018: the burden of leadership

435 words.

The headers of these were written in the commute to work

These are some thoughts on what strong leadership manifests as. the musings about these apply the observance of the absence of them.

the objective of the leader is the following:

• To ensure the success of the project. Pulling together whatever information and resources necessary to attain the outcome. As long as the leader still holds the torch, the achievement of the outcome is what denotes success; even though success can come in different forms and at a later time.
• To ensure the well-being and growth of the team

In holding the torch, the leader carries the following burdens of responsibility:

• Consistency between principles and actions
• Being placed on a pedestal of higher expectations

Communication is key in bringing people along for the ride.

• Transparency in principles
• Clear Commander’s Intent

The leader also minds the long-term horizon of the organisation. That means

• Development of your people for their growth and that of the team. What can they potentially be? Then they need the assignments and mentoring to achieve that.
• Short-term cost for long-term gain. The people must be given space to breathe and grow, and the temptation is there to relentlessly squeeze your workers of every drop of effort they can give. Then they are a sponge, not an asset.

written on the commute on the next day.

A friend asked me about starting a business. What did I know about a business? Nothing. But I was pretty good at project management i.e. getting something from imagination to reality.

The first step for them was to write down their ideas, to flesh it out. While they had been talking to others to develop the business concept, every one they talk to have a different perspective.

There’s no development in terms of depth, only in breadth.

Only when they write, then there’s deeper exploration on the questions to be asked. The ‘unknown unknowns’ quadrant of the Johari’s window is rather big, yet it can only be narrowed through the discovery from experience and the tedium in iteration.

written to publish a few days later.

So I feel like I cheated a little here, in writing only in point form, but not sitting down to complete it in prose. That reinforces how a block of time needs to be allocated for me to work on something major, with considerations of the time of day and venue to attain the required energy level for it.

Seems like I’m being a scientist to the lab rat that is myself.