People Do What People See

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20080104/bs_bw/nov2007ca20071115414954

People Do What People See

By C. Maxwell

Fri Jan 4, 8:08 AM ET

This fall I had a rare opportunity to update and revise a book I

wrote 10 years ago. When I wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of

Leadership, I attempted to share everything I knew about leading

people by teaching the timeless principles I had discovered. The book

became very popular, appeared on The New York Times best-seller list

and remained on the BusinessWeek best-seller list for nearly two

years. It is by far the book I'm best known for.

However, not long after the book was published and I began teaching

the leadership laws internationally, I realized that I had left out a

couple of very important concepts. When my publisher, ,

invited me to revise the book, I jumped at the chance. I had learned

so much in those 10 years, and I wanted to share it. What began as a

minor update turned into a major revision in which I rewrote about

70% of the book.

One of the concepts I included in the new edition is something I

call " The Law of the Picture: People Do What People See. " It deals

with the importance of the examples leaders give to their people. You

see, good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and

continually. However, the vision doesn't come alive until the leader

models it.

Good leaders are aware that others do what they do. And they always

keep in mind that:

1. Followers are Always Watching What Leaders Do

If you are a parent, you have probably already realized that your

children are always watching what you do. And just as children watch

their parents and emulate their behavior, so do employees who are

watching their bosses. If the bosses come in late, then employees

feel like they can, too. If the boss cuts corners, employees cut

corners. People do what people see.

Followers may doubt what their leaders say, but they usually believe

what they do. And they imitate it. Former U.S. Army General and

Secretary of State Colin observed, " You can issue all the

memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but if the

rest of the people in your organization don't see you putting forth

your very best effort every single day, they won't either. "

2. It's Easier to Teach What's Right than to Do What's Right

Mark Twain quipped, " To do what is right is wonderful. To teach what

is right is even more wonderful -- and much easier. " That's one of

the reasons why many parents (and bosses) say, " Do as I say, not as I

do. "

One of my earliest challenges as a leader was to raise my living to

the level of my teaching. I can still remember the day I decided that

I would not teach anything I did not try to live out myself. That was

a tough decision, but as a young leader I was learning to embrace the

Law of the Picture. Norman Peale said, " Nothing is more

confusing than people who give good advice but set a bad example. " I

say, " Nothing is more convincing than people who give good advice and

set a good example. "

3. We Should Work on Changing Ourselves Before Trying to Improve

Others

Leaders are responsible for the performance of their people. The buck

stops with them. Accordingly, they monitor their people's progress,

give them direction, and hold them accountable. And to improve the

performance of the team, leaders must act as change agents. However,

a great danger to good leadership is the temptation to try to change

others without first making changes to yourself.

As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person

that I should try to change is me. My standards of excellence should

be higher for myself than those I set for others. To remain a

credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on

changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is

essential.

4. The Most Valuable Gift a Leader Can Give is Being a Good Example

A survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for Ajilon Finance asked

American workers to select the one trait that was most important for

a person to lead them. Ranked No. 1, with 26% of votes, was leading

by example. Second, at 19%, was strong ethics or morals. More than

anything else, employees want leaders whose beliefs and actions line

up.

Leadership is more caught than taught. How does one " catch "

leadership? By watching good leaders in action!

So as you approach the end of the calendar year and start thinking

about the performance of the people you lead, stop for a moment of

honest reflection and ask yourself this question: What kind of

example am I setting? If you're setting a high standard for

integrity, competence, work ethic, and professional growth, if you're

being all that you desire your people to be, then you're setting up

yourself, your people, and your organization for success. If not, you

need to make some changes.

[Guest guest]

There is a lot of truth in this. Most of this was covered in our leadership classes when I was in that military high school. Some people really got the message about appearance in that they would fold their clothes and put them under their mattress just so, so that the creases would be sharp. I never bothered with that.

Problem was that they forget that actions also played a big part in it. They might look sharp, but they set bad examples. I won't go into particulars, but it would be things like officers and NCOs doing things that were against the rules, doing things they told others not to do and so on.

