As many of you know, I am passionate about Leadership as well as Technology. With the background and experience I have in Management and the Information Technolgy, especially Data, Business Analytics, and Intelligence area, I needed to have a space to write where I can blend technology and leadership/management. That’s why the new blog is created. I am excited to introduce:
Is there a Leadership Trait that is so difficult to follow?
So, just a few days ago towards the end of December 2018, I was doing some research on Charities, which are the ones that are worthy of donation and how they use their money, etc. Now there are some sites that provide this kind of research information, they rank the charities based on various factors, etc. But I never thought that I would stumble upon a great leadership trait while searching for charities!
However, we are not talking about the charities here. It is about what I noticed while doing this research that caught my eyes.
Have you ever seen this menu that speaks “Leadership’?
You see when we visit any website; typically there are different menu options to make navigation easier. Simple and makes sense. But when I visited ‘GiveWell.org’, I was surprised to see one of the menu options. It shows like that:
Now, we all have visited hundreds of sites. How many times did you see an option that points you see what mistakes they made? I honestly admit that this was the first time that I noticed this, and even if you have seen any, most probably they are far and few between.
Obviously, I was curious to see what is under that menu option …
List of Mistakes?
When I clicked the menu option, I was surprised to find an updated list of mistakes! Honestly, I was really surprised to see that page.
And not only they made a listed mistakes as ‘Major issues’ and ‘ Smaller issues’, they have elaborated the issues in details but they also provided the details about each issue with ‘Steps we took to improve” like this:
I sincerely commend them for being bold and honest display of accepting the mistakes.
And that is a great lesson for a leader.
This Leadership trait is the one that will make a big difference to be a great leader.
Before we proceed, please note that I do not have any affiliation with this site and I do not know anyone associated with this site. It was purely a coincidence that I ended up on this site upon search.
Would you admit your mistakes?
So, how often are we ready to admit our mistakes? And that too in public?
Or should we admit our mistakes?
Well, rather than justifying not admitting the mistake, let’s seeing what the consequences of not admitting it are:
By not admitting the mistake, the act has to be defended. This will create a contradictory action in the leader’s mind. Internally the person would know that the act is not supporting the truth. On the other hand, the acting is required to play it out as if it is true.
There is no Oscar award to win here. Playing the game of lie will create stress, affect clear thinking, and it will spill over on overall performance. Great leader cannot afford not to admit a mistake and still perform the best.
First and foremost, the cover up will not be forever. Depending on the circumstances, the mistake will eventually surface, and when that happens there will be a huge issue of TRUST which will be lost! Not a good thing for a great leader.
Think about a leader who keeps defending about a mistake and later on it was found out. What happens to the credibility of the leader? The first thing people would ask is how many other things are lies are hiding in the closet?
Once you admit the mistake, it will relieve you. It will make you a better and confident person. It will make you strong as ‘Truth is Power’.
Yes, admitting mistake is difficult. Not that we need to admit the mistake in public, but it is still one of the most difficult tasks, whether it in our personal life or professional environment. But if we are courageous enough, if we are humble enough; if we are ready to improve enough, then we need to.
And that trait is the one that makes a great leader.
Leadership Traits and admitting the mistakes- Examples:
It is known that psychologically, the toughest word to say is ‘sorry’. We will not dig into the psychology here but let’s find out how many leaders did really admit their mistakes?
What did they learn from those mistakes?
What were the consequences? What were the reactions from those to who they admitted the mistake(s)?
Accept and move on:
In 1987, President Reagan came on TV to apologize in reference to Iran-Contra Scandal) and said this:
“Now, what should happen when you make a mistake is this: You take your knocks, you learn your lessons, and then you move on. That’s the healthiest way to deal with a problem… “
President Ronald Reagan holds up a copy of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra affair, while posing for photographers after his nationally televised speech from the Oval Office in Washington, Aug. 13, 1987. Reagan said he was “mad as a hornet” about damage to his administration from the Iran-Contra affair. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
President Reagan set a great example as a great leader – “take your knocks, learn your lessons, and then move on”
Leaders are not afraid to admit mistakes:
We have already seen that there are great lessons to learn from JFK in the article – “We choose to go to the moon”
Let’s learn one more display of JFK’s leadership trait.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy (JFK) took the responsibility for the failed invasion of the Bay of Pigs. He said:
“… Further statements, detailed discussions, are not to conceal responsibility because I’m the responsible officer of the Government …”
jfk-invasion-of-pigs-speech (Courtesy: C-SPAN)
The consequences?
