The Carefulness of Well-Seasoned Leadership
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal carried an article by Fay Vincent, former executive of Coke, Columbia Pictures, and the MLB. He shared 10 leadership tips from his career.
The overriding theme of his message was that major leaders need to be careful in how they operate. Here are some excerpts:
- Keep speculations and worries to yourself and don’t confide in others in the organization.
- Keep ugly aspects of your day to yourself.
- Emails never disappear; be careful what you write.
- Humor can be risky; never joke about serious things.
- Never complain; never explain; accept blame.
- Avoid answering hypothetical questions.
- Be honest.
Big time executives like Fay have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Startup founders have a smaller version of those same responsibilities. Startup employees look to founders and the startup’s early employees in much the same way big company employees look to their executives.
A little over a year ago, I was meeting with a friend in our market to discuss business matters. After our meeting, I was in my car and he approached me again to offer some parting advice that he seemed to have been on the fence about sharing. He recommended that I tone down my tweeting. He was right. I was tweeting about sensitive subjects that would appeal to some but be offensive to others, often merely for the joy of taking part in social conversations on those issues. It was not really useful to me or to anyone else. So I stopped. I hope my tweets are not completely dry these days, but for the last 18 months, I’ve been careful. The WSJ article reminded me of that impactful conversation with my friend. Thank you!
What are your thoughts about things leaders can do to be careful and well-seasoned?