“Leaders are readers and readers are leaders”

This is an expression that my mother, who raised six successful children, would often proclaim. My mother wanted us to read the Bible and then any other good book that we could learn from. But, she wasn’t picky, fiction or non-fiction, she just wanted us to read. Our television watching and video game playing was limited and this gave us the “opportunity” to read. One of the reasons that I write to this day is because my writing is an extension of my reading. Reading is where your thoughts collide with the thoughts of another. Reading is mental exercise. Too many leaders today have grown thought-obese, because of too little mental exercise.

This collision of thought is healthy for anyone, but especially for leaders. Because the world moves at a much faster pace these days and information comes at light speed, leaders must set time aside to engage their mind and their thoughts in a healthy, contemplative manner. Reading (and writing for me) accomplishes this. Reading is healthy, mental exercise.

If you want to make better decisions, think better thoughts. If you want to think better thoughts, read better books. For me, I have not found a better book than the Bible to read.

Reading is where the collision of thought happens. A collision without a conclusion does little good. So the will must get involved. The will must form the thoughts into actionable behavior. Storing up information does a leader no good. A leader must read for understanding and application. If application is not the goal of the leader, then the leader will always play a supportive or frustrated role which will summarily yield little in the way of results and influence or simply be a knowledge collector. Reading stretches your mental template for learning. So, read this article, think and maybe learn something…

Leaders have to be and they have to do. Let’s assume that if you are reading this article, then you are currently leading or are aspiring to lead to a greater level. Then, let’s ask a question and see where it takes us.

What must leaders do?

#1 – Leaders Set Direction. People everywhere at all times need direction. This means they need directors. Leaders are Directors. Leaders are directors not collectors. If you think you are a leader, but aren’t directing anything, then you aren’t really leading–you are occupying a position and have probably become a roadblock for your team.  A good director knows the team, the players, the landscape, the obstacles, the goals and the vision of a future outcome before communication begins to happen. A good leader must first understand where the organization or team is going and then how to get the team moving in the right direction. Here’s the bottom line: Someone has to lead, because someone will always lead. In your organization a leadership position does not guarantee that you will ultimately be the one that is the director. The director must be a highly effective communicator. I have taken to teaching my millennial leaders how to be more effective in communicating, because they will become more effective at directing. The breakdown most often is not in the desire, but in the directing. Bad directors, get bad results.

Learning: Better Communicating creates Better Directing.

#2 – Leaders Set the Tone. Once the direction has been set and the directions given, the morale and the environment can still not be productive or effective. In fact, a leader can be great at giving directions, but terrible at getting anyone to follow them. This is because, leaders must also set the tone. What is the tone? The tone is the temperature or the climate in which the team will be operating in. Tone is critical in the construction of chemistry. If a team is struggling with chemistry, chances are the tone has not been set well by the leader or someone else beside the leader is creating the tone. It is critical that leaders understand that they must set the tone. If a leader is always too busy, too rushed to take time for questions or explanation, then they are setting a tone that will result in a coldness or corner-cutting environment. The tone is also set in work ethic and upholding the standards. If the leader cuts corners, takes perks and slacks off because of their position, then they are setting a poor tone. Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard.

Smoking in the Office

I was discussing this point with some of my learning leaders and one of them shared the example about a factory where smoking was forbidden. In fact, the manager ensured that no one smoked on the production floor, in the break room, outside or even the bathroom. However, when the manager would return to his office that overlooked the factory floor, he would close his door and smoke in the office. As a result, the manager always smelled like smoke. Soon, the workers realized that the manager didn’t hold to the standards himself and neither should they. The manager set the tone with his actions, not his words.

Learning: Don’t Smoke in the Office (Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard)

#3 – Leaders Control Emotion. If you work with millennials or are a millennial, then this is one you really need to pay attention to.  We need to review emotions for a minute: not everything you feel is the correct feeling at the appropriate time. Feelings or emotions are triggered by different stimuli. These stimuli can be both internal and external. Before you express how you feel, the effective leader needs to work through what caused the specific emotion to arise.

If you don’t have all the facts, your feelings can betray you, mislead you or delude you. It is important to acknowledge your emotions, but not be controlled by them. Expressing emotion can be fine,  if it is done in a healthy and controlled fashion. But, demonstrating too much of an emotion or the wrong emotion in front of your team or others can neutralize your effectiveness as a leader. This can also cause you to lose credibility. You can be angry, but getting angry at people you are working with doesn’t really help the situation. Learning leaders must separate their emotion from the decision. Don’t make decisions when you are highly emotional. Get control of your emotions before you make decisions. I have learned not to correct or discipline a team member until I have a firm control of my emotions and then conducted an investigation. Don’t give a raise or a promotion, because you are excessively happy. Just as you don’t fire someone because what they have done or you perceive they have done makes you angry.

Emotions can cloud judgment. I’m not saying that you need to deny your emotions (that’s unhealthy), but you do not to get control of your emotions. A wise leader learns (a) to master his/her own emotions, (b) how to read correctly the emotions of those they are leading, and (c) then effectively utilize emotions to inspire and encourage.

Emotional Intelligence

Leaders must also learn to read correctly the emotions of others. A wrong reading or misreading of another’s emotions can add further fuel to a fire you are trying to put out. This is called emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence has never been more essential for leaders than it is in today’s super sensitive environment. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify and manage the emotions of yourself and others (Psychology Today). There are three basic skills in EI (1) the awareness of your emotions and the emotions of others, (2)  the ability to harness your emotions and apply them into critical thinking and problem solving, and (3) the ability to regulate or manage your emotions and influence the emotions of others.

Your emotions need to be the wake, not the wind. The wake follows behind the wind. When your emotions become the wind, you often lose control of your boat and capsize. Keep your emotions as the wake, not the wind.

Learning: Don’t be controlled by your emotions, rather control your emotions.

#4 – Leaders Set & Restore Order. Order is critical in every organization. Leaders who don’t maintain order aren’t leading. Very often the leader’s role is to restore order. Every organization and every team is full of individuals and variables. Harmony is born through order. Organizations are more effective when they are most harmonious. Leaders are responsible for this harmony. Part of this harmony is revealed when the leader sets the tone, but the fullness of harmony is when the leader has helped everyone discover and maximize the role needed. This creates fluidity and synchronicity in the organization or team that plays like beautiful music.

Leaders are conductors. It is the leaders job to establish what a clear picture of order should look like and move the organization to that. The leader cannot take a break for this role, because things left alone tend to decay or rot. This is why the leader must be a vigilant conductor. The leader must be more conductor than inspector. Inspectors only identify the problems of disorder, but conductors set and restore order. Order is established through a devotion to the standards.

Learning: Order is not set or restored because a leader shows up. Order takes intentional planning, preparation and a devotion to the standards.

Summary  – What Leaders Do  

1- Leaders Set Direction

2- Leaders Set Tone

3- Leaders Control Emotion

4- Leaders Set & Restore Order

The world needs better leaders. Your world needs better leadership. It starts with you and it started without you. So, jump in and see what difference you can make. Leadership always makes a difference.

(c) Redwall Leadership Academy. Redwall, LLC (2016)