As we close down 2015 and move into 2016, I sat back and reflected on some of my journey and the privilege I have to help others become stronger leaders. I’ve shared below a compilation of some of my favorite Leadership Truths. Take a look and choose your top 5 where you believe that by living that truth you can raise your own bar in the new year. Commit to a little self-reflection and resolve to make 2016 a year to focus on cultivating your own personal leadership legacy and ensuring the influence you have on your team is always positive.
| 1. Maturity is a choice not an age. | 2. As a leader, be contagious, not infectious. |
| 3. Leading a team is a different skill set than accomplishing great individual feats. | 4. Create an organization that makes more leaders than it breaks. |
| 5. Lead where you’re strong. Team where you’re weak. | 6. Business and life are marathons. We have to strategically pace ourselves in order to finish. |
| 7. Great leaders are concerned about their positive influence, their legacy. | 8. Strategic placement of team members produces the best results. |
| 9. Self-awareness helps in building the right team for you. | 10. It’s your team. You cannot complain about what you permit. |
| 11. When you need a little more pull from your team, try letting them chase a team just a little faster or better than themselves. | 12. Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong. |
| 13. Great leaders take time to get to know their team, really know them. | 14. Consider the strengths of the team as a component of strategy. |
| 15. Communicate in their language, not yours. | 16. Unleash the power of the team. |
| 17. You don’t have to flood your team with words to get them to action. Be clear. Be concise. Be direct. | 18. Start ugly. If you’re not willing to start ugly, you’re never going to start. Learn. Grow. Make it pretty next time. |
| 19. Mentors know to put us in charge of teams that match our abilities. | 20. I can’t lead the team I want. I have to lead the team I have. |
| 21. Frustration is a function of expectation. | 22. Lead people; manage things. |
| 23. If you’re a leader and not learning every day, you’re likely not a leader for long. | 24. Don’t ask for more sweat equity than you give. |
| 25. People join companies; people quit people. Be someone people want to stay with. | 26. Sometimes you have to drop or reassign a team member if it’s hurting the rest of the team. |
| 27. Experience it; don’t just witness it. | 28. Trust is the currency of leadership. |
| 29. Leading a team to victory is often the result of conquering or leading one’s self first. | 30. The mirror is rarely pleasant, but it’s almost always honest. |
| 31. Problems rarely work themselves out. | 32. As a leader, what you allow you endorse. |
| 33. The trail we carve as leaders profoundly affects the next generation. | 34. Nobody wants to be managed; people want to be inspired. |
| 35. Every leader gets the team they deserve, eventually. The team you inherited is not your fault. The team you have a year from now is. | 36. How you treat those on the inside is an indicator of how they will treat those who come from the outside. |
| 37. Don’t transfer emotional baggage to your team. If you need to unload, talk to another leader | 38. For that extra motivation, learn your team individually and incentivize accordingly. |
| 39. Hire for values; train for skills. | 40. Find awesome, and copy it. |
