Leadership Principles from a Former Company Commander

A few months ago I handed off my duties and responsibilities as a company commander. Since exiting the position I have had a lot of time to reflect on my leadership lessons learned, which I wanted to share with junior leaders rising through the ranks today.  These are by no means all-inclusive, but rather the key principles that I found were most impactful.

Lesson 1) Leadership is a people business. The output of your organization will be a reflection of how your team is treated. Put your employees first. Have a clear vision and make sure they understand it. Once it is understood, empower your team to problem solve, propose creative solutions, and assume manageable risk. Inspire your team by getting out of your office and getting to know them. Listen to them. Ask them questions and try to understand how they see your organization by showing empathy. Foster an environment of respect and structure, but approach it with a strong dose of humanity.

Lesson 2) Your team is not a zero defect environment. Exercise thoughtful risk management by promoting disciplined initiative through clear and concise guidance and intent. Mistakes will happen. Nobody is perfect. Make sure you are leveraging experience to prevent your “glass ball” projects from shattering. At the same time, make sure you are developing by affording opportunity on your “rubber ball” projects. If the rubber drops and bounces back up, reset your developing team and help them find ways to complete the project in a way that will exceed the standard.

Lesson 3) Trust is essential. Trust is the easiest thing in the world to lose and the hardest thing in the world to earn back. Trust has many folds in any organization. It can deteriorate rapidly if you flat out lie to your people. Or it can deteriorate slowly if you make empty promises to your team over time. Both of these examples of breaking trust will crush morale across your organization. Low morale results in loss of productivity, higher turnover of employees, and relates to everything mentioned in Lesson 1 (above).

Lesson 4) Don't be a robot. Learn to be personable. People don’t want to feel like they are working for a pre-programmed pencil pusher. Approach every situation or problem that comes across your desk with an open mind. Sure, there will be times when the textbook answer is the solution. But in some cases, you will find that by simply listening, collecting context, and issuing guidance, your team will respect you as their leader. It reinforces to them that you listen and make adaptive decisions. In other words, you will take the plane off autopilot if it is ever headed straight towards a side of a mountain.

Lesson 5) Utilize all of the previously stated lessons to earn respect. When you come into an organization as a leader, you are given a baseline level of respect. It is up to you to increase that baseline level of respect. Don’t demand more respect. EARN IT. How do you earn it? Through your actions (see lesson’s 1-4 above). Be professional both in appearance and attitude.

They always say hindsight is 20/20.  There are no perfect leaders, or at least I have never heard of one.  There are great leaders, there are poor leaders, and everything in-between.  I have been a leader on both ends of this spectrum, and that is okay.  Leaders are humans too and everyone slips, trips, or falls at various points of life.  To be a great leader you must make sure you don't let your low points define you or fester for long.  Identify small wins and attack them one-after another until you're back on track.  I promise, you'll be amazed at how quickly small improvements will fuel your organization's tank.