Two Underrated Skills EVERY Disruptive Leader Must Have

Welcome to Leading Disruption, a weekly letter about disruptive leadership in a transforming world. Every week we’ll discover how the best leaders set strategy, build culture, and manage uncertainty all in service of driving disruptive, transformative growth.

Let’s say you’re writing the general description of a leader.

There are some basic things you’d include, right? The ability to see and be open to change. The ability to form relationships. The capacity to show up as strong yet vulnerable.

Every single one of these characteristics is important – in fact, we’ve talked about them before!?

But there are a couple skills you’d probably overlook. I think of them as the unsung heroes in every disruptive leader’s repertoire.

On Tuesday’s livestream, I talked about these two skills and how every disruptive leader can deploy them to create alignment. First up:

#1 A willingness to consistently repeat your mission

I love telling this story about Jeff Weiner because it perfectly illustrates this idea:?

When Jeff was the CEO of LinkedIn, he’d start every meeting the same way: He’d walk into the room and say, “Hi, I’m Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn. And our mission here at LinkedIn is to connect the world’s professionals.”

Then, he’d quickly mention key points from the company’s strategy or highlight a company value.?

You can imagine, after some time, people would roll their eyes and think, “Here he goes again.”

They’d ask him how long he planned to do this. His response was brilliant: “I’ll stop saying these things when people stop looking surprised.”

And you know what?

It worked.?

One day, I was talking to a product manager about a new feature and I asked him, “Why did you decide to add this?”

He looked at me and said, “Well, our mission at LinkedIn is to connect the world’s professionals. One of our key values is members first.” He went on to share how this particular feature supported that key value.

I couldn’t believe it – it was like Jeff Weiner was sitting in front of me!

This is how you create alignment: You talk about your mission consistently so that your employees make it their message, too.

So how can you ensure your employees adopt your mission as their own?

1. Ask people what resonates with them. After you share the company’s mission and strategic goals, ask, “What is it that I just said that spoke to you? What do you agree with?” The feedback will encourage you to continue – and further solidify the message.?
2. Ask other people to share the company’s mission. This is something I did during team meetings at Altimeter. I’d ask which values resonated with people, which had served them in the past week, and how they saw the mission in action.?

When you ask these questions regularly, you’ll create more connection and alignment around what’s truly important to your organization.

The second skill is:

#2 The ability to view your strategic plan as a living thing

Let’s be clear: I’m not talking about your budget – the projects everyone agrees to get done with a certain amount of money in the next 12 months.

Nor am I talking about a 100-page PowerPoint deck. That’s a detailed operating manual!

A strategic plan is the action of your mission. It’s a roadmap with short-term execution plans and long-term objectives that outlines how you’re going to bring your mission to life, step by step. It’s laid out in clear language so everyone in the organization understands how to contribute.

And this plan should be a living, breathing embodiment of your mission. It’s not a fixed plan and it’s never “done,” but always evolving in stride with your organization.

How can you ensure you create a flexible strategic plan??

1. Go beyond 12 months. I love the idea of a six-quarter walk, which creates a detailed plan of what your organization wants to accomplish over eighteen months and identifies the steps you’ll take to meet those goals. The key thing here is to look at your strategy after every quarter: What do you need to adjust, now that you know more than you did three months ago?
2. Revisit your overall strategy regularly. Even if you don’t use the six-quarter walk technique, always set aside time to review your strategy. Mid-year is a great time to check in. Look at what’s working and where you might be falling short. Then, use that information to update your strategy so you’re on the right track.
3. Create rituals. Think about how Jeff started every team meeting the same way. How can you create a similar ritual? The more you make your mission and its strategy a regular part of your conversations, the more everyone will take ownership of them. The action of the mission will become meaningful – and your employees will never forget why they come to work everyday.?

As leaders, we need to constantly remind our employees of what’s important: our mission and the strategy that helps us achieve it. You may sound like a broken record sometimes, but mission and strategy bear repeating.?

We never want to lose sight of why we’re doing what we’re doing. And that’s why the most effective way to power your mission is through building a movement.?

So join me next Tuesday, October 26 at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET for a conversation about building movements! I’ll share why disruptive leaders need to think of themselves as movement makers – and show you how to do it. I’ll see you then!

Your Turn

How and when do you share your vision and purpose as a leader? How often do you repeat your company’s mission? I’d love to hear what you’re doing to communicate this with your team –?tell me what’s working and what’s not. I’m so curious to hear your stories!?