Don’t you wish someone had a set of hard-and-fast rules for leadership? If you just did these things then success is assured! Rules, though, typically come from the hard lessons of experience. When you see a list like this, know that along the way, each one came at a high price for one or more leaders. It’s not exhaustive, but consider if living by these might make you a more influential leader and more successful in life and business:
1. Be honest. Embrace truth at all times, and transparency in your leadership. Listen to and learn from criticism. You can’t be a great leader and a liar at the same time.
2. Don’t waste energy. Do not put resources and effort into things you cannot control or change. Being a strong leader isn’t about making everything perfect.
3. Integrity is power. Be honorable and professional. Never try to justify deceit. When you say something, mean it. Be unwavering in your moral code, and consider carefully those values that you want to embody.
4. Lead by example. Great leaders embrace the actions, behaviors, and habits they want to inspire in others.
5. Influence at every opportunity. As a leader you have influence over your organization. Your work habits, attitude and goals, even personally, will set the tone and culture for your work environment.
6. Pursue fairness. Don’t put who you like over the equitable treatment of everyone you work with, in all situations. Everyone should be able to count on you to be unbiased and a great mediator.
7. People before everything. Lead in a way that inspires your employees and empowers them to do their best work. Treat them well. And if it comes between profit and people, always choose the people. Never forget that your team, not your product, not your bank account, is your number-one asset.
8. Pass it on. You are not the first leader and you will not be the last. Look for those who have leadership potential and pour in to them. Give others an opportunity to sit at the head of the table, and help them learn what it means to lead.
9. Adopt a learning lifestyle. You will never know it all. The best leaders make leadership development a priority; they’re constantly working on increasing their emotional intelligence, cultivating new skills, and growing, both as a leader and as a person.
10. Look to the future. Know where the organization needs to go to succeed, and clearly communicate that vision to your team. Always be talking about the big picture. People want to know the end-goal they are working toward.
11. Execute every day. Leadership is in part about getting things done. Assign accountability, delegate where you can and keep the engine running smoothly. The discipline of continuous execution separates the great leader from the mediocre.
12. Take responsibility. Never spend time trying to place the blame. Let the buck stop with you. When you have problems, own them on the way to fixing them.
13. Communicate well. Let your team know what is happening. Plan ahead and talk ahead. Remember too that part of good communication is listening. Also, this does not mean to just send people a ton of emails and text messages.
14. Provide the best tools you can. Give your team the equipment they need to do their jobs well. Nobody wants a computer with the spinning hourglass every time they click the mouse. Investing in modern technology and tools is some of the best money you will spend.
15. Keep your promises. If you promise to do something, make sure you do it. And give it 100%. You cannot build trust with those you lead if you are constantly breaking your commitments.
16. Find balance. If you are consistently working all night long, you are doing something wrong. You will eventually burn out, and even before that your leadership will suffer. Don't wear your overwhelming schedule as a badge of honor.
17. Do your research. Family and friends are great to bounce ideas off of, but never make decisions without digging deep into all available information. If you are exploring something new, launching a product, reorganizing a division—make sure you have expert advice and data on which to base your thinking.
18. Lawyer up. When it comes to partnerships, who is in control, who writes the checks, how the hard calls are made—make sure you do your due diligence. Have a strong legal framework to fall back on if the poop ever hits the fan. Because at some point it likely will.
19. Fail forward. Look at setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. Beating yourself up—or worse, your team—doesn’t solve anything and doesn’t move the organization forward.
20. Hire the gaps. Know your strengths. Where you are weak, let others fill in those holes. No leader is great at everything.
21. Give back. The Bible tells us to serve others. When you have resources, don’t forget those in need. Value your ability as a person and as a leader of an organization to be generous.
22. Take time for yourself. If you're in it just for the money, you'll never know true success. Do not be married to your work. If you are not enjoying life, then what’s the point?
The key facet of leadership development—that is, investing in others for the purpose of seeing them exhibit excellence through their own lives and leadership—is “baked in” to New Testament teaching.