In this episode, we review 6 tenets of leadership that can used to create a personal, leadership development plan. We call these tenets the Six sides of the Leadership Tool Box.

• Unfortunately today, schools and organizations dedicate very little time to the study of leadership. This means that those who seek to study leadership must usually do so on their own.
• The good news is that those who do study leadership dramatically increase their impact at work, and in life.
• The Six Sides provide a simple framework for creating a personal study of leadership by providing enough structure to promote learning, yet leaving enough flexibility to allow each leader to develop their own personal style.

If you like our show, please give us five stars, write a review, and share our show with a friend. We are really interested in your feedback. Thanks so much for listening.

You can find a What-Why-How summary of the show at the top of this episode's transcript.

For even more information on the Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox, write for our free guide at info@tplshow.org.

The TPL Show is a subsidiary of Avanulo, a global consulting firm that helps its clients achieve excellence with intentional culture and leadership development.

WWH Summary

Frist, before the Transcript begins, we have provided a short Summary of this episode in What-Why-How format for provide you with a quick reference guide.

What are the Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox?

They are six governing principles (tenets) around which individual leaders can build a personal, but effective leadership style. They help us see what a good leader is and how to study and practice to become a better leader.

The Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox are:

1. operate against principles inviolate.

2. Assume an effective mantle.

3. Deeply understand purpose.

4. Have impact through others.

5. Be situationally aware.

6. Master the art of doing nothing.

Why is are the Six Sides important? What is their value?

Leadership Development is mostly a self-driven endeavor. You’re often on your own. The Six Sides give each leader a framework for learning and practice that is holistic enough to ensure well rounded development, but also, it's flexible enough to allow each leader to develop their own style.

How do we learn about and apply these Six Sides?

We review each side, say one a month, thereby reviewing each side twice a year and we answer the following four questions each time, which helps us build our study plan and practice.

1. How do you get started understanding about this particular side of the leadership toolbox?”

2. How do you activate that side in yourself?

3. How do you activate that side and others?”

4. How do you learn more about it?

Key Tools

This seems like a long list, but remember, you will take a year or more to go through it all, and you can pick and choose based on your needs. Want to pursue this study in a formal way and earn a leadership certificate? Consider pursuing the Orange Belt, Avanulo’s Leadership Certification for frontline and mid-level leaders. You can pursue this certification remotely and it is very affordable. For more information write us at info@tlpshow.org.

• The Avanulo Guide to the Six Sides of the Leadership Toolbox – write us at info@tplshow.org for a free copy

• Read everything Ben Franklin ever wrote but start with a book about Franklin - Ben Franklin's Twelve Rules of Management, written by Blaine McCormick. Read everything Steven Covey wrote about leadership but start with The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

• Avanulo’s Guide to Writing Your Personal Code – write us at info@tplshow.org for a free copy.

• Avanulo’s Guide – How to Develop a Personal Mentoring Board - write us at infor@tplshow.org for a free copy.

• How to Become a CEO by Jeff J. Fox.

• The Art of War by Sunzu

• The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green (anti-source).

• Extreme Ownership how, How US Navy, Seals Lead and Win, by Jocko Willink and Leif Babbins.

• Deep Dive, by Rich Horwath.

• The Goal, by Eli Goldratt.

• How to Measure Anything by Douglas Hubbard.

• The Rational Manager, by Kepner and Tregoe.

• Predictably Irrational, by Dan Irily

• Drive, the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, by Daniel Pink.

• The Leadership Predictability Test – are you 75% predictable? – write us at info@tplshow.com for a free copy/

• The Prince by Nicolo Machavelli (anti-source)

• The Five Levels of Delegation by Michael Hyatt.

• How to Win Friends and Influence Others by Gale Carnegie. Still classic, right?

• A Vision So Noble, the OODA Loop, by John Boyd.

• Gemba Walks, by James Wolmack.

Episode Transcript

Narrator: Welcome to the TPL Show, a podcast dedicated to the study and discussion of leadership. Join us as we share relevant, simple, and lasting methods for improvement that can be used to lead from any level in any organization.

Dave: Hi, everybody, and welcome to the TPL Show. I'm Dave Cahill, and I'm here with Luke Webber.

Luke: Hey, guys.

Dave: And today, we're going to talk about the leadership toolbox. Before we get into the details, I'd like to share with you the premise upon which this concept is built. Anyone who studies and practices leadership can grow to be a much better leader than they are today. And this is a never-ending process. The more you study, the more you practice, the better leader you become, and this can continue for your entire career.

Also, leadership can be emulated, but not duplicated. Each leader must develop their own style. To do this, they have to learn and develop their own set of leadership tools. Over time. These tools, however, can be housed in a leadership toolbox. And that toolbox, for us, has six sides, six universal governing concepts of leadership. Let's quickly just summarize the six sides of a leadership toolbox. So, Luke, can you do that for us? Can you summarize them?

