Life lessons from Chubby (my dad) and other smart folks I’ve met on the road.
My dad, Chubby, started with nothing. No money.
No education. No open doors. Not even a dad (his dad died when he was just three).
Yet starting from scratch, he built one of the largest real estate firms, lending institutions and land development firms in Ohio. How? In addition to learning his businesses better than anyone, and working hard, Dad developed 11 Leadership Rules. Today we talk about one.
To Chubby, effective leadership was a straightforward concept. It is about understanding people. Knowing that when you do this, they will do that. In essence, good leadership is accurately predicting how others will respond to your words and actions.
Chubby once told me,
“Greg, you can be anointed a leader, but if you don’t understand how people will likely react to what you do and say, you’ll only be leading yourself.”
Rule #1 – Jingle ’til you Jangle
One night Dad and I were brainstorming in his office. We discussed several ideas to bring in more business. I suggested that we run them by the staff at the next Tuesday sales meeting. Chubby just about fell off his seat.
“Greg”, he said firmly. “Most people are uncomfortable with uncertainty. They need a sense of stability emanating down from the top. If we constantly “float” our ideas to staff, they’ll worry about change, how it will affect them, and maybe even think we’re in trouble. Be assured productivity will drop.”
Chubby went on to explain that the very best companies are often in flux at the top. That’s OK. Senior staff should look for and discuss new ideas, that elusive better way.
But, this is rarely disseminated to the “troops.” The perception downstream is full steam ahead with clear direction and no uncertainty as to what tomorrow will bring. Of course, the reality is often quite different.
When a new idea is good enough to become a new direction, it’s announced as a new “certainty.” It must be masterfully “sold” as a well-thought-out plan that’s good for the company and great for the staff. No uncertainty. Jingle is out. Jangle is in. It’s simply an “a” in place of an “i.”
In other words:
It’s 100% Jingle ’til it’s time to Jangle.
