You Cannot Achieve Any Big Goal by Yourself

      One of the major lessons I learned from this course is that you cannot achieve any big goal by yourself. You always need someone there to help you. I did not realize the reality of that until I began to plan big events. I learned that there is always someone waiting for you to ask for help. No matter how talented you are, you can’t accomplish major things alone. This experience has humbled me greatly in that respect. 
 

  I have learned to be a leader, which is a surprisingly more difficult process than most think. To be a leader, you have to do what is right, even if no one is watching.

    There is a base framework for establishing a company that is good. Within that framework are 3 areas of discipline that must be addressed to move a company from good to great. Level 5 Leadership is possibly the most important part of this class. Also within disciplined people is getting the right people in the right places, or as stated in the book first who, then what.
 

   The first area consists of disciplined people. It means finding the strengths of people in the organization and make sure they are doing what they are best at. For positions where the company is lacking in talent, search for the BEST people to fill the positions. If you have any doubt on the abilities of a person for a position, and they have the perfect resume, but for some reason something just doesn’t feel right, don’t hire them. Keep looking. When you need to make a change, make it fast. Never let a bad employee drag down the entire organization. I have seen this happen and it destroys moral and work ethic. Also, put your best people on your best opportunities, not you biggest problems. I love the saying, “There are no problems, only opportunities for solutions, but if you are dragging down your best salesman with complaints from customers that are normally outside his territory that is just dumb.

 The second one is, great companies have all confronted the brutal facts of their reality. I am not going to get into the details concept but I will tell you the purpose of it is to establish your area of expertise by finding the intersection of what you can be the best in the world at, what you have a passion for doing, and what you can get paid for.

    The last one is, having a culture of self disciplined people that can make decisions that are best for the company based on the hedgehog concept. Easier said then done.

    The other disciplined action is using technology accelerators that are not fads. This technology will be heavily evaluated based on the idea that being an early adapter will help you to gain market advantage or it will eliminate a bottleneck within the business.

Having a grand vision is also important. As a leader, you can inspire and motivate your team to tremendous effect by communicating a vision in a clear, straightforward way. Being competent is another thing the leader needs to abide by. Being very good at what you do will inspire others to follow you and trust your judgment.

  As a leader we need to take care of people we work with. It’s important to listen to employees, ask questions of them, say ‘Good Morning’ to them, ask about their families, and get to know a little bit about their aspirations, ambitions, home life and work motivations.

A leader needs to solve problems and analyze issues. Leaders are recruited, trained, and chosen to solve organizational problems, and to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace.

Building relationships in the marketplace is key. Business is built on a solid foundation of relationships and trust. Without these two things, you can't have a business, or at least not a successful business. Take time every day to build relationships with the members of your team.

Display a strategic perspective. Great leaders have a long-term vision of the future, and they avoid getting bogged down in the here and now. While they can be tactical when necessary, they maintain the strategic outlook necessary to guide their business to the best future possible.

  Learn how to listen. Don’t get so involved with daily pressures and long-term goals that you have no time to listen when someone has an idea or problem. Its a leader’s job to make time to truly listen and truly understand what is being said.