30. But leaders have to deliver, so they worry about throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I love Peter’s argument here, the cognitive dissonance between the need for execution order and systems with the need for creative destruction and rebirth. Holding these two opposing needs in one’s mind can be incredibly difficult. A leader must […]

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29. Leaders never get caught fighting the last war. Leaders see around corners. They have the ability to take seemingly random bits of information, to take interactions in the world around them and build from these a picture in their intuition of what the future can hold, should hold. Then they look for evidence to support […]

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28. Leaders don’t fall prey to their own success.A leader is someone who almost never “arrives” They cannot truly “make it” because there is another hill to take, another change to make, another rule to break. ;-)It is one thing to recognize you are successful but leaders recognize that success as a leader is achieved […]

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27. Leaders love rainbows — for totally pragmatic reasons.Group think. Ever heard of it? I wrote a while back about a Fed EX ground video that I love. It is essentially the story of what can happen when a group gets too tight and clique-ish or when everyone just agrees with the boss. Either way you end […]

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26. Leaders don’t create followers, they create more leaders. YES YES YES they do! This is the core of what they do! Challenge: Who are you developing as a leader right now? If you are not why not?!

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25. Leaders have taste. 
Yeah I’m not so sure about this one. Sure leaders have taste so do many other individuals. I just do not believe this is a defining characteristic of a leader. Perhaps from a follower point of view it could be said that they do but for me looking at other leaders I […]

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24. Leaders also know when to challenge design specs. 
Okay so this one is obvious if we continue on from the last post. There is always a leader a level or two up that sets the design spec for you. As a leader if something in the spec does not make sense it is your responsibility […]

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23. Leaders set design specs. 
When I first saw this rule I thought what the heck is Peters talking about here?! I thought we were talking about leadership not engineering or architecture. Then it struck me this rule is more about team culture and “the how” a team achieves the goal. Certainly a leader has a […]

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22. Leaders can laugh. 
At themselves. One of the aspects of a mature seasoned leader is confidence. Confidence is an interesting thing, when you have it you know when to take yourself seriously and when to realize you are being ridiculous. Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the best ways to build trust […]

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21. Leaders love to work with other leaders. 
The other day I met a guy who was in charge of a large corporation. I knew from the minute he opened his mouth to talk I was going to like working with him. He was a leader. Not because of his title or position but rather he […]

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