Nine Lies About Work

To say that you have potential means simply that you have the capacity to learn, and grow, and get better, like every other human. Unfortunately, this won’t reveal anything about precisely where you can learn, and grow, and get better, or how, or how fast, or under what conditions.

Rather than asking whether another person has a given quality, we need to ask how we would react to that other person if he or she did… asking the leader about what he would do, or how he would feel.

The well-rounded high performer is a creature of the theory world. In the real world each high performer is unique and distinct, and excels precisely because that person has understood his or her uniqueness and cultivated it intelligently.

Our prevailing assumption is that we need goals because our deficit at work is a deficit of aligned action. We’re mistaken. What we face instead is a deficit of meaning… and of the values we should honor in deciding how to get it done.

You can set clear expectations for your people, or not; you can position each person to play to his or her strengths every day, or not; you can praise the team for excellent work, or not; you can help people grow their careers, or not.

Teams matter more than companies: People care which company they join, and will often research a company extensively before applying for or accepting a job. However, once they’ve joined the company, what matters most is which team they’re on.

People need attention, not feedback: Most feedback is biased, ineffective, and can even demotivate people and worsen performance,

Cascade meaning, not goals

Talent always trumps plans

People care about which company they join, and will often research a company extensively before applying for or accepting a job. However, once they’ve joined the company, what matters most is which team they’re on.

Great leadership isn’t a thing with fixed traits Leadership isn’t a “thing” that can be created by fulfilling a list of traits or criteria. The most respected leaders in history (e.g. Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy) don’t share a fixed set of leadership qualities. People follow them because of their “spikes”, or the 1-2 distinct strengths which they use to make a huge impact in a specific area.

What matters is love-in-work, not work-life balance“Work-life balance” is yet another common but flawed concept about the workplace. In reality, what we’re truly wrestling with isn’t work vs life, but things we love vs loathe.

People have momentum, not potential

We can reliably rate our own experiences, but not other people

The best people are spiky, not well-rounded

Checking in with each person on a team—listening, course-correcting, adjusting, coaching, pinpointing, advising, paying attention to the intersection of the person and the real-world work—is not what you do in addition to the work of leading. This is the work of leading. If you don’t like this, don’t be a leader.