Managing Oneself

So what do effective leaders have in common? They get the right things done, in the right ways—by following eight simple rules:
Ask what needs to be done.
Ask what’s right for the enterprise.
Develop action plans.
Take responsibility for decisions.
Take responsibility for communicating.
Focus on opportunities, not problems.
Run productive meetings.
Think and say “We,” not “I.”

Effective executives differ widely in their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, values, and beliefs. All they have in common is that they get the right things done. Some are born effective. But the demand is much too great to be satisfied by extraordinary talent. Effectiveness is a discipline. And, like every discipline, effectiveness can be learned and must be earned.

Listen first, speak last.

Specifically, executives scan these seven situations for opportunities:
an unexpected success or failure in their own enterprise, in a competing enterprise, or in the industry;
a gap between what is and what could be in a market, process, product, or service (for example, in the nineteenth century, the paper industry concentrated on the 10% of each tree that became wood pulp and totally neglected the possibilities in the remaining 90%, which became waste);
innovation in a process, product, or service, whether inside or outside the enterprise or its industry;
changes in industry structure and market structure;
demographics;
changes in mind-set, values, perception, mood, or meaning; and
new knowledge or a new technology.

Above all, effective executives treat change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

Problems have to be taken care of, of course; they must not be swept under the rug. But problem solving, however necessary, does not produce results. It prevents damage. Exploiting opportunities produces results.

Good executives focus on opportunities rather than problems.

Most discussions of decision making assume that only senior executives make decisions or that only senior executives’ decisions matter. This is a dangerous mistake. Decisions are made at every level of the organization, beginning with individual professional contributors and frontline supervisors. These apparently low-level decisions are extremely important in a knowledge-based organization.

Systematic decision review also shows executives their own weaknesses, particularly the areas in which they are simply incompetent. In these areas, smart executives don’t make decisions or take actions. They delegate. Everyone has such areas; there’s no such thing as a universal executive genius.

Checking the results of a decision against its expectations shows executives what their strengths are, where they need to improve, and where they lack knowledge or information.