trait and personal integrity. We all see the person work themselves with the “company, start scheduling pointless meetings between the leaders that take them off the floor. Start charting, and examining and creeping over your teams shoulders and expecting more from them then from your own activity. We all see you. Most leadership roles that I know in sales, marketing and or recruiting still come with those responsibilities. The true leaders, lead from example and still go out to compete. They find a way to do both. You can inspire a lot more when you are doing well, then when your skill is being questioned.

• Show Up!- Simple, be early, stay late, produce, and bring a positive and up beat presence. We all have bad days, we are all human. Work is just half our lives. We all of other problems, other things that come up, we know. However you are now a leader, being paid as a leader, and being seen as a leader…if ever it was time to leave your person/problems at the door, now is that time.

• Be Respectable- Have that aura about you that commands respect…not demands..if you have to make some one respect you, it’s not real. Know that your team isn’t in your position, be there for them, personally and at work. Help, don’t micromanage. Show, don’t tell. It doesn’t take a lot of time to have someone sit in with you while you are working. Show them how you like it, you’re the leader now. Show them how you work. Then sit with them. Be positive, not negative. A team survives and wins because all players contribute at some point. This isn’t a one and done, you have to send a roster out there each and every day. Make sure you are hiring correctly and then be positive to get all you can from someone. People have ups and downs, let them. Try and get them out as soon as possible, but do it positively…so quick to set someone up on a PIP plan. You hired them, they can do the job, you’re the leader…pull them up and out.

• Build Your Team- Surround yourself with RockStars?? Surround yourself with people that compliment the other persons on your team. Do you know how many 1st round draft picks don’t pan out? A lot, know how many 2nd thru 4th rounders become leaders of the organization some day? A lot. Build your team up, teach the new, encourage the seasoned. Teaching the new will not only build a leader and rock star of the future, but will also keep you skilled so you don’t get passed up by one of those “RockStars”…..Encourage the seasoned, look you hired the experienced person. You know their traits, or should (open your eyes)…know their good times and bad and learn how to encourage them in both rather than discourage and discard.

 This younger generation 25-35 has some seriously skilled persons in it. They have grown up with enough technology to get it, and have been around to learn from the old school greats enough to know that technology doesn’t do everything. Two of my best friends, colleagues Casey Williams and Hamilton Doty both under 33 years of age, would have ran circles around some of the managers that we had when we were younger. They get it, they were willing to put in the work to get there, and they’re working harder now that they are there. I hope my companies say the same about me, and I work hard to make sure they do.

Have a wonderful rest of your Monday and week!

Best regards,

Hal Brock
AAA Nursing Care
Business Manager
[email protected]
@halbrock

Post Note: Before I go I want to thank you for your continued support, thoughts, counsel. I have enjoyed connecting with each of you and hope at some point I will be a benefit to you in one way or another. Crusade Combat is currently adding new gym/school clients. If you would like us to help you market, work PR and or to help grow your gym/school please shoot me a message. If you are in healthcare and in the Dallas Fort Worth and Surrounding Areas, we would love an opportunity be a backup resource for you when you are low on staffing for RN’s, LVN’s, and CNA’s. We are free to sign up with, all of our staff is local, we only service this area of Texas. (for now)

If you are a RN, LVN, and or CNA looking for temp assignments or any work in general please also get in contact with us. Here are the best ways to contact:

Phone: 817.354.2220
[email protected]