7 habits leadership effective.pdf

8/18/2019 7 habits leadership effective.pdf

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prma Leza grew up in a family

of migrant workers who picked

strawberriesin California,cherries

in Michigan, potatoes in Alabama and

cotton in Texas. Norma 's father, sensing

her potential, hoped she would remain

in school, go to college and become a

teacher. Instead, Norma dropped out

in the tenth grade. My eighth-grade

teacher wrote the names of the children

of migrant workers on the board as

part of the vocational school track, not

the college track, Nor ma rem emb ers.

I thought that m eant I could never go

to college. I didn't thin k I had any other

future than to work in the fields.

She married another migrant worker

and worked by his side. However, she

kept recalling to her father's dream for

her. Finally, she acted on those hopes

by seeking work at a public school

system in Aldine, Texas. Witho ut a high

school diploma the only job she could

get was that of custodian at an elemen-

tary school. While there she returned

to schoo l, receiving a GED. She became

a teacher's assistant and took college

courses in the evenings. She earned

a bachelor's degree and two master's

degrees, became a teacher, an assistant

principal, and, most recently, a prin-

cipal. Today, Norma is a positive role

model for potential school drop-outs.

After they hear my story they usually

go back to classes, she

says.

I tell them ,

'You are the one w ho is going to have to

tur n your life arou nd.' She motivates

others , saying: Go back to school. If

you are in a rut, you can get the skills

to get ou t. People say they can't because

they have children — well, I had ch

dren too. People say they can't becau

they don't have any money — wel

worked during the day so I could go

school at night, and I paid every pen

mys lf

no loans. If y u want someth

badly enough, you have to make sac

fices, not excuses.

No rma Leza is a leader. She is able

establish goals and then take the ste

necessary to achieve those objectiv

Whether one is a business leader

student leader, military leader or c

porate leader, there are qualities wh

are common to all who lead. Here

seven habits of highly effective leade

These are characteristics that anyo

can access, tap into , and use in order

lead as well as to live a mo re produ cti

satisfying life.

8 Diversity Employers Magazine

I

DiversityEmptoyers com

Winter 2 11


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T he I P H abi ts o f H ighly fifective L eaders

Highly ef fect ive

leaders are h ighly

op t i mi s t i c

Rather than think the world is out

to get them, they think the world is out

to give them. Consider the philosophy

of Stan Dale, founder of the Human

Awareness Institute and author of

F a n -

tasies Can Set You Free

"I 've always been

the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as

if everyone is part of a plot to enhance

my well-being." Highly effective leaders

always accentuate the positive. They

understand the wisdom of Napoleon

Hill's observation, "Every negative

event contains within it the seed of an

equal or greater benefit." Highly effec-

tive leaders always accentuate the p osi-

tive. In his book. Secrets

of

losing

th e

Sale Zig Ziglar shares how a positive

approach can overcome resistance and

objection when a potential customer

says,

"It costs too much." Ziglar's re-

sponse: "The price is high. I don 't thin k

there's any question about the price

being high, Mr. Prospect, but when you

add the benefits of quality, subtract the

disappointments of cheapness, multi-

ply the pleasure of buying something

good, and divide the cost over a period

of time, the arithmetic comes out in

your favor...If it costs you a hundred

dollars but does you a thousa nd dollars

worth of good, then by any yardstick

you've bought a bargain, haven't you?"

Highly ef fect ive

leaders are

resourcefu l

When problems emerge, they re-

spond with creative solutions. Mickey

Mouse began his life as a silent cartoo n

character. But by the time Walt Dis-

ney finished creating the first Mickey

Mouse movies — all silent — sound

had become so popular that no one

wanted to buy his silent Mickey Mouse

cartoon. Walt, who was completely

broke, told his brother and partner,

Roy, "Do n't worry. I'll just ad d sound."

Using his own, cost-free voice, Disney

transformed the silent Mickey into a

talking mouse known and loved all

around the world. Consider also the

resourceful approach taken by Harvey

Mackay, CEO of the Mackay Envelope

Corporation. In 1980 he took one of

his best customers to Lake Placid for

the W inter O lympics. They specifically

went to see the hockey finals between

the Soviet Union and the United States,

which was one of the main events of

H ig h l y e f f e c t iv e le a d e r s

l i v e b y th e w i s d o m o f t h e

J a p a n e s e p r o v e r h :

F a l l d o w n s e v e n t i m e s ,

g e t u p e i g h t t im e s .

that O lympics. Mackay paid "a fortune"

for what he was assured were excellent

seats.

When he and his customer got to

them, "We were behind an obstruction

and so high up you could get a nose-

bleed. The customer was unhappy; I

was emb arrassed. Even though it wasn't

my fault, did

I

let him sit there bro odin g

abo ut the m iserable time he was having

in my company? No " Mackay went

to the main floor seating, spotted two

high-school students, and asked them

whethe r they were interested in switch-

ing seats for $100 — a sizeable sum for

high-schoo lers in 1980. "They tho ugh t

1 was nuts, sm iled, said yes. They w ere

happy. I was happy. My customer was

happy. And the United States won the

game."

Highly e f fect ive

leaders are very

persistent

They live by the wisdom of this Jap-

anese proverb: "Fall down seven times.

get up eight

times."

When they receiv

resounding "No " they see it merely

one word on their path to a resou

ing "Yes " Today, Michè le Ho sk

owns a syrup manufacturing compa

However, she was never supposed

know the recipe for the unique sy

which her great-great-grandmoth

America Washington, a former sla

created. Her family tradition called

the secret recipe to be handed down

the third daughter in each generati

Hoskins was the only daugh ter. She h

to beg and plead for eight years bef

her mother finally gave her the reci

"I thought the syrup would be a go

product to market. The only thing la

ing was capital," she says.

