Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 |Page 4 | Page 5
Pat Schally
Editor
The most effective leaders take their lessons wherever they can find them. It can be via the school of hard knocks, the insights of others, the experience of working with an inspirational leader, participating in leadership development programs or even self study. Leadership experiences are all around us if we make an earnest attempt to listen, observe and learn what works. We asked our Sonoma Leadership Systems team to share their most important leadership lessons. Here is what we learned.
The Lesson: We learn as much, some say even more, from our failures as we do our successes. My story is about an executive team that was very effective in celebrating success but the problem was they celebrated their own success—not that of their hard-working teams. It is a lesson of a missed opportunity to Encourage the Heart.
It was the end of a very successful year at a consulting company and revenues were up. To celebrate, a holiday dinner party was planned and the entire company looked forward to participating in the event. After dinner, the CEO spoke with enthusiasm about the exceptional year and heaped great accolades upon the executive team. He praised them for a job well done and then made a grand gesture of awarding them with trips to exotics locations and huge cash bonuses. A vague reference was made to acknowledge the teams behind the executives.
The effect upon the neglected team members was that of feeling devalued and unappreciated. Toss in a heavy dose of anger at the executives who were already pulling in six figure incomes, and you have a clear picture of the resentment that filled the air. There was a clear distinction made that night between the elite executives and their teams.
This was an example of Discouraging the heart, and encouraging disengagement. By withholding the gift of shared appreciation, the leaders lost an opportunity for more success in the future based upon increased motivation and morale. My personal lesson? Leadership is not about me; Leadership is about we.
—Pat Schally, Editor
pat@sonomaleadership.com
Back to top
Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 |Page 4 | Page 5