Bear’s Tips for Would-Be Leaders

Image by Teak Sato

. . . because we are all leaders at times.

A teacher was sitting at her desk grading papers when her first grade class came back from lunch. One of her students informed her, “Robert has to go to the principal’s office.”

“I wonder why?” the teacher mused.

“Because he’s a following person,” the child replied.

“A what?” the teacher asked.

“It came over the loudspeaker: ‘The following persons are to go to the office.’”

If some people are following persons, then others must be leading persons. And actually, we are each followers and leaders at different times. Sometimes we drive the bus, sometimes we’re along for the ride or we help navigate. But if you are ever in a leading position, this advice from college football coaching legend “Bear” Bryant about how to get the best from those around you can be useful.

“I’m just a plow hand in Arkansas,” Bear said, “but I have learned how to hold a team together. How to lift some men up, how to calm down others, until finally they’ve got one heartbeat together, a team. There are just three things I’d ever say: ‘If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, then we did it. If anything goes real good, then you did it.’ That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.”

I think that is advice worth remembering, no matter who we are, but particularly for anyone who might find themselves in a leading role. Call them Bear’s tips for would-be leaders:

1. When you’re involved in any endeavor that doesn’t go well, assume appropriate responsibility for the outcome. No excuses. Nurse Florence Nightingale said, “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse.” If you’re in charge and it doesn’t go well, let it be on you. Good leaders can take it.

2. When the outcome isn’t brilliant, but still okay, share the success with others. No leader achieves anything alone and everyone else can use the boost. Above all, never look for somebody to blame. We take credit for the good and bad together.

3. Finally, when things go especially well, give credit to others. Do you remember what T. S. Eliot said? “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important.” Let go of a need for personal recognition. Heap kudos on others and they’ll perform even better next time. Leaders are only as good as those who follow them and followers are at their best when leaders are quick to give credit for successes.

There they are – Bear’s tips for would-be leaders. Follow them and you’ll find more success the next time you’re a leading person.

- Steve Goodier

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Following Your Call

Image courtesy of Davide Guglielmo

One man says it really happened. At the conclusion of his medical exam, the doctor asked him if he would please call in the next patient. So, he opened the waiting room door and called, “Mrs. Colchester, please.” Then he left the doctor’s office.

He had walked some distance along the street outside when he heard Mrs. Colchester’s voice behind him, “Where are we going?”

She knew she was being called, but she misunderstood the intent. I wonder if she made it back in time for her appointment.

There are times I can relate to her. I, too, have experienced “callings” in my life, though mine have taken the form of callings to a certain vocation or a particular life-direction. And sometimes I’ve been confused about exactly where I am going when following that voice and just as uncertain about where I may end up.

It's an old-fashioned word, “calling.” It can mean a profession or line of work. Or even a strong inner urge or impulse. In my case, callings have led me to dedicate myself to something I believed I was meant to do in life.

Oprah Winfrey says this about callings: “I've come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that's as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you.”

It is a satisfying thing when we feel called to a worthy purpose. How beautiful (and how rare) it is to believe we are doing just the thing we’re meant to do in this life. But is it realistic to think we must do THE ONE THING we were meant to do? How about doing ONE OF THE THINGS we are passionate about? Let me explain.

Consider a Swiss Army pocketknife. It is a multipurpose tool. It can cut, saw, file, snip and open up cans and jars. With it, one can turn a screw, pull out a splinter, pop the cork in a wine bottle and even pick one’s teeth. (My advice: never leave home without one.)

You and I are more like Swiss Army knives than butter knives or steak knives. We can DO more than one thing. We can LOVE more than one thing. We can BE more than one thing. Likewise, we may be called to more than one thing.

Like Swiss Army knives, we have options. Ours is to discover those truly worthwhile things we feel led to do and be – things we love, that are life-affirming and deserve our best – and then to commit to them, to give ourselves over fully to them and pursue them with joy. That is what it means to be called. And that is how to make a life count.

But beware of this about callings: they may not lead us where we intended to go or even where we want to go. If we choose to follow, we may have to be willing to let go of the life we already planned and accept whatever is waiting for us. And if the calling is true, though we may not have gone where we intended, we will surely end up where we need to be.

It is like an adventure. Are you ready?

-- Steve Goodier

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Good Leaders Are Good Followers

Image courtesy of Dan Colcer

A young woman was filling out an application for college when she came across the question: Are you a leader? She thought she had better be brutally honest, so she answered, "No." She was convinced when she sent the application in that she'd never hear from them because of that answer.
 
But she received a letter back from the school that read: "We have reviewed numerous applications and, to date, there will be some 1,452 new leaders attending school next year. We have decided to accept your application because we felt it was imperative that they have at least one follower."
 
Should all of us be leaders all of the time? Isn’t there a time to follow as well as lead?
 
One man likes to tell about the day he purchased a novelty sign and hung it on his office door. The sign read: "I'm the boss." The next day he came to work he noticed that the office comedian affixed a sticky note to his door that read, "Your wife called. She wants her sign back."
 
He may be the boss at work, but home is different altogether. In marriage and family as well as most social relationships, sometimes we lead and sometimes we follow the lead of another. If the so-called boss happens to be an effective leader at work, he has probably learned that getting his own way all of the time does not produce good results. As it turns out, the best leaders are also excellent followers. Why?
 
1. Good leaders share leadership. They know when to follow and when to lead.
 
2. Good leaders build their skills on following role models for the behaviors they want to learn. What they admire in another, they copy.
 
3. Good leaders exhibit humility. They remain open to suggestion. When they need it, they ask for help and follow good advice.
 
In other words, good leaders are also good followers. They know when to follow in the footsteps of others and when to leave tracks of their own.
 
You may be the boss, but you will be a leader when you also learn how to follow.
 
-- Steve Goodier


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