Are you born with it…Another war slogan…

Are you born with it…or is it a learnable?

Is leadership an innate talent that some are born with or is it a learnable skill? The answer is both yes and yes. Yes, there’re folks who, right of the box are born leaders. We’ve all no doubt encountered a few of them along the way. And yes, it’s a skill those of not so blessed can master.

If you’re in that first “yes” group, there may not be much you’ll need to do to better your aptitude. But if you’re like the rest of us mortals, you’ll need to engage in a bit of work and learning. One way to approach that task is to study good leaders.

If we can learn even some of what they practice, we might just become the better leader we’d love to be. First, they tend to be even keeled. They neither get too excited when things go well, or too down when things go south. They praise (publicly) when they see positive action and convey a kind of genuine care for the people around them in their everyday interactions.

When they need to criticize, they find ways to do it constructively and in private. They exude a kind of contagious cheerfulness and use humor to influence others. Finally because they’ve done their homework, they’re decisive. They know what they want done and communicate it clearly.

Learning all that (and more) is a tall order, but if we want to master the sometimes elusive skill of leadership it’ll take time and work. But the end result it’s sure worth it.

Another war slogan…to consider and follow

The saying “divide and conquer” may have its’ roots as a battle strategy, but it’s actually better used in everyday living. And it sure comes in handy when we find ourselves in that frequent Monday morning pickle of too many problems to tackle and too little time to address them.

That’s when that sage battle slogan comes into use. First, we have to acknowledge that we won’t be able to juggle all of those balls by noon (or maybe not even by day’s end). And then we need to figure out what can be done and by when.

Next, we probably need to call those customers who’ll have to wait a bit in order to manage their expectations of when we’ll be there.

And we have to manage our own emotions so that we can begin methodically tackling that list in an orderly and disciplined way – because being frazzled won’t help get any of that list get done any faster.

So, take that deep breath, figure what’s first on that list. Then accept that you’ll likely get less of it done as fast as you might hope and slower than the customers who’re waiting for you to come absolutely expect.

Next up: Avoid underdelivering