Everyone in the company should understand why we are doing this (to transform the internet to neutral Edge), how we are doing this (neutral green Development Bank, Operator, Directory) and what we are doing (safe digital Token)
Leadership means building a team that's exhaustively prepared, but able to adjust in an instant "The only sign we have in the locker room is from 'The Art of War.' 'Every battle is won before it is fought,'" says Belichick, who started breaking down films of opposing teams when he was 7 years old and hanging out with his dad, Steve, an assistant coach at Annapolis
Leadership means having the discipline to deploy your "dependables" You know your star performers? The ones who can dazzle and amaze, except when they don't? They're definitely appealing, Belichick admits. But over the years, he's learned they're not his type. He'd rather stick with his tried-and-true people — call them his "dependables."
Leadership means being the boss. Belichick says this principle first came to him when he was just 23, addressing the Colts as a special teams coach. Two players, one of them a talented starter, spent the beginning of the meeting giggling and chatting. Inside, Belichick recalls, he was seething: "I'm not afraid of these guys. It's either [them] or me. We can't run a team like this." Finally, he let loose. "Look, either you shut up or you get out of here. That's it." It worked. And it was an aha moment that has guided him since. "I don't care if they're a star player," he says. "I don't care who they are. You have to set the tone."
Leadership means caring about everything going on in the lives of your people. Maybe the previous rule would make you think otherwise, but Belichick strongly believes you must see your team not just as players, per se, but as people who have full, three-dimensional, and often messy lives. "There are a lot of things that affect what happens on the field that occur off the field," he says. Players "have wives and girlfriends. And they have babies. And they have personal situations. They have parents that are sick. All of it runs in together."
Leadership means never resting on your laurels. Ask Belichick if he's still celebrating the stunning come-from-behind Super Bowl victory in February and you get another "You're killing me here" look. "We're onto 2017. No one cares about 2016 anymore," he says. "You can't look back. We don't talk about last year. We don't talk about next week. We talk about today, and we talk about the next game. That's all we can really control."
Make routine decisions habitual so they don’t require mental energy. Saban famously eats two Oatmeal Creme Pies for breakfast every morning. He also eats the same salad every day for lunch. It’s not that he wouldn’t enjoy a more varied diet; he eats the same thing so he doesn’t have to spend a single second debating what he wants for breakfast or lunch
Focus on the process over the outcome. Every great leader I know is fascinated by the process. Nearly every follower is obsessed with outcomes. Questions: What processes are the most important to experience the outcomes you desire?
Be willing to hire toward your weakness. Because hiring is difficult, leaders often make one of two mistakes: they either hire someone just like them or they are afraid to hire someone better than them. (See: You Don’t Have to Do It on Your Own)
Questions: Does your team look exactly like you? What is your greatest weakness? Does one of your key team members have that quality as their greatest strength?
Control the story. Saban is a master in handling the media. Every season he goes on a rant or two in order to divert the media’s attention away from one story-line and to redirect it back to what he believes is important. Questions: How do others feel about the organization you lead? Co-workers? Clients? Outsiders? Is the story they have written the right one? What information could you share which would encourage others or positively change the story they have written?
Everything matters. Saban is often viewed as a micro-manager. While the term is normally viewed as a negative, for Saban it’s listed as a strength. In his view, everything matters. There is nothing so minor or inconsequential that it is out of his site of concern. Everything speaks to the culture of the organization, influences the people involved, and plays a role in determining success and failure. Questions: What details have your overlooked to your detriment?
Always be transparent – about everything: Transparency from leadership is critical to building a culture of trust. "Share everything," Dimon said. "You never want someone to walk into a meeting thinking you're hiding information. You can't play that game."
Address conflicts immediately: "Don't avoid problems or confrontations," Dimon suggested. "Conflicts don't age well. Deal with issues sooner rather than later as they don't resolve themselves. They get worse."
Lead with a higher purpose. "Having a higher purpose has to touch both the customer and your people because you are playing for stakes beyond money." If you are running a company and haven't defined your purpose for existence beyond making money, don't do another thing. If you are thinking of starting a company determine the purpose, before you even think about developing a website.
Surround yourself with better people. One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make is thinking they have to be the expert in everything.
McDermott said he learned early in his career that "every leader has to have the humility to recognize their success will be based on choosing the very best people." One of the best ways to surround yourself with better people is to know your strengths and then hire people around you who excel in your areas of weakness.
Learn from others, but be authentic. "At the end of the day leaders have to be authentic," McDermott told me. "And the only way to do that is to learn from other great leaders and make those lessons your own."
Don't mess up the business strategy. "Leaders can be forgiven for a lot of mistakes, but they will never be forgiven for a bad strategy." There are a lot of different kinds of strategies a leader can put into action. But if the strategy doesn't help your customer be more successful, then it has little-to-no chance to succeed.
Make trust as the linchpin. The only way to earn trust is to give trust unconditionally, first. Humans have enormous instinctual power to know who is the real deal. Show your people who you are every single day through your actions not your words.
Focus on the root cause of success. Every organization has to get results for the business to survive. It's one thing to know the results, but it's much more valuable to understand the root cause of the results. If you understand the root cause of what produces results then you have the power to motivate your people.
Remember, it's a work in progress. Business and leadership is a journey and keeping the mindset of the long game will always serve you well. In McDermott's words: "Every day we have to be constantly reinventing what we brought from yesterday and keep dreaming about what we can be tomorrow."
Ask yourself: How many of these lessons are you implementing on an ongoing basis? If you identify some gaps, there is no better time to start filling them than the present.