It's Not Rocket Science: 4 Simple Strategies for Mastering the Art of Execution

Chapter 12Stretching, Trenches, and Changing

The Challenge

Many leaders fall for the notion that once they create the ultimate few objectives (TUFs) and help devise strategy, execution becomes the team's responsibility and problem. Much like the candidate on election night who holes up in a war room to monitor results, they become passive and wait for the numbers to come in. They spend their days dazed by data, numbed by numbers, immersed in e-mails, and fazed by phone calls, all the while collecting more calluses on their backsides than on their feet and hands. The following three concepts are taken from the eight key differences between—and tendencies of—managers and leaders, which I discuss in my Up Your Business seminars. These help attendees become more aware of what they are doing well and where they need to make adjustments in their daily leadership approach. These three are big. As you read them, consider how the people who work with you most would grade you (A through F) in each area:

Leaders Are in the Stretching Business!

1. Managers maintain, whereas leaders stretch. Managers are adept at maintaining people, but they're not great at growing them because they don't spend enough time with them. Many were never trained how to evaluate or develop human capital in the first place. They do not seem to realize that although you can impress people at a distance from the safety and comfort of your office, to affect people, you must get up close and pour yourself into them. ...