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What makes a good leader?

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"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes."
Peter Drucker




ah; I see now.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
 
You either have it, or you don't. You can get concepts and ideas from books but that's not what will make people believe in you.

I was captain of my sports teams in high school and college and mostly because I was very vocal and they knew I would run through a wall for anybody on the team. They respected me and knew that I put the work in.

Now I am in management at a bank where all of my staff are 20 years older than me, some have kids as old or older than me. Earning their respect is always my first task. They know I don't ask them to do anything that I won't do as well. Learning what motivates each person is also key, you can't lead everybody the same. Everybody has their own ticks. Being completely open and allowing them to provide feedback and taking their concern for more than just lip service is huge because of my age. Being knowledgeable also helps, I know the industry and they know I know it.
 
"Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes."
Peter Drucker




ah; I see now.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama

Being liked probably helps when running for elected office though.
 
You have to communicate and be able to adapt. You have to know when to push and when to pull certain people. Bad leaders have one style. There are skull crackers, micro managers, analytical types, motivators or lead by example guys. The people underneath you may all require something different. I have one salesman that I need pound on constantly and be a skull cracker. I have another guy that gets too emotional...he'd quit in a minute if i took the same approach. He needs me to be Dr Phil and constantly give him motivational speeches. They are both great at what they do...just different. Two other guys require nothing....they just sell like muthers. :thumbup:

Smartest thing a good leader can do is hire people that are smarter and more talented than him...works for me. :chuckles:
 
Good leadership is very dependent on situation. The right leader for a group of people at a certain point in time may not be the right leader after things change.

There is no perfect formula, unfortunately.
 
You have to communicate and be able to adapt. You have to know when to push and when to pull certain people. Bad leaders have one style. There are skull crackers, micro managers, analytical types, motivators or lead by example guys. The people underneath you may all require something different. I have one salesman that I need pound on constantly and be a skull cracker. I have another guy that gets too emotional...he'd quit in a minute if i took the same approach. He needs me to be Dr Phil and constantly give him motivational speeches. They are both great at what they do...just different. Two other guys require nothing....they just sell like muthers. :thumbup:

Smartest thing a good leader can do is hire people that are smarter and more talented than him...works for me. :chuckles:

So when you hiring me asshole?
 
Hey I needs a job. I'm good at rolling over peoples feet with my wheelchair. I can do this to people you hate.
 
As was said upthread, listening is akey to good leadership. Also take the time to learn what each person does and how/why they do it that way. If changes need to be made to a process/procedure, be sure to get the input from the people who are doing the work. Letting team members be involved in the problem resolution of how work gets done is key to helping gain trust and respect.

When I was leading a team I also cross trained team memebers in every aspect of what our department did. It helped when someone was out ill or on leave and kept team members involved in other tasks other than their day to day.

A good leader must also be able to delegate.
 
Thanks to everyone. I won captaincy this afternoon.
 
Also, one thing that really infuriated me.

We have our main adviser, an outstanding professor, and we have a professor adviser from the electricals. I had a class with the electrical guy last semester. I hate electricity, got like a B in the class, didn't really get to know the prof. The guy I was running against (really a great guy, would have made a good captain I think, it's just that I think I would make a better one) is a great student, did well in the electrical class, and has a good relationship with the electrical professor.

We give our presentations. Running mate does a good speech. I give a crappy speech because I didn't sit down and think of a speech - instead I made some bullet points of everything I've done already for the team, some priorities, etc. Basically, the guy I'm running against says "One of my priorities is organization," while my speech was "As you can see, I've already created these documents to keep us organized." Frankly it was pretty clear who the winner was after our speeches.

So we do our votes on paper, our head adviser gives them to the electrical adviser to go outside in the hall and count them up. The electrical adviser says "Well, I know who I am leaning towards!" and does his cheesy little laugh that he always does.

Then he comes back in, announces the winner (me) and everyone claps and my running mate graciously offers his congrats as well (I plan to really utilize his talents). Then the electrical professor says "I have an idea, what about team co-captains?"

What fucking nerve. I was so taken aback by each of his comments I didn't even know what to say. Thankfully the main adviser stepped in and said "No, I've said in the past, co-captains can get really messy." Now I wouldn't have a problem with co-captains, if I decide I need more support, I'd be glad to have my runningmate as a co-captain. But holy shit what a dick.

Anyways, we talked a bit and then the main adviser says "Alright Dave, the floor is yours" and that was a fucking awesome feeling.
 
Also, one thing that really infuriated me.

We have our main adviser, an outstanding professor, and we have a professor adviser from the electricals. I had a class with the electrical guy last semester. I hate electricity, got like a B in the class, didn't really get to know the prof. The guy I was running against (really a great guy, would have made a good captain I think, it's just that I think I would make a better one) is a great student, did well in the electrical class, and has a good relationship with the electrical professor.

We give our presentations. Running mate does a good speech. I give a crappy speech because I didn't sit down and think of a speech - instead I made some bullet points of everything I've done already for the team, some priorities, etc. Basically, the guy I'm running against says "One of my priorities is organization," while my speech was "As you can see, I've already created these documents to keep us organized." Frankly it was pretty clear who the winner was after our speeches.

So we do our votes on paper, our head adviser gives them to the electrical adviser to go outside in the hall and count them up. The electrical adviser says "Well, I know who I am leaning towards!" and does his cheesy little laugh that he always does.

Then he comes back in, announces the winner (me) and everyone claps and my running mate graciously offers his congrats as well (I plan to really utilize his talents). Then the electrical professor says "I have an idea, what about team co-captains?"

What fucking nerve. I was so taken aback by each of his comments I didn't even know what to say. Thankfully the main adviser stepped in and said "No, I've said in the past, co-captains can get really messy." Now I wouldn't have a problem with co-captains, if I decide I need more support, I'd be glad to have my runningmate as a co-captain. But holy shit what a dick.

Anyways, we talked a bit and then the main adviser says "Alright Dave, the floor is yours" and that was a fucking awesome feeling.


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Yeah, remember this?

Fuck this.

Never attempt to be a leader of a group of booksmart, lazy senior engineers, trying to build a race car, who don't know anything about race cars.
 

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-13: "Backup Bash Brothers"

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Episode 3:11: "Clipping Bucks."
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