IN THE LEAD
BY KAREN PORTER @KARENPORTER www.karenporter.com
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A FEW DAYS AGO, I WAS DOWNTOWN IN A BIG CITY DURING A WORKDAY,
and I noticed that the clothes men and women wear to work in corporate offices have become more and more casual. There was a time when the code for promotions and moving up the corporate ladder was a dress code. If you dressed like a professional, you were considered suitable for the next level up. Dress for success has changed from a suit and close toed heels to jeans and boots. I like it. No more worries about the outfit and more concentration on a job well done. But I wonder. Does a great leader need to put on some characteristics of leadership? Let’s try it.
Put on Patience. If you, like many leaders, have risen through the ranks, you probably know how to do the jobs that others are now doing. You know how you did the job, and you know you did it well! When I began my corporate job, I oversaw getting orders out the door. I was so committed to the job that I memorized order numbers, and the
status of each one was on the tip of my tongue. When I was promoted, I didn’t have the daily interaction with the orders, and someone else was in that position. They didn’t do it the way I did. When you turn a job over to someone else, you must let go. That employee or volunteer will never do the job in the same way you would’ve done it. And they may not do it as well or with the enthusiasm and commitment that you did. But you still must let it go. Be patient with the employee or volunteer until they get a grasp of the project and develop their personal style. No second guessing and no taking-the-project-back-because-you-can-do-itbetter interference. Your patience with someone else will reap great benefits to you as a leader.
Put on Goal Setting Another characteristic to put on and keep on is the skill of setting goals. Warren Buffet suggested that we write out 25 goals and then choose the top five. These top five goals are what you would like to accomplish above all else. Then he said to put the left-over goals (the 20) on a separate list and title that new list “Avoid at All Costs.” Buffet says that those 20 goals will act as dis-
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