The Rocky franchise first came into our lives in 1976. Detroit and Motown both were still churning out hits. The original Rocky movie gave the world quotes that remain as true today as when they were mumbled by the prizefighter 37 years ago. “It’s about how hard you get hit . . . How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.” Like Rocky, leaders often fight to overcome overwhelming odds in order to move forward.
Leadership in the 21st century is very different in some core ways than it was just a few years ago. Seven Steps and a Bonus to be a 21st Century Leader:
Emotional Stamina
The simple truth is you will have many ups and downs as a leader, in starts and stops. You have to be prepared: mentally. You are relentlessly chasing a neverending, always-moving target, especially if you look to being the best. That takes mental stamina. What you need to do to acquire and maintain that stamina may be different for each of you. The end result needs to be the same: to acquire mental toughness.
You have to know what it is you need and protect that stamina for the long haul. Ben Affleck received the Oscar this year for Best Movie. When talking about his 15-year journey from his first Oscar to his second one, he said, “What I learned was it doesn’t matter if you get knocked down in life, what matters is that you’ve got to get back up.” It takes emotional stamina to get back up time and time again. It’s not that some people are knocked down in life and others are not. Everyone gets knocked down. the distinguishing factor is whether or not you get back up.
Align Your Goals with Employee Goals
Notice I said align your goals. I did not say employee’s need to align themselves with your goals. In the 1960s and 1970s a CEO could dictate hours, job descriptions and even transfers. A family would be here today and in the Philippines plant the next day.
In our 21st century world, it’s the leader’s job to be aligned with every employee. It is not the employee’s job to be aligned with leadership.
Bill Gates said, “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
Think about those words. Leaders are not those who are empowered, but those who empower others. As a leader, are you consistently and repeatedly empowering your employees (your team members)? Do you give them roots; do they have or feel they have ownership in your vision?
You need to have big goals
And turn them into small tasks. Let me repeat that. Big goals—small tasks. Often people can do one or the other. Rarely are people able to implement both. To lead, you need to see the vision, the bigger picture. Then you need to communicate it in a way that gets buy-in from your troops.
To implement your vision will require small tasks. You need to either be willing to do them or find those who are gifted at those small pieces. The challenge for you is to value both: the people who see the bigger picture but are not able to make it happen and those that can implement even though they may not see where you are going. You need both. You need to be both and value both.
Training, training, training
21st century leaders need to know how important and how much energy is involved in successful and on-going training. An employee is not trained when you as the leader say they are trained. They are not trained when they say they are trained. They are trained when they demonstrate they are trained.
Training is not just an event. Not a Lean Sigma or a Six Sigma event. Training is a process. An on-going process and it needs to go on and on and on . . . even if you are the CEO.
Focus on everyone’s value
Consistency is a huge contingency of value. Most people want to be first, best in show. What usually gets you to first place is not the showy 15 seconds of fame. It is consistency. Think about a restaurant. It might be great. If you can not go there every time and expect a great meal, you won’t go back. Aspire for consistency in every phase of your work.
Quality is Different for Everyone
What makes up quality is not a onesize- fits-all standard. When you go to McDonalds you want a fast meal. When you go out for Valentine’s Day you want a slow, romantic meal. What makes up quality is different for different people, in different professions and different at different times. Your client, customer, member, guest or patient decides what makes up quality. You, in whatever leadership role you reside, don’t get to decide what makes up quality.
Your market decides what makes up quality, not you. This is as true if you are a CEO as it if you are a Young Gen Y member of the work force.
It is as true in manufacturing and the legal field as in healthcare and in your profession. Accept that nothing is ever good enough.
Know What Your Customer Needs
It is your job to stay ahead of the competition. It is your job to stay ahead of what customers, clients, patients, or guests want and need. It is not their job to tell you. As Steve Jobs said, “You can’t just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they’ll want something new.”
BONUS 8th lesson
Not everyone aspires to be a leader. So this lesson is for those who do aspire, or those that have empathy or want to support their leader. Often we see or hear about an owner enjoying the perks of ownership. Perhaps you picture an NBA owner winning the NBA championship. Last year, it was Miami Heat owner Micky Arison. What you don’t see or hear is his immense feeling of responsibility.
Micky Arison who owns the Heat, truly got heat as owner of Carnival Cruise Lines. All of us remember those scenes just two months ago of that little tug boat bringing in that big cruise ship one slow mile after another. Imagine being the owner of the cruise line as the pictures went viral of people sleeping in makeshift tents on the deck, garbage and waste everywhere. Is it fun being an owner then?
The level of responsibility becomes elevated as a leader. It becomes elevated when your stock hits a bump. It becomes elevated when you need to have mass layoffs to survive. It becomes elevated when you have to make tough decisions quickly.
That emotional stamina is essential as a leader. The biggest challenge as a leader is to keep looking forward. As the leader you need to do what you need to do for your business to grow and thrive. And you need to communicate those steps with confidence because everyone is watching you. You need that stamina, that toughness, because 21st century business is tough.
The railroad was king and then it was not. Newspapers were king and then they were not. When I grew up in in Akron Oh we were tire capital of the world, and then we were not. The traits of leadership evolve with the sands of time. Take these 7+ steps to make sure that you are a 21st century leader.
