If you???ve been keeping up with my tweets today (June 3, 2010), you???ll find that I???ve been thinking a lot about leadership and delivering meaningful customer service:
Leaders inspire, motivate + challenge the institution
— Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux) June 4, 2010
No matter how small/large ur company is, dnt lose sight of Integrity, Compassion, Honesty + Accountability
— Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux) June 3, 2010
Customer svc tips: underpromise overdeliver. be honest. saying no is ok. dnt waste customers’ time.
— Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux) June 3, 2010
RT @berkun: CEO answers phone support calls – explains why http://bit.ly/9pknAr (@hillel) #customerservice => must read
— Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux) June 4, 2010
Recent events in my personal and professional life have motivated me to ponder more about what it truly means to be a leader in this fast paced, techno savvy and automated world we live in. Knowing that I have a long way to go to be an ideal leader, I???ve realized and concluded that it???s important to differentiate a true leader versus somebody posing to be a leader. In my opinion, here are 10 ways to find out:
- ??A Leader Has Followers ??? I am not talking about Twitter followers. True followers are engaged individuals who believes in the vision of the leader and would be willing to follow whereever/whatever the leader does. They TRUST their leader, in some cases, with their lives.
- ??A Leader Serves – puts the well-being of the followers before other goals. Have you heard of Ernest Shackelton? http://main.wgbh.org/imax/shackleton/shackleton.html
- ??A Leader is Compassionate ??? puts politics, policies, political correctness aside to help and support an individual in hard times. Read this great article about compassionate leadership: http://emergingleader.com/article19.shtml
- ??A Leader Walks The Talk ??? most people don???t like politicians. The key reason is that they don???t practice what they preach. Does your leader preach trustworthiness, integrity and honesty yet they get caught red-handed for breaching these basic tenets of life?
- ??A Leader Inspires ??and Motivates ??? how many times have you dozed off listening to your CEO on your annual town hall meeting? How often have you been inspired and motivated that soon after listening to your leader that you want to take action and feel like you are on top of the world? Check out these 5 inspirational leaders: http://www.askmen.com/money/successful_100/144_success.html
- ??A Leader Listens ??? I can easily tell what kind of leaders a company has by visiting their websites. Unfortunately, a lot of them is all about ME, ME, ME (i.e. We sell the next best thing to slice bread, Here are all are credentials, We???re so great because, etc). I???m always impressed with leaders genuine intent is to listen to customers, partners, employees and is motivated to address those valid ideas and concerns.
- ??A Leader is Willing to Change ??? ego tripping is the greatest enemy of leaders. So when valid suggestions or criticisms are raised, knee jerk reaction is to deflect it back. True leaders recognizes the fact that they aren???t perfect ??? there???s always room to grow and be better.
- ??A Leader is Responsible and Accountable ??? I remember experiencing a magnitude 7 earthquake when I was a junior in high school. Our teacher freaked out and ran out the room as fast as she can leaving her 30 students scared and confused in a 4th floor classroom. Does your leader wash their hands and cop out when he/she needs to stand up for everybody else? Does your leader take the accolade during the good times and run off when a magnitude 7 earthquake comes?
- ??A Leader Challenges The Institution ??? does your leader stand up for you? Do they rock the boat and take the hit when they know that what they are fighting for is in the best interest of everyone? Leaders piss people off. If they don???t, there???s a poser for you.
- ??A Leader Makes Decisions ??- no flip-flopping, handwashing, play the blame game, pass the decision making buck to someone else mentality. When wrong decisions are made, they take the hit and own it.??
Anything you can add? Love to hear f
rom you! Post it on the comments section below.
Great write-up, Dux! I like your measures and think they make a great acid test. I’ll certainly be passing the link on to a few folks I know.Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Great list! Once you start condisering all the different qualities to look for, your perception of great leaders can begin to change. Puts it into perspective that there are also different types of leaders, and that persons meeting every criteria can be hard to come by. But also that not meeting every criteria doesn’t necessarily negate good leadership skills. It’s always a work in progress!
A good leader has the foresight to let the people he serves be their creative selves. Just because it may Not "fit in their precise job description" doesn’t mean it isn’t worth while. Nothing worse than having someone get in the way with the words, "You know, that’s not really what you were hired to do…"