Lead. Care. Win. How to Become a Leader Who Matters- Dan Pontefract

The most successful leaders don’t position themselves above other people or revel in power and status. Dan Pontefract says they make themselves relatable, practice humility, and show care and respect. Pontefract believes strong leaders lift people up, share knowledge – as opposed to hoarding it – and create diverse, egalitarian teams. He teaches leaders to act with clarity and decisiveness, and to thrive in the face of change and obstacles. Writing in an accessible, relatable style, Pontefract offers applicable advice on how to lead so people will want to follow.

Take-Aways

? Strong leaders are relatable, caring and humble.

? Being a leader should provide a sense of meaning, not a hunger for power.

? Don’t manage time – mindfully transform your relationship to it.

? Embrace a curious mind-set and prioritize lifelong learning.

? Change is a constant; embrace it – don’t fight it.

? Lead by lifting others up. Share your knowledge; don’t isolate yourself.

? Strategic leaders act with decisiveness and clarity.

? Successful leaders value balance over rigid power structures.

? Practice humility by showing people care and respect.

Summary

Strong leaders are relatable, caring and humble.

Leaders should prioritize creating meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships. People find transparent, honest and caring leaders relatable, and that inspires them to collaborate. Leaders often fail to be relatable because they won’t admit mistakes or ask for help when they need it. They foolishly pretend to be infallible. People who see themselves as virtuous, fair and relatable – but still can’t admit when they make a mistake – are being dishonest with themselves.?

“To become relatable – to be a beacon of forgiveness and kindness, to be humble enough

to ask for help – affects the very heart of your leadership.”

To boost your “relatability quotient,” accept that you’re human and will make mistakes. When you’re wrong, apologize and take appropriate steps to correct your error. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or feedback. Ask for assistance in completing project-based tasks, such as data entry, or for help with larger questions, like considering career development options. Embrace transparency and honesty in your relationships and extend empathy to your colleagues.

Being a leader should provide a sense of meaning, not a hunger for power.

Your leadership should reflect more than a personal quest to become increasingly powerful. Consider your circle: Who do you influence, and who do you serve? If your actions are self-serving and benefit only you and those in your personal, corporate or social circle, you may be living a selfish life. Try to give everyone equal consideration; don’t pick favorites. Consider the impression you make on others over time. If people find you rude, forgetful, power-hungry, malicious or dishonest, you’ll discourage your team and develop a negative reputation.

“You have a responsibility to think about and define what you are working toward and

the impact you might make.”

Try to create a meaningful career, rather than centering your objectives around raw ambition. List your life goals in three areas: career, personal development, and the impact you want to have on the world and those around you. For example, you might decide to reduce your carbon footprint. Identify the changes you need to make to achieve your goals.

Don’t manage time – mindfully transform your relationship to it.

The belief that you can manage time is a fallacy; all you can do is to manage your behavior in relationship to time. To use time more effectively, cultivate mindfulness. Stay calm and present while focusing on the task at hand.?

“The systems we adopt to convince ourselves we are winning the time battle are mere illusion. The technology we use is a crutch.”

To support your employees’ mindful focus, don’t abuse these terms:?

? “Capacity” – Use this word to refer only to the amount of time people have available to complete tasks. Often leaders use it to refer to the time they have left to bombard their teams with additional work.

? “Efficiency” – Leaders use this word to denote their desire to get their team to do more work with less time and resources. A more ethical use of “efficiency” refers to helping people creating better systems and habits, so they can achieve their goals.

? “Productivity” – Leaders who tell employees to be more “productive” can intimidate them into working longer and taking on too much. “Productivity” should refer instead to your desire to help your employees change any behaviors that hold them back and boost their levels of engagement so they can achieve improved results.?

To cultivate greater mindfulness, embrace concrete action. Try to:?

? Find blocks of time, free from meetings and distracting tasks, that you can allocate to

uninterrupted, focused work.?

? Create room each day for activities that enhance your mindfulness, such as taking short walks or listening to instrumental music.?

? Answer emails and messages only during certain time blocks, not instantly.?

? Sleep seven to eight hours each night.

? Overcome your fear of missing group activities so you take time for yourself.

? Summarize important discussions and meetings after they end to make sure you don’t forget important points and decisions.?

? Establish team behavioral norms to make mindful use of time part of your company culture.?

Embrace a curious mind-set and prioritize lifelong learning.

If you maintain a curious state of mind and embrace lifelong learning, people will view you as a more inspiring leader. Prioritize learning by taking actions that make learning a regular activity. For example, set up a team member who is afraid of public speaking to work with a helpful colleague who is skilled at making presentations. Share relevant podcasts or articles with team members to help them expand their knowledge.

“A curious, discreetly confident, question-asking, always-learning attitude is one that

people tend to look up to. A learning leader with this attitude inspires others.”

Be curious about the people you lead. Get to know their goals, strengths, and any gaps in their skills or knowledge. Take on the role of a coach, encouraging your team to value lifelong learning. Cultivating a lifelong learner’s mind-set boosts your creativity, credibility and professional reputation. You may be lacking in curiosity if:

? You don’t care about learning new things and do just the bare minimum to complete tasks.

? You prefer to hear ideas from only those at the top of the hierarchy in your organization, rather

than listening to your team.

? You think spending money on development or learning is frivolous, since work isn’t school.

? You often view new ideas as overly risky.?