On the other hand, we were also told to mind our manners and behavior off campus in uniform, because if we acted bad, that is what people would remember. People who saw us wouldn't remember the 20 other cadets behaving, but would remember the one who wasn't and that is what they would talk to others about.

In a message dated 1/6/2008 1:39:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20080104/bs_bw/nov2007ca20071115414954People Do What People See By C. Maxwell Fri Jan 4, 8:08 AM ETThis fall I had a rare opportunity to update and revise a book I wrote 10 years ago. When I wrote The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, I attempted to share everything I knew about leading people by teaching the timeless principles I had discovered. The book became very popular, appeared on The New York Times best-seller list and remained on the BusinessWeek best-seller list for nearly two years. It is by far the book I'm best known for. However, not long after the book was published and I began teaching the leadership laws internationally, I realized that I had left out a couple of very important concepts. When my publisher, , invited me to revise the book, I jumped at the chance. I had learned so much in those 10 years, and I wanted to share it. What began as a minor update turned into a major revision in which I rewrote about 70% of the book.One of the concepts I included in the new edition is something I call "The Law of the Picture: People Do What People See." It deals with the importance of the examples leaders give to their people. You see, good leaders must communicate vision clearly, creatively, and continually. However, the vision doesn't come alive until the leader models it.Good leaders are aware that others do what they do. And they always keep in mind that:1. Followers are Always Watching What Leaders DoIf you are a parent, you have probably already realized that your children are always watching what you do. And just as children watch their parents and emulate their behavior, so do employees who are watching their bosses. If the bosses come in late, then employees feel like they can, too. If the boss cuts corners, employees cut corners. People do what people see.Followers may doubt what their leaders say, but they usually believe what they do. And they imitate it. Former U.S. Army General and Secretary of State Colin observed, "You can issue all the memos and give all the motivational speeches you want, but if the rest of the people in your organization don't see you putting forth your very best effort every single day, they won't either."2. It's Easier to Teach What's Right than to Do What's RightMark Twain quipped, "To do what is right is wonderful. To teach what is right is even more wonderful -- and much easier." That's one of the reasons why many parents (and bosses) say, "Do as I say, not as I do."One of my earliest challenges as a leader was to raise my living to the level of my teaching. I can still remember the day I decided that I would not teach anything I did not try to live out myself. That was a tough decision, but as a young leader I was learning to embrace the Law of the Picture. Norman Peale said, "Nothing is more confusing than people who give good advice but set a bad example." I say, "Nothing is more convincing than people who give good advice and set a good example."3. We Should Work on Changing Ourselves Before Trying to Improve OthersLeaders are responsible for the performance of their people. The buck stops with them. Accordingly, they monitor their people's progress, give them direction, and hold them accountable. And to improve the performance of the team, leaders must act as change agents. However, a great danger to good leadership is the temptation to try to change others without first making changes to yourself.As a leader, the first person I need to lead is me. The first person that I should try to change is me. My standards of excellence should be higher for myself than those I set for others. To remain a credible leader, I must always work first, hardest, and longest on changing myself. This is neither easy nor natural, but it is essential.4. The Most Valuable Gift a Leader Can Give is Being a Good ExampleA survey conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for Ajilon Finance asked American workers to select the one trait that was most important for a person to lead them. Ranked No. 1, with 26% of votes, was leading by example. Second, at 19%, was strong ethics or morals. More than anything else, employees want leaders whose beliefs and actions line up.Leadership is more caught than taught. How does one "catch" leadership? By watching good leaders in action!So as you approach the end of the calendar year and start thinking about the performance of the people you lead, stop for a moment of honest reflection and ask yourself this question: What kind of example am I setting? If you're setting a high standard for integrity, competence, work ethic, and professional growth, if you're being all that you desire your people to be, then you're setting up yourself, your people, and your organization for success. If not, you need to make some changes. Start the year off right. Easy ways to stay in shape in the new year.