4/7/2015 10 Mistakes Leaders Should Avoid at All Costs

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G U E S T   P O S T

10 MISTAKS LADRS SHOULDAVOID AT ALL COSTS

This is a guest post by Enrique P. Fiallo(http://henryfiallo.wordpress.com/about/) . He is an author, speaker, andblogger on purposeful leadership. He focuses on Integrity, Ethics,Values, Team Dynamics, and Perseverance. You can read hisblog (http://henryfiallo.wordpress.com/) or follow him on Twitter(https://twitter.com/#!/EnriqueFiallo) .

o one is perfect. No one canbe right 100 percent of thetime (even if you are Jack

Welch or Steve Jobs), including anorganization’s leaders. But there aremistakes, and then there areMISTAKES.

4/7/2015 10 Mistakes Leaders Should Avoid at All Costs

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Photo courtesy of ©iStockphoto.com/RapidEye

I have found 10 basic essentials that all leadersshould have on their list entitled “things to avoidat all costs,” lest they end up on the wrong end ofa no-confidence Board vote, a Shareholderlawsuit, or worst of all, an SEC subpoena.

As a former (and very green) CEO, I was guiltyof all of these leadership mistakes, and they costme, my executive team, employees,shareholders, and my family, dearly. The sad partof this is that I could have avoided all of thesemistakes. So, please learn from my failures.

Some of these mistakes may be obvious; somemay be a bit more obscure. They are all critical.

1. Pride and Arrogance.The downfall ofmany leaders is that their early successesbegin to inflate their egos. Never forgetyour roots, don’t think you are invincibleor infallible, and don’t put yourself aboveanything or anyone. An ancient scriptsays, “Pride goes before destruction,” andit behooves leaders to tattoo that on theirforearms.The trappings and power of theoffice lulled me into a false sense ofsecurity. I began to believe that I wassuperior to other people and institutions,and that I could do no wrong.

2. Negative Influences.There is no lack of

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advice in this world. Some voices offervaluable counsel that can help keep youon track. Other voices will nudge youever so slightly until one day you wake upand find yourself way off course. Tune into the voices of value and tune the othersout.I had plenty of people surroundingme, all eager to give advice. My challengewas, sifting through the ones worthlistening to, and ignoring the others. Howcan you tell the difference? Listen todifferent perspectives from divergent setsof people, and then pay attention to thestill small voice inside of you. The longeryou listen, the better listener anddiscerner you will become.

3. Lacking Integrity.There are many thingsyou can lack and still steer clear ofdanger. Integrity isn’t one of them.Establish a set of sound ethics policies,integrate them into all businessprocesses, communicate them broadly toall employees, and make clear that youwill not tolerate any deviation from anyof them. Then live by them.You have tocarve out time to set the “integrityagenda,” for your own edification, andthen to make it clear to the organization.I took for granted people would be ableto figure out right from wrong. The

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problem is, in the middle of a hectic andpressure filled quarter, I myself failed tofigure it out.

4. Majoring in Minor Things.This is one ofJim Rohn’s basic principles for success.You cannot be successful in the long run,being 10 miles wide and an inch deep.There are a handful of things that areimportant enough to account for thegreatest impact. Take a cue from SteveJobs and get rid of the distractions. Tieyour vision and strategy to the trulyimpactful things and execute those to thebest of your ability.I failed by trying to doit all. You can’t. You will hit the wall, andso will the company. I became mediocreat a large number of things.

5. Avoiding.If there are things that you cando, and should do, then do them. Don’tneglect them. The basic businessfundamentals cannot be ignored.Strengthen your skills in weak areas orput people in place in whose skill andintegrity you trust.I was not able torecognize the areas I was weak in quicklyenough to either learn how to do them(sometimes not practical to do) or findpeople with those skills that I could trustto do them well.

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6. Lacking Values. Core values areprinciples without which life (orbusiness) wouldn’t be worth living. Asstated in the book Tribal Leadership(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061251321/fwis-

20) , values are what the organizationstands in. Establish a set of Core Valuesthat can unite the organization, and thencreate resonance around them.I am nowconvinced that Core Values become thefoundation of a well-oiled, world-class,customer friendly, ethical organization. Iwas clueless about this in the past.

7. Blindly Trusting People.Reagan saidtrust but verify. While leaders can’t do italone, the wrong people with the wrongskills in the wrong place are a formula fordisaster. Allow people to run on “shortleashes” until they prove themselves.I didnot take the time to properly vet, andthen observe key people in their rolebefore I let them fly solo. Any competent,well-grounded person should have noproblem with this approach.

8. Spin Doctoring.Many Corporate PRdepartments teach executives to providecarefully crafted answers to questions toconceal the true facts. Present the facts,tell the truth, communicate the completestory and let the chips fall where they

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may. This does not mean you shoulddivulge key strategies and give awaycompetitive advantage, but the truth isALWAYS the truth, while lies will comeback to haunt you.My team would spenda too much time crafting the right story,which in hindsight, a waste of time andenergy. A better use of that time is tomeet challenges and problems head on,and to communicate openly andhonestly, not “spin” a story.

9. Short-Cutting.Some companies spendan inordinate amount of time flirtingwith the gray areas, and engaging inaccounting tricks. The ethical, values-based and successful leader understandsthe law of the farm. As another ancientscript says, “do not be deceived: Godcannot be mocked. A man reaps what hesows.”At its most basic level, there is nosubstitute for the natural laws of business.Develop prospects, cultivaterelationships, determine needs, proposesolutions, close sales, ship product andbook revenue. It’s a tried and true processthat takes time and skill. There is nosubstitute for methodical execution. I wasimpatient and succumbed to thetemptation of circumventing the naturalprocess through faulty techniques and

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flawed actions.

10. Short-Term Focus.Wall Street andshareholders are maniacally focused onshort term gains. “What will you do forme next quarter?” is the mantra of theshort termer. Don’t cannibalize futureresults to satisfy the present quarter. Ifyour strategy is solid, stick to your guns,let it work, and remind everyone that youare in it for the long run.We became soobsessed with making the immediatequarter, that we severely impacted futurebusiness. As a result, we started thefollowing quarter already behind. Thiscontinued to compound until we dugsuch a hole for ourselves, it wasimpossible to climb out.

These are the ten things that I discovered canmake or break the most charismatic, energetic,brightest and hardworking leader, and also thecompany.

Question: How would rate yourself on theseleadership mistakes? You can leave a commentby clicking here (http://michaelhyatt.com/10-mistakes-

leaders-should-avoid-at-all-costs.html#respond) .

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