Change is a constant; embrace it – don’t fight it.

Seizing new opportunities requires embracing change and accepting an inevitable degree of uncertainty. You may struggle to embrace change if:?

? You believe your day job prevents you from steering your life in the direction you desire.

? You blame others for preventing the changes you’d like to see, rather than taking responsibility.

? You wait for change to happen, rather than initiating it.?

? You think your industry’s jobs are secure and can’t imagine change could jeopardize yours.

? You change only when policy or legal structures require it.?

The ability to embrace change is an important leadership quality – it helps you preemptively anticipate obstacles, reduces your stress and anxiety, and leads others to view you as flexible and adaptive. Embrace change to grow as a leader by learning from challenging new situations, instead of avoiding them.

“Your capacity for growth and role success is commensurate with your willingness to

embrace change, because within change there is opportunity.”

To open yourself to change, shift your mind-set. Accept that change is inevitable. Learn from past mistakes and patterns. Listen empathetically to those who struggle with change. Be open to re-imagining and redefining your priorities and your company values. When hard changes confront you, identify their positive aspects. Don’t be afraid to ask for help navigating change.?

Lead by lifting others up. Share your knowledge; don’t isolate yourself.

Don’t hoard your knowledge or information with your team to get ahead; that will cause the reverse to happen. Failing to share information on projects with your team can create unnecessary challenges and stress and can hinder your team’s professional development.

“Sharing is at the very heart of leading.”

Imagine if a colleague didn’t give you timely background information you needed to craft a pitch for a valuable client. You would feel forced to operate alone, in a silo, and you might feel more anxious about your presentation. In contrast, sharing what you know strengthens your team members’ ability to work together and solve problems. To become more generous take these steps:

? Share data, information, experience and knowledge that’s vital to your team’s success. Try uploading nonconfidential files to a shared drive your entire team can access.

? Admit when you have gaps in your knowledge, experience, data or information in areas that are essential to advancing your career. Take action – such as asking those with more expertise for coaching sessions – to address your knowledge or experience gaps.

? Don’t hoard information or experience that your organization needs to succeed. For example, blog on internal platforms to share what you know.

Strategic leaders act with decisiveness and clarity.

Cultivate what the first century Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger referred to as “euthymia,” a state in which you trust your own direction and don’t allow others to distract you from choosing what’s right for you.

“Clarity and decisiveness are inseparable from strategic ability, and so are the pillars of

an organization’s longevity, not to mention your own personal leadership success.”

Leaders who lack clarity and decisiveness often have negative traits, such as distractibility– eagerly adopting new trends and losing focus – and indecisiveness on important issues. To become a leader who can implement a strategic vision decisively, consider doing the following:

1. Assess the state of your company and career, and anticipate what the future might look like if you continue in your current direction.

2. Stay focused and don’t let every new management fad consume your time, energy and resources. Don’t embrace change for change’s sake.

3. Don’t take on too large a workload. Leave yourself time to rest and recover.

4. Limit how much time you spend analyzing situations to avoid decision paralysis.

5. Leading with clarity and decisiveness gives you authenticity, which makes people more likely to support your strategies.

Successful leaders value balance over rigid power structures.

To earn your employees’ respect and trust, commit to balanced relationships, rather than reinforcing hierarchical power positions. Beware of these symptoms:

1. You don’t trust workers to work remotely.

2. You think employees should be satisfied with their paychecks, rather than also expecting recognition.

3. You rarely leave your desk to interact with your team.

4. You ignore memos from HR about inclusion and diversity.

5. You don’t provide professional development resources such as coaching.

Balance helps your company, and a lack of balance among your staff members will harm it. For example, as CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, Steve Ballmer expanded its revenues, but he didn’t prioritize balance, and the company suffered. During his tenure, employee engagement fell, the stock price stagnated and market capitalization fell from $550 billion to less than $270 billion.

“Leadership is not to be conducted from a perch. It is a privilege. You must commit to

balance. Your ability to be an effective leader depends on it.”

Microsoft experienced these challenges, in part, because it did not have a coaching culture during Ballmer’s tenure. Siloes abounded, teams didn’t listen to one another and workers didn’t share knowledge or information. Create a more balanced workplace by taking six actions:

1. Build diverse teams of people from different backgrounds.

2. Create an inclusive environment so diverse employees find a community at work.

3. Permit flexible work where possible, trusting your employees to decide where and when they find it most productive to work.

4. Recognize employees who exert extra effort and perform well.

5. Coach employees with constructive daily feedback.

6. Leave your desk to build rapport with your team members.

Practice humility by showing people care and respect.

Leaders who show humility create improved engagement, information sharing and collaboration. No matter your position or age, treating people with care and respect is your responsibility as a leader. Practice humility; be a champion for your people by using these tactics:

1. Let go of the egotistical desire to focus every situation around yourself.

2. Embrace transparency by sharing your strengths and weaknesses with your team.

3. Hire people who are smarter than you, and train people to perform their roles better than you

could yourself. Don’t hold smart people back if another unit of your firm could use their talents more effectively.

4. Admit it when you don’t know something.

5. Ask questions to show your team you care.

6. Find a younger person to mentor you; you can learn a lot from younger employees.

7. Meet with team members below those who report directly to you to show you care about people throughout the firm and to glean insights from those with a different perspective.

8. Volunteer in your community with your team.

9. Practice empathy.

10. Be polite, and practice good manners.