Remaining In Leadership
Fred Smith, the legendary CEO of FedEx, said, “Leaders get out in front and stay there by raising the standards by which they judge themselves—and by which they are willing to be judged.” Smith certainly would be an authority on how to continually stay out in front as he stepped down as company’s CEO in March 2022 after 50 years at the helm. He now serves as FedEx’s executive chairman.
Several leadership questions come from Smith’s quote which leaders should be continually asking themselves if they want to lead at the highest level:
- Do I have a set of personal standards as a leader which I judge myself by?
- Am I continually raising those standards?
- Am I allowing others to judge me by those standards?
Here’s the leadership lesson – Leading at the highest level requires leaders to continually be asking hard questions about their personal and corporate standards.
Every New Level For A Leader Has…
As seen in the video above, Luka Dončić has received a lot of negative feedback in this year’s NBA Finals. The Boston Celtics have exposed him on defense and continually attack him. Luka is currently going through a right of passage, the difficult climb up the championship mountain. He is learning valuable lessons with each step.
Leaders in all industries go through this. For instance, you may be a wonderful real estate agent in your small town, but try selling beachfront property in South Beach or luxury apartments in New York City. You will likely discover you have to take your game up several notches.
Here’s the leadership lesson – At every new level, there is a new devil. What got you where you are will not keep you where you are. New lessons need to be learned and new skills need to acquired to lead at higher levels.
The Impact of Unnecessary Mistakes
Fox Sports’s Peter Schmeichel said at halftime of Spain’s 3-0 victory over Croatia in UEFA Cup, “This level is all about not making mistakes because good players will take advantage of that.”
At the highest levels, the difference between victory and defeat if often razor-thin. It could be a single phrase during a sales presentation, where a political candidate spends their time, or where players position themselves on a soccer pitch.
Here’s the leadership lesson – If you want to successfully lead at the highest level, you must have the intellectual stamina to continually pay great attention to detail.
A Leader’s Real Challenge
In the last 10 years, the average number of fatal shark attacks on humans has been 5.8. Surprisingly, the average number of fatal wild hog attacks is 19.7, more than three-times that of sharks. Already this year, there have been seven deaths and the numbers are steadily increasing.
John J. Mayer, the man who headed up the report, said, “Most of the public doesn’t know the facts about wild pig attacks on humans. It’s not sharks, wolves, or bears that kill the most people—it’s wild pigs, and the numbers are consistently trending up.”
Here’s the leadership lesson – The problem is to correctly identify the problem. The solution then becomes obvious. Most people think sharks are the problem, when in actually, it is wild hogs. Leaders, solve the right problem.
Why Formula 1 (F1) Is Growing And What It Means To All Leaders
Formula 1 is currently in growth mode. The following are the reasons why and what it means to leaders in any industry:
- They are marketing to the United States audience through social media, celebrity endorsements, and partnerships with well-known U.S. brands.
- They have met younger audiences where they are – Netflix and video games. Smart organizations go to where their customers are, not expecting customers to come to them.
- F1 is just cool. “Trendy” would be a better word. The drivers are cool, the cities in which they race are cool, and the cars themselves are technologically advanced and cool. Being part of F1 is like eating at the best restaurant in town.
Here’s the leadership lesson – If you are wanting to grow your brand, have innovative marketing, meet people where they are, and be trendy and cool.
Conclusion
There are 5 lessons to learn from this article on leading at the highest level:
- Leading at the highest level requires leaders to continually be asking hard questions about their personal and corporate standards.
- At every new level, there is a new devil. What got you where you are will not keep you where you are. New lessons need to be learned and new skills need to acquired.
- If you want to successfully lead at the highest level, you must have the intellectual stamina to continually pay attention to detail.
- The problem is to identify the correct problem. The solution becomes obvious. Leaders solve the right problems.
- If you are wanting to grow your brand, have innovative marketing, meet people where they are, and be trendy and cool.
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