[October 8, 2021] The first thing you need to remember is that leaders always make mistakes, and that’s great because mistakes help you to become stronger, to become better, to become wiser. You don’t have to be afraid to make mistakes. I understand that mistakes are painful, but not fatal.
Second – each of us is a leader at least for someone. Statistics show that even a humble man influences more than ten thousand people in his lifetime.
Third, each of us follows a leader of some kind. And your influence as a leader is based on the actions you take every day.
Leadership is always progress. Leadership needs to be learned. Today I want to share with you the typical mistakes leaders make, as well as effective recommendations for eliminating them.
Mistake 1: Leaders Live Only For Today, They Have No Clear Goals And Plans
Living only for today kills positive inertia. You should have clear goals and plans that are written, you should look forward more often. When we are doing well, it seems to us that it will always be so. The problem with many leaders is that they think they have everything perfect. If you are not developing, if you are not moving forward, you start to get old and you stop being interesting in the market.
Remember: your thoughts determine your actions, actions determine your habits, and habits determine your life. So you should have goals and plans: for the day, for the week, for the quarter, for the year, for five years, and beyond. This will allow you to keep track of your progress. Your plan of action should be one that you and the people around you can follow. And you don’t need to tell your plans to people who might kill them.
Mistake 2: Some Leaders Dig Into Their Problems, And Those Problems Suck Them In Even More
They quarrel with their environment, trying to take away the “crumbs of life. And they usually ask themselves the wrong questions, which drive them even further into their current problems. For example: well, why is this the way it is? The answer is, I don’t know. When your questions start with “why,” you’re not finding a solution, you’re moving nowhere.
Remember: no matter what difficult situation you are in, you must always look for a solution. You have to concentrate on finding new opportunities. And in order to do that, it’s important to ask yourself the right questions. When we ask ourselves the right questions, we always get the right answers. Your questions set the context for your life.
The questions are:
- What happened? A statement of fact.
- What are the possibilities? Believe me, in any, even the most difficult situation, there are always possibilities.
- What have I learned? This is the question we ask when the situation is over.
So, always make deeply considered decisions based on wisdom. Leaders are always builders! And outstanding leaders are always architects!
Great article thank you! When is the best time to plant in the raised bed?
Mistake #2 reminds me of some leaders that go too far in solving a problem. In my work, we call it “beating a dead horse.” Sometimes you just got to move on after applying a fix.
Hmmmmm, thinking the same thing Ken.
Another question to add is, “What can I do to overcome (or fix) the problem?” “What are the possible solutions and what is most effective in solving the problem?” I could go on, but you get the picture. Excellent article.
Ms Franks, your article fits in nicely to the article yesterday from Gen. Satterfield about asking the right question. Doing this (asking the right question) puts you in the place where there is a solution. Instead of being misled or giving up, by asking the right question, we can focus on getting to the right answer. Sometimes that answer is not the most pleasant thing to have but it is always a start. Better to begin a long journey toward repairing ourselves than to go off in a feel-good but wrong direction.
Max, yes! I will also add that this entire website being about leadership is also about “habits.” Both good and bad habits are covered by Gen. Satterfield and although not lately, he has given a tremendous amount of attention to the fact that good leaders develop good habits.
Interesting twist on mistakes of leaders.
Yeah, good point that I was thinking about too.
Thanks guys! I want to add that Gen. Satterfield continues to provide an outlet for many new writers getting a start and for that, he should be appropriately thanked. Ms Franks is one of many and I sure hope she continues to write articles like this. It is not an easy task so she should be thanked for giving us a different perspective. Well done!
Well written and to the point, thank you Effie.