Luke: Let's talk about the six sides of the toolbox. The first one is “operate against principles inviolate.” Number two is “assume an effective mantle.” Three, “deeply understand purpose.” Number four, “have impact through others.” Five,” be situationally aware.” Number six, “master the art of doing nothing.”

Dave: There they are. So, there are the six sides of the leadership toolbox. So now we know what they are, at least briefly, right? We'll dig into more detail later. Why are they important?

Luke: So, these give each leader a framework for learning and practice that is holistic enough to ensure well rounded development, but also, it's flexible enough to allow each leader to develop their own style.

Dave: There you go. That's very important. So, we see that we could have a framework to move against, but we can also study in our own way, learn in our own way, apply our own learnings. And since, as we're going to cover in a moment, leadership development, at least in the United States, and maybe in the world, is a self-driven thing. If you want to become a good leader, you've really got to drive that yourself.

Luke: Yeah, true.

Dave: Okay, great. So that's why they're important.

Luke: Let's talk about how.

Dave: Yeah, let's talk. Can you take us through that list?

Luke: Yeah. So, first thing is, learn each side of the box. Second thing would be to identify methods and tools to grow that particular side.

Dave: Yeah, sure.

Luke: Third is what we just talked about. Practice these sides. Fourth would be to reflect on those sides after you've used each side.

Dave: Of course, yeah.

Luke: And then just repeat. Fifth step is to repeat.

Dave: Okay. So, you're learning the concepts overall. Then you start to focus in on each of the six. Learn tools and methods that would help you in that area. Practice them. Think about how you did. Draw lessons from that. Repeat. Just keep doing that over and over and over again.

Luke: Just like that.

Dave: Okay. All right. So that's the how to so now that we've reviewed the what, the why, and the how of the leadership toolbox, in summary, let's get into the details of the six sides.

Let's take just a moment, though, and talk about leadership. Let's set the stage for this conversation, and have a few words about leadership before we dive in. So, you're ready to do that?

Luke: I think the stage is requiring a joke.

Dave: A joke? All right. Okay. So, let's start with a joke, right. So, we're going to tell the light bulb joke.

Luke: Okay.

Dave: So how many psychologists does it take to change the light bulb?

Luke: I don't know, Dave.

Dave: Yeah, well, in the interest of time, I'm going to tell you. It only takes one, but it takes a long time, and the light bulb has to want to change.

Luke: That's a good one.

Dave: I know it's corny, very simple. But the purpose of the joke is to remind us, as leaders, it only takes one, us, to develop as leaders. We can drive our own leadership development, but it takes time, and we have to want to do it.

Dave: So, with this will to do it and realizing that it's us driving it, we have to accept the fact that it will take time for us to develop these leadership skills. So that's the purpose of a joke, right?

Luke: Okay.

Dave: So, some thoughts about leadership to get us started.

• Leaders work in language like a sculptor works in clay. So, this is important. Language is the medium of leadership. You have to be able to speak well to articulate. So, you have to practice that, right? You have to speak clearly, say what's on your mind, speak with integrity and so forth. Leaders work in concepts like architects work with structure.

• So, leaders use concepts to create visions of how they want things to be, where they want people to head, what the output of something will look like, and so forth. So, this is pretty important too, right? So, if you limit language and you limit concepts, you limit leadership. If you limit leadership, then technocracy starts to prevail. Let's talk about what technocracy is.

Luke: That is a funny word.

Dave: Yeah. So, it is a funny word. Can you kind of define it for us? What's a technocrat?

Luke: Well, technocrat is a technical expert, especially one exercising managerial authority.

Dave: There you go. So, it's a technical expert exercising managerial authority. They've got authority over others. Right.

Luke: It's probably from Webster's, by the way.

Dave: Yes, I'm sure it's from Webster's. That's where the intern got it. I'm sure this happens a lot. Right? So, someone is very proficient in a technical field. Sales is a technical field. You have to understand the product and then you go through this art of selling and get to a close and all that kind of thing. Right? So, we see this all the time in sales positions. The best salesperson, the person who sells the most by revenue or closes the most sales in the timeframe or whatever gets promoted to sales manager. Then what happens?

Luke: They don't know how to lead.

Dave: They don't know how to lead. They have no idea. The skill sets associated with closing the sale are completely different from those skill sets associated with leadership. And it's like promoting someone who's good at baseball to fly your airplane. It just almost doesn't make any sense at all. So, the result is very clear. Right. We promote all of these technocrats in the leadership positions. And how are we doing in terms of leading society, leading businesses today?

Luke: One would argue not very well.

Dave: Yeah, I mean, we have a dearth of leadership, right. So, this idea of technocrats prevailing is something that we as individual leaders, and we as members of society, we want to try to work against. We want leaders to assume leadership positions.

Luke: And this is not saying that the majority of technically skilled people can't be leaders.

