Leadership Rules

Day 981, 05:36 • Published in USA USA • by Zheng He

The word for the day is "Good Leadership"

Leadership is hard. Too many people confuse it with authority and power. And too many in positions of authority are not good leaders. A good leader doesn't need authority to lead; just ask Ligtreb.

I compiled the following list over a couple of months and hope to pass this on to my friends and colleages in eRep. I got them from everywhere ... Sun Tzu, Reader's Digest, even my own little head.



Most of these are pretty much unordered, but #1 is definitely #1 to me as a leader, teacher, and parent. This can't be complete; please add additional rules in comments.

#1: If you don't care about them, they won't care what you say

#2: They won't do more than you do

#3: A leader is not powerful, but responsible

#4: A true leader works for all he or she leads, not the other way around

#5: Don't take success to your head or failure to your heart

#6: To be a good leader, you must first learn to follow

#7: A leader is proactive, a follower is reactive

#8: Their time is more valuable than yours

#9: Only throw temper tantrums on purpose

#10: Get to the point!

#11: Tell the truth, especially if the news is bad

#12: Don't apologize for doing the right thing

#13: Always apologize when you do the wrong thing

#14: Say thank you

#15: If you don't know the answer, know who does



For an example of leadership, see Custer's paper.

"Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value" (Einstein, by way of Bombonato)

Zheng He