Even though she had three you

daughters and was going through a

vorce, she quit her job, sold her con

car, furniture and some jewelry to ra

$150,000 to start the business. "M

family thou ght I had lost my min d. B

I knew it was going to work." Develo

ing several flavors, she negotiated co

tracts with two major grocery chains

Chicago but was still struggling. Th

she heard about racial discriminat

issues that a large restaurant chain w

having. Realizing the company w

looking to address a diversity initiati

she began calling the restaurant he

quarters every Monday at 10:30 a

Week after week, her calls were refus

and voice messages weren't return

Nevertheless she continued call

every Monday at 10:30 for two yea

Her persistence paid off as the rest

rant awarded M ichele's Eoods an ini

contract worth several million dolla

Highly e f fect ive

leaders lead w i th

grea t i n tegr i ty

"Honesty is the cornerstone of

success, without which confidence a

ability to perform shall cease to exi

said Mary Kay Ashe, founder and C


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of M ary Kay Cosm etics. The best lead-

ers treat people and organizations they

way they would like to be treated: with

honesty, integrity an d truthfulness. Lee

Iaocca was chairman when Chrysler

became involved in a scandal involving

turning back the mileage on executive

demo-cars. He stood up in front of

the press the next day admitting that

Chrysler was wrong and that the be-

havior was dishonest. W ithin a day, the

scandal was over.

Highly effective

leaders are

disciplined.

Peter Drucker is considered the

founder of mod ern management. A

CEO invited Drucker to meet with his

comp any executives and

recalls:

He was

close to 90 years old then and not in the

best of health. But from the moment

Peter arrived, he remained in control

of our meeting. For five or six hours,

he bored into me like an auger. What

so impressed me from that encounter

was Peter's discipline. No thing w as go-

ing to interfere with his performance.

He simply refused to let himself be less

than brilliant. It was an astounding

display of the power of will. After tha t,

whenever I caught myself operating at

less than 100%, I would think , 'You've

got to get your game together. Peter

Drucker m anaged to do it when he was

close to 90 — you're not even 60. '

Another example of a leader with

fierce discipline is figure skater Michelle

Kwan. The Olympic silver medalist who

has fans all over the w orld says, If had

o choose one quality that has been key

to my success, I'd have to say focus. I

hink to myself 'What's important?

h at do I need to do to reach my goals?

Am I still having fun?' Before a perfor-

mance, I focus only on what I have to

do on the ice, despite what's going on

around me. Afterward, I focus on how

I skated and whether I did my best, re-

gardless of wh ether I won or lost. If I've

done my best, I don't regret anything.

Because of that I feel like a winner,

whether I am on top or not. The point:

Highly effective leaders are like Peter

Drucker and Michelle Kwan. They are

self-motivated and self-disciplined.

Highly effective

leaders are good

at tim e

m anagem ent.

Time is a precious commodity.

Strong leaders respect time - their own

time and the time of

others.

They don't

allow it to be misused and abused. O ne

man, David, explains what happened

after he became chief operating officer

of a technology firm: When I first

joined the company, I told my depart-

Tim e is a

precious

com m odity.

Strong leaders respect tim e -

their

ow n

tim e

and

the tim e

o f

o thers.

hey don t allow it to

be misused and abused.

ment heads that I expected our twice

weekly meetings to last no longer than

thirty minutes tops. They all nodded

and promptly dismissed the idea. De-

partment tradition had established that

two-hour meetings were the norm.

At his first early morning meeting,

David took off his watch in a grand

gesture, placing it on the table, hoping

it would convey his earlier message of

a 30 minu te me eting . After twenty-five

minutes had passed, I told my group

that the m eeting needed to end in five

minutes. Five minutes later, I gathered

my papers, smiled broadly an d said the

meeting was over, wished th em a good

mo rning and walked out. He left be-

hind a slightly stun ned, bewildered an d

embarrassed group of managers. As he

left, he reminded the m: Thirty min -

utes is plenty of time to do everything

that's important. It just doesn't allow

much time to waste. Let's be prepared

and stay focused the next time. The

following day he sent a short e-mail

restating his position , I respect you

and yo ur time . Both are too valuable to

spend in meandering discussions. Let's

have an agenda and stay focused. Their

next meeting ended satisfactorily after

27 minutes.

Highly effective

leaders ask,

ask, ask.

Percy Ross, a self-made millionaire

and ph ilanth rop ist says, You've got to

ask. Asking is, in my opin ion, the world's

most powerful and neglected secret to

success and happiness. Wh en M artin

Edelston was setting up a company

to publish newsletters and books, he

expressed frustration to Peter Drucker

that his company meetings were boring

and unproductive. Drucker advised:

Ask everyone for two suggestions

on how to make the company more

productive. As simple as it sound ed,

Edelston h ad no t previously considered

asking for ideas from employees. I did

just that and the suggestions came in

faster than I could write them down.

Even though staff members have been

offering their ideas for years and years,

I continue to be amazed at the quality,

quantity and originality of the sugges-

tions,

he says today.

Today, there is a shortage of highly

effective leaders. People and organiza-

tions are constantly searching for them .

Tho ugh you may feel you have

flaws

and

shortcomings, override those concerns.

Tap into your leadership potential and

lead with a magnanimous spirit and a

broad vision. •


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