Leadership

Teams rise to the occasion based on their capabilities and training. They also fail when things don't go well and preparation is not sufficient. The one constant in both cases is the leadership in charge of the team.

Leadership in this case can be a person, a group of people, or the team as a whole, but leadership more often than not means one person responsible for the team. He/she sets the pace, the expectations, and he/she is ultimately responsible for the team’s performance.

I’ve been part of teams for over 30 years, and I’ve been leading teams for almost two decades. While industries and organizations differ all the time, each with their own needs and approaches, there are common traits that a leader needs.

“True leaders keep and eye on the ground and see the realities of what’s going on, while they keep another eye on the future and what they want the org to become.”

Since two people sent me a similar question last week, I decided to post here what I think it’s a good guide about leadership qualities and focus areas.

In general a leader:

• Places team first
• Brings out the best in others
• Stays humble and real
• Keeps a view of the big picture
• Keeps things simple, only adds complexity when he/she must
• Communicates often and clearly
• Builds relationships with peers, senior leaders and their teams
• Keeps an open mind and listens to their teams and junior leaders
• Empowers their subordinate leaders, knows how to delegate
• Owns everything in their area of responsibility, including and especially the failures
• Makes decisions, ultimately in charge of making decisions with the information given

A leader's success is determined by the team's overall performance, whether they succeed or fail. For a leader in the world of modern digital security, my policy in rating them is:

• Rate people managers / leaders by how well they enable other people to achieve things successfully
• Rate individual contributors by how well they think on their feet, recover from failure, and ultimately deliver the thing

“Leaders who build good cultures are the greatest examples of the culture themselves.”

Key to building this culture is transparency, ownership, and the ability to keep pushing forward. In general, I expect the following from leaders under me and from myself:

• Select the right person for the right job in the team, and let that person go work on the problems
• Each person owns his or her world. If there is a problem and that person thinks it’s someone else’s fault, consider the person not suitable for team
• No tolerance of gossip. Speak your mind in front of everyone. Be respectful but say what’s troubling you
• Everyone, including, and especially, the leader must provide transparency at all times. Keep the team always informed
• If a team member isn’t fit for the job, then don’t try to correct it, begin to replace that person
• Do not suffer alone. We are a team. We are here to help each other. Ask for help