As I wrote earlier in the week, I got motivated to update and expand my list of "17 Things I Believe" to the left because -- as part of revving up for the publication of Good Boss, Bad Boss -- I was putting together a list of 12 Things Good Bosses Believe, which was just posted the morning over at Harvard Business Review. Some of these themes are developed in Good Boss, Bad Boss, others are ones that I have written about here and elsewhere. To give you a taste, here are the first four:
- I have a flawed and incomplete understanding of what it feels like to work for me.
- My success — and that of my people — depends largely on being the master of obvious and mundane things, not on magical, obscure, or breakthrough ideas or methods.
- Having ambitious and well-defined goals is important, but it is useless to think about them much. My job is to focus on the small wins that enable my people to make a little progress every day.
- One of the most important, and most difficult, parts of my job is to strike the delicate balance between being too assertive and not assertive enough.
Note that none of these are linked to posts or sources that explain the nuances of what I mean and the evidence behind the beliefs. Over the next two or three weeks, I will write a post over at HBR about each one of these beliefs and, as I do, the link will be added to the list. I will let you you know when each appears. When the list is done, I will likely add it this blog. Meanwhile, check out the list on HBR, and please give me some feedback either there or here.
P.S. A big thank you to Julia Kirby for her help with the list over at HBR.
Hi Bob,
Great list. I would add that leaders need to to be able to get his people to understand why the organisation does what it does. This is crucial to getting buy-in and that all important engagement.
Posted by: Shane Twomey | May 31, 2010 at 12:55 PM