Life Lesson

The mark of a leader is that they speak up early.

But those who speak up early are rarely ever believed.

The reality of the words have not sunk in for them yet.

But the leader speaks up anyway.

One more mark of a leader: their effort isn’t to speak up then shut up so they can say “I told you so.”

Quite the opposite. They ought to never say “I told you so.” They ought to work the narrative to make the opinion they shared early relevant to all parties. Decisions need to be made from it. The mark of a leader is one that speaks up early…and often…and in ways that create change so there’s no “I told you so” moment and more of a “I’m glad we did X” chorus.

Stay Positive & A Chorus, Specifically, More Than One…

The best action you can take is to help them lower expectations.

Thing about people is that lowering expectations is not a natural move; in fact, we resist it. Lowering expectations is too close to our brain telling us we were wrong about something. It just doesn’t want to.

A little observance can go a long way, though, in helping us control the expectations ourselves.

You can tell if a restaurant is short-staffed and then you can lower expectations. Sure.

But far better for your server to simply welcome you and let you know that they are understaffed and that they’ll do their best to serve you while you’re here. That helps you lower expectations without telling you directly to lower them.

There’s no shortage of moments we ought to be lowering other people’s expectations. It’s not a bad thing. The only bad thing is letting them believe they should have high ones when you know for a fact they are too high.

Stay Positive & Level Set

Best case scenario, there’s not a future loss.

But it’s worth getting buy in on the potential of the loss elsewhere by focusing energy on a specific direction or project.

Truth is, no one will argue that there is risk, but it takes a leader to actually evaluate the value, compare against the suggested path forward, and agree to the risk.

It’s no different than aligning people on a creative brief; they can’t hate on the work if it ties directly to the brief they reviewed and agreed to; likewise, no one can be mad when you face that loss of focusing attention elsewhere because they agreed to it.

And when it breaches the threshold they agreed to, then they can take action. Here’s the important thing about that: the time you spend on the new project between loss starting to accrue and the threshold of loss you agreed to is what will make your new path forward a successful one.

Too often, stakeholders start to see a little loss and try to pivot back to preventing it…at the expense of the momentum on the new direction.

Stay Positive & Buy In On Risk Is As Important As The Fixation On Gain

It benefits you more to try to be indispensable in your work but the reality is that it’s unachievable. We’re all replaceable.

We will never end global warming but switching to LED light bulbs has an impact.

Your significant other will never know how much you truly love them, but telling them daily matters.

Unachievable goals isn’t a bad thing. IMO, it’s quite the opposite. We’d be better off with more of them.

Stay Positive & Which Are You Focusing On Today?

I had the privilege to stay at a Four Seasons as part of a recent beverage conference.

The whole time I was treated like a human.

Friendly greetings. Basic offerings (“would you like a water?”). I had a couple of requests that they pleasantly accommodated.

I couldn’t help but think about how this is a more expensive, almost luxury, hotel to stay at.

Yet, nothing felt remarkable about it. No unique experiences. None of it felt special.

Or at least, it shouldn’t have felt special. It shouldn’t have felt like the luxury-ness of it was to feel treated like a human being; to feel like I was cared about; to feel like a person.

I have zero interest in staying at another Four Seasons.

We should be paying more for value beyond the basics…. and, to me, treating someone like a human is tablestake basics.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried what other industries are trying to upcharge for customers to be treated normal…like people.

Stay Positive & Humanity Should Not Be A Surprise & Delight/Luxury Experience

Blood, sweat, and tears.

Or gumption, rather.

At a high level, you’re up against a competitor/incumbent with klout and momentum but you’re also up against a brand manager who is working a 9-5 and will be out of their role and onto something else within a few years.

Not to say the deck isn’t stacked against you, but there’s more nuances in your favor that anyone will tell you about.

Stay Positive & Keep On Going

The mark of a leader is the speed in which they take action after acknowledging something is awry.

When we identify some element of work as a distraction, how quick do we act on that?

Once we know what a colleague needs to excel, how quickly do we act?

After we talk to a customer about what is dragging them down with the use of the product, how quickly do we act?

Speed sends a signal almost as strong as the action taken.

Stay Positive & Lace Up To Lead