The Top 10 Mistakes Leaders Make is a good read. It's been around for a while but I recommend it as a tool to keep you sharp and to help you grow as a leader. Below is a summary I put together from this book by Hans Finzel. - Enjoy, Mike Gingerich
The Top Ten Mistakes Leaders Make by Hans Finzel
A Brief Summary
by Mike Gingerich
“Top-flight leaders aren't born.
They learn by bad example.”
1. The top-down Attitude
- The top-down attitude comes all too naturally to many people
- Servant leadership is much more rare.
- Effective leaders see themselves at the bottom of an inverted pyramid.
2. Putting Paperwork before Peoplework
- The greater the leadership role, the less time there seems to be for people.
- The greater the leadership role, the more important peoplework is.
- People are opportunities, not interruptions.
- Only through association is there transformation.
3. The Absence of Affirmation
- Everyone thrives on affirmation and praise.
- Leadership has as much to do with the “soft sciences” as with getting things done.
- We wildly underestimate the power of the tiniest personal touch of kindness.
- Learn to read the varying levels of affirmation your people need.
4. No Room for Mavericks?
- Mavericks can save us from the slide toward bureaucracy.
- Large organizations usually kill off mavericks before they can take root.
- Mavericks make messes by their very nature – the good messes institutions need.
- Learn to recognize truly useful mavericks.
5. Dictatorship in Decision-making
- Dictators deny the value of individuals.
- The major players in an organization are like its stockholders. They should have a say in its direction.
- The one who does the job should decide how it is done.
- “Flat” organizations are the model of the future. Less hierarchy, more trust & empowerment.
6. Dirty Delegation
- Overmanaging is one of the great cardinal sins of poor leadership.
- Nothing frustrates those who work for you more than sloppy delegation with too many strings attached.
- Delegation should match each worker’s follow-through ability.
7. Communication Chaos
- Never assume that anyone knows anything.
- The bigger the group, the more attention must be given to communication.
- When left in the dark, people tend to dream up wild rumors.
- Communication must be the passionate obsession of effective leadership.
8. Missing the Clues of Corporate Culture
- Corporate culture is “the way we do things around here.”
- Never underestimate the mighty power of your organization’s culture.
- Cultivating and changing he culture should be one of the leadership’s top priorities
- Learn to respect values different from your own.
9. Success without Successors
- Pride tightens the grip on leadership; humility relaxes and lets go.
- Finishing well is an important measure of success in leadership.
- Letting go of leadership is like sending your children away to college; It hurts, but has to be done.
- Mentoring is a nonnegotiable function of successful leadership.
10.Failure to Focus on the Future
- The future is rushing at us at breakneck speed.
- A leader’s concentration must not be on the past nor on the present.
- Vision is an effective leader’s chief preoccupation.
- Organizations are reinvented with new generations of dreamers.