Welcome to issue No. 074 of the Lever

Maxwell’s famous quote means that the ability to influence others to achieve more than they think is possible is what defines great leadership.

This also means that leadership is not determined by your title, because true leadership is earned through influence.

So how do you influence people?

You can tell them what to do, but if they aren’t following willingly then you aren’t leading.

Here are the two things you CAN control that will maximize your influence.

But first…

People follow people with similar values.

To attract the best people to you then, you need to demonstrate what you value. Which means you need to KNOW and define your values.

My friend John Brewer stresses values-based leadership and has a free Core Values Blueprint.

It’s a great exercise to lay down a solid foundation for leadership.

​Get it here​

I went to sea as a deckhand in 1996.

That is the lowest rung on the ladder. You mostly do grunt work and manual labor. This is because you don’t know much yet.

After a bit of time I became an AB, or Able-bodied Seaman. This role still does a lot of the maintenance and repair of safety critical equipment, but has more responsibility and a greater understanding of the bigger picture.

The next rung after that was Third Mate, the first watchkeeping officer position. Now I became responsible for the safe navigation of the vessel, along with specific system management tasks. I also became responsible for a firefighting team, and in charge of one of the lifeboat teams. This was the first actual leadership role where I began to oversee others.

The ladder continues upwards through Second Mate and Chief Mate, until you finally earn the rank of Master and become Captain of the ship - with the ultimate responsibility for the safe operation of the vessel and the safety of everybody onboard.

This type of structured progression, similar to an apprenticeship, meant that no matter my position I had done the work and stood in the shoes of each earlier position. This founded one of my foundational leadership principles:

Leading By Example

Recall the 3 levels of leadership (from issue no. 71 - read here):

• Position
• Permission
• Performance

You may have the title, the team may like you, but if you can’t perform then it destroys your credibility.

The most effective leaders lead through the example they set. They become the benchmark of “what good looks like”. This then serves as the model for others to aspire to, thereby influencing how they show up.

This means that as a leader, you must lead yourself.

Because there are only two things that you control that outwardly models effective behavior and influences others through your actions.

1. How You Show Up

Do you break promises and reschedule meetings at the last minute due to a lack of planning?

Do you commit to offering some type of support but fail to meet the obligation?

Do you fly off the handle when something goes wrong?

Or

Do you say what you will do, then do what you said?

Do you follow through with maximum accountability, for yourself and the team?

Do you consistently share your principles and model them through your words and actions?

The keyword here is Consistency.

In a changing and often tense work environment people need a rock. They need something to depend on, that anchors their actions and responses.

You are that anchor.

That means knowing your values and communicating those values often so people know what to expect.

2. The Actions You Take

You demonstrate your values through your actions. When your actions align with your stated values you embody consistency.

When they don’t you destroy all credibility instantly. This is the Culture killer.

One of Enron’s company values was Integrity. They expected employees to play by the rules, and stand by their word.

How did that work out?

I don’t believe that your values should be aspirational. They should be what you actually value, not what you think people want you to value. They are yours, and unique, and you don’t owe anybody an explanation for them.

And no matter what they are, there will be others who share those values. Be honest with yourself and others, and you’ll attract those people to you.

Then it becomes easy to align actions to values because its real.

Achieving Alignment

You ever have a piece of work come back that you had to fix?

And you know that if you’d just spent a little more time on the front end, you would have saved yourself all of this time, rework and headache on the back end?

Well to effectively lead by example there is a little work you need to do on the front end.

But the good news is that once you’ve done it you will have a steady compass that guides your actions and allows you to show up consistently in all situations.

This work forms the basis of what I call Principles Based Leadership.

More on that to come.

PS

If you want to discuss any of these ideas one-on-one, email me and we’ll set up a call.

I’ll happily talk about this all day long.