It is said that after this speech, JFK’s approval ratings went up way high!
Remember – The Responsibilities cannot be delegated:
Leaders have authorities, and that authority allows them to delegate tasks. So far so good.
What happens if the task, executed by the team member(s), goes wrong?
And what happens when that ‘wrong’ involves casualties? When it happens in the battlefield, this casualties can affect some innocent people, or some of your own team members.
As a leader in this situation, would you be ready to admit the mistake?
Well, that is exactly what happened with Jocko Willink as he describes in his book – “Extreme Ownership”
Recently I was reading his book – “Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win”
His example in the book hits the nail in the head about the leadership trait that is extremely important.
Without giving away too much, Jocko cites his experience that as a Navy SEAL while in Iraq, a mistake, a friendly fire, was made resulting in casualty. He was ordered to provide explanation in front of the military seniros.
(the book provides a great narrative, and I highly recommend to read the book)
Well, long story short, he admitted the mistake and took the responsibility – demonstrating this true leadership trait.
The consequences?
Jocko was allowed to continue to lead the team!
What is the Leadership Lessons?
Who doesn’t make mistakes?
As it is said, to err is human.
Let’s add that “but to admit is a trait of a great leader.”
Yes, better safe than sorry,
But when a mistake is made, it is better sorry than (be temporarily) safe!
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]”Admitting a mistake is one of the strongest traits of a leader!”[/Tweet]
Have you made any mistakes, did you admit? What were the consequences?
Please share in comments.
Meanwhile, let me go and start counting my mistakes!
Imagine you are holding hundreds of stocks of a company. In fact, you believe in this company. And why not? After all you work at this company, a company which Fortune magazine calls “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years! You believe in yourself, and you believe in the company so much that you invested all of your retirement savings in this company stock. The job is fine, and the stock is nicely appreciating. In fact your company is doing so well it is called a Wall Street darling.
You were happy as you watch the stock chart. In just three months, it has gone from about $40 to $60+. In another 6 months it reached $90! Should you sell? May be not yet you think. At this rate, you can be a millionaire much sooner than you thought. May be retire early? You can’t keep up with the options on how to use the money when you will cash out the stocks.
But something went wrong in the next 4-6 months and the stock is back to $60. There are some stories in Wall Street Journal about the financials of your company, but the CEO released a statement that there is nothing wrong. Before you think to get out of the stock, in the next 3-6 months it is back to 40, and then another month – $20. Now you are surprise, actually shocked. What is happening?
Another two months and the stock is trading at $1 – yes, a buck! The company has filed bankruptcy, and you have lost your job!
If I tell you the time frame was early 2000 to end of 2002, and the CEO’s name was Ken, you might be able to connect the dots.
The company was “ENRON”, and the CEO’s name was Kenneth Lay.
ENRON filed bankruptcy in 2001 – largest one at that time in the history of United States (Worldcom broke that record the next year).
The worst outcome was thousands of workers lost their jobs and retirement and pension savings tied to the stock. It was devastating, and it was all due to the lack of integrity of the company management led by the CEO Kenneth Lay. Misleading financial statements, tactfully hiding losses with the help of (dishonest) auditing firm Arthur Anderson brought the empire to collapse.
Before 2001, Ken Lay was considered a successful CEO.
Ken Lay was found to be a cheater. The management was nothing but a fraud.
Would you call Ken Lay a leader?
In the first post, we discussed that the foundation of the leadership is based on the qualities of leadership. Those who do not possess such qualities will fail as a leader in the end, no matter what level of position they are holding.
Ken Lay proved that he lacked one of the basic qualities of a leader, Integrity, and he was ultimately not a leader. He was given a position as a CEO to prove himself as a leader, but he failed. He failed miserably and also adversely affected thousands of families.
Remember, the position someone has needs to be supported by integrity.
Leaders honor integrity.
Leaders do not compromise integrity.
The one who compromises is a cheater, not a leader.
Leader is a dish. You need different ingredients in terms of qualities to prepare the dish. Position is just a pan. It helps you make the dish. Pan itself is not a dish.
If you have a position –as a janitor, as a manager, as a CEO, respect it, honor it. That position does not make you a leader. That position just helps you prove your leadership skills.
Integrity should be part of a leader’s life.
[Tweet theme=”tweet-box-normal-blue”]Integrity is like air. Nobody notices when it is there, but the lack of it can be devastating.[/Tweet]
Be honest. Have integrity. Move one step forward in the direction to be a leader.
