JS Tip 201: From the Leadership Workshops: The Good Leader Imperatives

The last of a three-part series.

We’d rather not end our recent discussion of leadership by talking about bad leaders (as we did with last week’s tip). We’d rather end the discussion by talking about good leaders. 

Good leaders—at all levels—do two things:

•   Get the job done.

•   Take care of their people.

Notice how these imperatives have bullets and not numbers.

The imperatives weigh equally. Leaders cannot get the job done unless they take care of their people; leaders cannot take care of their people unless they get the job done. There’s a dynamic relationship between the two.

Each year, Fortune Magazine identifies “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America.” (Google was number one this year. And last year.) Several years ago, the accompanying article stated, “Our ranking reveals that high morale and outstanding performance emphatically go together.”

Why?

Because high morale—the sense of belonging and being valued—produces loyalty to the organization, and loyalty to the organization produces extra effort.

We mentioned two weeks ago that we’re all leaders. We can get the job done. We can take care of one another.

That’s it. Es todo.

A Game. A Contest.

We’re proud of the fact that last week we sent out our 200th tip. Two hundred! That’s more than . . . wow . . . one hundred. We’re grateful to be in your inbox every week.

To show our appreciation, we’re offering a contest. The person who can forward to us the earliest of our tips will get a free Reference Book.

Next week, we’ll talk about improving our e-mail by writing better subject lines.

If you have questions or suggestions, let us know. We love this stuff.    2