20 Things All Successful Leaders Do

http://youtu.be/buH0Nrzo3ss

Nowhere in the Bible does God call a leader to an easy task.  All leaders will face challenges.  It is simply unavoidable.  Therefore, developing the skills necessary to deal with and find solutions to challenges are critical to a leader’s success.

One of my favorite leaders in any industry is Alabama Crimson Tide head football coach Nick Saban.  Coach Saban has an incredible ability to communicate complex leadership principles in easy-to-understand language.  Nowhere was this better displayed than this week’s SEC media tour.

The following are 20 Challenges Leaders Face gleaned from three separate visits Coach Saban made with ESPN personnel.  The First Take interview is shown above.

July 18th SportsCenter

1. Leaders Must Evaluate Reality – “We didn’t end the season last year like we did the previous two when we had success.”
2. Leaders Must Establish Core Values – “You get everybody to buy into the principles and values that helped you be successful in the past.  Can’t complain.  Can’t judge.”
3. Leaders Must Provide Clear Job Responsibilities – “Everybody’s got to do their job for the team.”
4. Leaders Must Develop Good Decision-Making Skills – “The three most critical factors to me in a quarterback: Decison-making and judgement – processing information quickly and making a good decision.  Being a good leader and being accurate when you throw the ball.”
5. Leaders Must Possess High Energy – “Players respond well to him (Lane Kiffin).  He’s brought a lot of new energy, intelligence and ideas.”

July 22nd The Herd radio program with Colin Cowherd

1. Leaders Must Have Some Fun – “I’m having more fun now than ever before because I think the challenges are greater especially with the players.”
2. Leaders Must Instill Good Habits In Others – “The disparity of the players coming in in terms of how they think of things, what they do.  How do you challenge them?  How do you help them develop the right habits and be successful because it used to be the player was afraid NOT to do what the coach said.  Now these guys are like, ‘I’ve arrived.'”
3. Leaders Must Properly Evaluate Their Personnel – “Evaluating.  Another part of recruiting that people sometimes underestimate.”
4. Leaders Must Continually Upgrade Their Skills – “Lane’s issues were maturity in handling public relations.”
5. Leaders Must Make Hard And Unpopular Decisions – “Sometimes you have to know that you can’t make decisions based upon public opinion when you know there’s enough positive assets there to help the organization.”
6. Leaders Must Be Personally Accountable – “Even if you have illegal contact with a player, he tweets it that you talked to him.  It’s (recruiting) so transparent you have to do things correctly.”
7. Leaders Must Create Boundaries For Those On Their Teams – “I like for our players to not get so engrossed in the attention they get from that type of communication (Twitter) that they lose focus on the things they need to do to be productive people, students and players.  That’s where I draw the line on it.”
8. Leaders Must Manage Their Emotions – “I’ve learned how to manage players better.  When you get emotional with players that’s where you make mistakes.”
9. Leaders Must Have Self-Control – “I pray I don’t get angry because that’s the times you do things you’re sorry for.”

July 22nd ESPN First Take

1. Leaders Must Not Make Excuses – “As coaches you’re a competitor.  If you recruit a kid and you lose him, you’re always looking for a reason.  One of the easiest reasons is the other guy did something illegal.  I don’t buy into that.”
2. Leaders Must Have Integrity And Be Above Reproach – “The #1 thing that blows up my future and blows up any coach’s future is if you violate NCAA rules.  So that’s a big risk to be taken over winning a football game.”
3. Leaders Must Be Detailed, Disciplined And Well-Prepared – “I could see it coming (the loss to Auburn)…I saw our players change a little bit in terms of entitlement they had.  They lost respect for winning and when you do that you lose respect for what it takes to win.  Attention to Detail.  Preparation.  Discipline.”
4. Leaders Must Fight Against Complacency – “We didn’t finish the year like we needed to…From the foundation, we started losing some of the principles and values the organization was built on and I think it all came from complacency.”
5. Leaders Must Establish A Corporate Identity – “The  attitude of our team is completely different going into to this season than it was a year ago because we’re trying to reestablish our identity.”
6. Leaders Must Understand The Importance Of Their Influence And Steward It Well – “Football is a great team game and then there’s one position, quarterback.”

What other challenges do you face as a leader?

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