My second Key to an “A” is alignment. If a leader is unable to align the team with the organization’s purpose, vision, mission, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, core values, guiding principles, and other essential attributes, then the likelihood of achieving success is nil. After my son, John White III, described what he and his team did to achieve alignment at Fortna Inc., I recognized how my leadership successes were the result of achieving alignment.
A fan of Extreme Ownership by Willink and Babin, my son used it as a vehicle to achieve alignment by striving to have everyone at Fortna take ownership, to step up and be responsible for achieving organizational success. His emphasis was on the team, challenging each member to commit to doing everything as perfectly as possible. It reminded me of Walmart’s Mike Duke sharing with the leadership class an important lesson he learned from Hall of Fame collegiate basketball coach John Wooden, who didn’t emphasize winning. Although his teams at UCLA won 10 NCAA national championships, had four perfect seasons, and won 88 games in a row, he emphasized having each player execute each play with 100 percent commitment.
If the tires on your vehicle aren’t aligned, you’re in for a rough ride. The same holds if members of your leadership team aren’t aligned. If they aren’t aligned, they’ll work at cross purposes.
Not only must individuals be aligned, but also the organization’s purpose must align with its vision, which must align with its mission. Likewise, the organization’s tactics must align with its strategies and they must align with its goals and objectives.
How do you achieve alignment? With Wooden, it included teaching his players how to put on their socks and shoes and how to tie the shoestrings in their shoes.[i] It began with the basics and every practice focused on fundamentals. As best he could, Wooden left nothing to chance. He defined success as “peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.”[ii]
Striving to achieve alignment will test your ability as a leader. Communication and repetition are essential. Letting people know what’s expected of them comes first. If some individuals are incapable or unwilling to align, then replacing them with people who are capable or will align becomes necessary. Jim Collins’ metaphorical bus[iii] only has seats for people who are aligned with where the bus is going, aligned with the bus driver, and aligned with fellow passengers.
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My third Key to an “A” is acumen. A key to being an effective leader is being smart, not brilliant, but smart—definitely not stupid, but smart. Dictionaries define acumen as “skill in making correct decisions and judgments in a particular subject, such as business or politics”[iv] or “the ability to make good quick decisions and judgments.”[v] Notice, the latter definition includes “the ability” not “the necessity” to make “good quick decisions and judgments.” Having the discernment to know when to make decisions and judgments is essential. Correct timing is required for decisions and judgments to be good. Making quick decisions and judgments is not a necessary condition for acumen; having the ability to make qood, quick decisions and judgments is. Leaders often make decisions and judgments too quickly or too slowly—knowing when to decide is evidence of acumen.
Why isn’t being brilliant a key to being an effective leader? Emotional intelligence (EQ) in a leader is far more important than academic or intellectual intelligence (IQ). Often, I’ve heard exemplary leaders say, “I wasn’t the brightest bulb in the string, but no one out-worked me.” Intelligence matters, but hard work, determination, and empathy matter more!
Next: Keys to “A”s in Leadership–Part III (Aspiration and Ambition)
[i] John Wooden and Steve Jamison, Wooden on Leadership, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 2005, p. 141.
[ii] Ibid, p. 4.
[iii] Jim Collins, Good to Great, HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 2001, p. 41.
[iv] See https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/acumen.
[v] See https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/acumen.
