Legacy - Lessons in Leadership #4
The book, "Legacy" by James Kerr covers lessons in leadership that can be learnt from the game of rugby. The book discusses how the All Blacks achieved greatness and applies some of these lessons to the world of business to help make us into better business leaders.
I have previously covered:
- Lesson 1 - Sweep the sheds
- Lesson 2 - Go for the gap
- Lesson 3 - Play with purpose
Today, I am covering the fourth lesson from the book.
Pass the ball
Rugby, like many sports, is a team game. There is no place for selfish players who want to hog the ball, try to score by themselves so that they can receive the glory. Furthermore, by not being selfish, you give a chance for other players and they then too develop further and become better players. Passing the ball, will enable you to become a better team. Not a team of Matadonas.
In business, the same concepts can be understood. We can create a better team through enablement and giving responsibility to others. This will allow them to develop and become stronger and will unite the team further. If your business is running on a hero culture, it isn't sustainable.
Leaders create leaders by passing on responsibility, creating ownership, accountability and trust.
Legacy (Chapter 4)
To enable your business (or any team) to keep growing and to ensure your business is sustainable, one of the most important things that you need to do as a leader, is to develop the next cohort of leaders. Pass the ball.
Leaders create leaders
Legacy (Chapter 4)
Enabling your team requires you to give clear direction. Not just a plan but they need to understand the goals, the methods and the constraints. Planning is good but plans can quickly go wrong.
Everyone has a plan until they're punched in the face
Mike Tyson
The Chairman of Joint Chief of Staffs, General Dempsey, describes in his paper "America's Military - A Profession or Arms" the concept of "mission control" and says that leaders must provide:
- A clearly defined goal
- The resources
- A time-frame
You then need to develop critical thinking in your team so that they can make decisions on the go. They need to learn to observe, orient, decide, act.
Do you invest time in developing leaders in your team?
Good afternoon.I like the "passing the buck" thing and try to apply it even in my home. We can't handle everything and neither should we act that way, as all people have potential to develop and the leader must recognize that and push his team, with direction, to "take the ball". Thank you very much, excellent.
@awah
Nothing like being a leader who seeks the active support of others, with the intention of distributing activities as well as efforts. I believe that the career of a leader is like a "relay" race, you should always look for someone to whom to transfer responsibility and accumulated knowledge, so that the learning cycle can conclude.
Regards!
I following you. @awah :)
Well said. As a leader, you must learn to pass the ball as the phrase you use