Always assume full responsibility for your behavior

Always expect others to assume full responsibility for their behavior

Always show up on time, well prepared, and give your best effort

Always think in every situation you find yourself in “how can I help?”

Always be willing to walk away when you can no longer add value

Always ask for what you need to do the job right

Always listen more than you speak

Always prepare to sacrifice for anything worth having

Always beware the danger of becoming complacent

Always look people in the eye when they speak to you or you speak to them

Always surround yourself with people that will tell you what you need to know rather than what they think you want to hear

Always challenge your assumptions

Always maintain perspective

Always help your people find the larger purpose in the work that they do

Always let your people know where they stand with you

Always admit and learn from your mistakes

Always behave as if you are always on stage

Always find the courage to stand up for what’s right

Always expect the best but prepare for the worst

Always remember that almost everything always changes

Always assume that if you don’t care you don’t really matter

Always try to understand the big picture

Always examine the evidence

Always be respectful

Always say “please” and “thank you”

Always forgive

Always praise perseverance

Always find a reason to smile and be thankful for every day, regardless of the situation you find yourself in

I found this list harder to write than the one I wrote about “never.” I know I left out some very important points – I always do – so please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Never apologize for having reasonable expectations of other people

Never make excuses when you fail to meet the reasonable expectations of others

Never ask someone to lower their expectations just to make your life more convenient

Never lower your expectations for your team just because of pressure from one member

Never make a change without first consulting the people that will be affected by the decision

Never put your personal needs above the needs of those you’ve been given the privilege to lead

Never ask your people to do something you have not yourself been willing to do

Never compare yourself to anyone with standards equal to or lower than your own

Never assume that everyone’s opinion matters

Never treat a problem as an isolated incident

Never stop learning how to learn

Never blame others without committing yourself to become part of the solution

Never surrender your voice

Never sacrifice your personal health and well-being for your work

Never lose your will to pursue joy and help others do the same

Never underestimate what you can accomplish

Never take shit from an asshole

Never hold a grudge

Never stop being thankful

Never lose hope in the power of simple faith

Never forget your purpose

Never regret

What else belongs on this list? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below

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Wise leaders initiate their listening process by asking a lot of questions. The most important question they teach others to ask is “why”? Why do we do things this way? Why does this process matter in the first place? Why did it take so long for someone to ask why?

At its best, leadership becomes a dialogue about how to continually improve processes and policies to better accomplish a shared purpose. Effective leaders ensure that learning to ask the right questions is a responsibility widely distributed throughout the organization.

Effective leaders expect to be questioned by their people. They teach their people the value of questioning leaders because they learned it themselves as followers. Only interdependent followers can become interdependent leaders that encourage partnership.

If you want leaders skilled in the ability to be questioned, you have to recruit, equip, and encourage questionable followers.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice (Proverbs 12:15).

Leadership is about influence, relationships, real change, shared purpose, and doing the right thing. I agree with Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus that an important part of leadership is a set of skills “that can be learned by anyone, taught to everyone, and denied to no one.” (p. 25)

Learning to develop leadership skills is your responsibility. The ability to self-reflect on your behavior and then to marshal the courage to self-authorize continual change and improvement is the foundation of assuming full responsibility for yourself. As Chris Argyris correctly asserts, there are a lot of “smart” people that are unaware of their unwillingness and inability to learn.

Henry Cloud wisely states that “the fool tries to adjust the truth so he does not have to adjust to it.” (p. 133). Fools often surround themselves with other fools, which renders them unable to recognize and close their integrity gaps. Many leaders deceive themselves into thinking they are wise because they seek the trusted advice of carefully vetted advisers. Unfortunately, advisers that formulate and confirm their advice only with each other can never offer wise counsel.

Fools are reactive listeners. They have “open door” policies and claim to be ever available to answer our questions and concerns. Their feel-good approach to listening rarely leads to substantive learning. We learn very quickly that the orifice of the oracle leader is actually a black hole instead of a source of light.

The wise are proactive listeners that initiate the process of listening with their own questions about what needs to change and how to make things better. The wise are proficient meta-learners, continually improving their ability to know what they know and their capacity to understand how to use knowledge to change their behavior.

Does your leadership development reflect foolishness or wisdom? How do you know? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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