Lessons of Leadership

General Honoré: Leaders Needed
During a recent speech at the Centre for Creative Leadership's Greensboro, N.C., headquarters, Lieut. Gen. Russel Honoré spoke. Lieut. Gen. Honoré has learned his lessons in leadership over a 35-year career in the U.S. Army. But his insights are relevant to leaders in every sector.
See first, understand first, act first. The First Army's motto used to be "Leave it better than you found it." Today, Gen. Honoré's command motto is "to see first, understand first, act first." "9/11 happened and our nation changed," said Honoré. "Would 9/11 have happened if we saw first, understood first, and acted first?"
Invest yourself in your subordinates' success. A commander must be personally invested in even the newest, youngest people. "We need their youth. We take the most junior officer in our formation-Second Lieutenant-and put him in charge of our most precious assets," General Honoré said. "Right out of school, he will follow the order of the President and will do it at minimum wage. Regardless of how good you are at the top, you need leaders at the bottom."
Listen. It takes discipline to listen, especially to listen to bad news. "As we get older, we have a tendency to answer our own questions," Honoré said. Instead of asking a soldier how the food is, for example, it's easier to merely say to them, "Chow good, huh?" Or when greeting your kids after school, it's tempting to say: "Had a good day, huh?" But by pre-empting the answers, you risk missing out on critical feedback.

Take responsibility for the good, the bad and the ugly. Whether it's a story on national news, or a less visible problem, a leader is responsible. Don't place the blame on "them." A leader has to be able to say, "I don't know, but I'll find out" and "We screwed this up ... I failed to monitor this."
Have the courage to change. "Do you have the courage to change?" Honoré asked. "Success is reliant on change. When you stop learning, you stop growing."
Save a little bit of good leadership for home. "The toughest challenges of leadership will be at home." You can be seen as a great leader at work, but what kind of leadership do you show with your spouse? "We have the ability to command at work ... in your house you don't command nothing! At home, you don't boss things, you collaborate," Honoré said. How do you interact with a teenager, child or grandchild? "You learn a lot about leadership from youth. How do you respond to that young person? That budding teenager who refuses to talk? Or talks in one-word replies. Your behavior at home sets the tone; what messages get left around your dinner table?"
Invest in the youth of your community. "If you want to know how good you are as a leader, take it out of your comfort zone. Go work with youth—go where you have the least expectation of making a difference."
Honoré's Leadership Lessons
Take it from the General. Here are a few of his guiding truths of leadership:
. In crisis, the first report is usually wrong.
. Have the ability to listen to bad news.
. The real art of leadership is getting people to willingly follow you.
. Think about who else needs to know? Collaborate, communicate.
. What you say and what you do have to match.
. Leaders can't just be observers; they must be players.
. Your people are #1.
. Be a lifetime learner.
. Be wary of quicker, faster, cheaper—it isn't always better