Dave: No, it's not. Because what's our premise? Our premise is, if you study and practice leadership, no matter who you are, you'll become a way better leader than you are now. So, this is just something to keep in mind. Right? Okay, so we kind of alluded to this, but our society doesn't really invest in leadership. I mean, we're looking right now, you can't see it because we're a podcast, but we're looking at a course description for a business management degree right now and the word leadership doesn't even appear in the course description.

Luke: Yeah, you could probably just do a quick web search.

Dave: Yeah, I'm sure you could.

Luke: What classes are required for bachelor's degree in business? Right. Nothing about leadership.

Dave: Nothing about leadership. Right. So, leaders spend less than 1% of their educational time and less than 0.1% of their work time studying their essential skill set, how to lead. It's almost absurd. Right? So, to be a leader that takes leadership seriously, you've got to invest. You have to study leadership and practice it. You have to be the driving force in your own development. We've mentioned this already, but these facts just simply bear it out. So, the leadership toolbox we share today will give you a system for studying leadership. All right, so could you just quickly review real quick again, the six sides and then we'll dive in?

Luke: Yeah, six again. So number one, “operate against principles inviolate”. Number two, “assume an effective mantle.” Three is “deeply understand purpose.” Number four is “have impact through others.” Five is “be situationally aware.” Number six, “master the art of doing nothing.”

Dave: All right, let's jump into this. Okay, so let's go to the first one “operate against principles inviolate. So, our belief is there is karma, there's leadership karma, there's a physics to interaction. There's a price to be paid for poor, ineffective and malevolent leadership, especially malevolent leadership. So, the only way to ensure positive, balanced outcomes, at least in the long run, is to operate against a personal set of principles you just won't violate. So, you have this personal code, if you will, and you won't violate it. You've thought it out very well. It's written down, it's something that's integral to your life and you won't put it aside for short term gain. And then over time, that's the most effective way, the most profitable way, not just in terms of money, but in terms of many things, to operate your life, to lead. So, I have a personal code. I'll share it with you very quickly. We can use my code as an example later in another episode to go over how do you develop a personal code. But very simply, my personal code is “honor above all,” “loyalty above all, but honor”, “discretion above all, but loyalty and honor”. So, there's a hierarchy there, right? Then “technical competence,” “no surprises” and “balance.” So that's my personal code and I use that code when I'm making decisions and taking actions.

All right, so we have these four questions that we ask around each one of the sides to provide us this learning system.

1. So, the first is “how do you get started understanding about this particular side of the leadership toolbox?”

2. The second is “how do you activate that side in yourself?”

3. The third is “how do you activate that side and others?”

4. And the fourth is “how do you learn more about it?”

Okay, so I'm going to go through those real quickly. So, the first four principles and Violet, how do you get started? So, spend 15 minutes a day drafting your personal principles for a month. Then put them in your time management system or underneath the glass on your desk, whatever it might be. Read them every day, reflect on them once a month, revise them once a year. So that's how you get into this, right? So how do you activate it in yourself? Use them as a checklist around decisions, large and small. How does this option fit my principle about honor, my principle about loyalty?

Luke: That makes sense.

Dave: The third question, how do you activate it in others? So, you share yours with your folks. You insist that subordinates develop a set. You refer to the principles of the organization that you work for in decision making associated with that organization, decisions at work.

How do you learn more about this? Read everything that Ben Franklin wrote, and that Steven Covey wrote. And Steven Covey by the way, basis, a lot of his writings on Ben Franklin's thoughts, right? So read about this stuff by reading about everything that Ben Franklin and Steven Covey wrote. Start with Franklin. Do this in about a year. A book you could start with. It's not something that Ben Franklin wrote, but it's a nice summary of Ben Franklin's thoughts are Ben Franklin's Twelve Rules of Management, written by Blaine McCormick. All right, so that's the first side. Let's go to the second side. Luke, can you walk us through?

Luke: Yeah, let's go to the next one. So, assume an effective mantle. So, to be a leader, you got to act like a leader. Got to be seen as leadery. leaderish. Be the head person. Right. And this is a highly personal endeavor, but there are some tips that we can help people with this. So, choose your words carefully. So, words are the second most powerful tools of a leader. Never use the word but.

Dave: Why never use the word but?

Luke: Because, I believe, is everything. And you taught me this, right? So, everything that comes, everything that you said before the word but is usually false. Something like that.

Dave: Yeah. You're a good employee, but that means you're a bad employee. So, it's just a way for people to lie while they're telling the truth. Right. That's why people feel anyway.

Luke: And that changed a lot for me when I stopped doing that. Because in the back of my mind, I'm thinking everything I say before the word but is not true.

Dave: Yeah. At least that's the way people feel about it.

Speaker C: Right. Next tip. Rarely or never use sarcasm. This is good. That was a tough one for me.

Dave: Yeah, me, too, because it's so much fun.

Luke: Yeah, I'm sarcastic in nature, so this is a big one. Next one. Never write an angry letter.

Dave: That’s hard to do.

Luke: What about if you write it and, then delete it?

Dave: But don't put the person's name in the toolbox. That happened to me once.

Luke: Accidentally leave the email, like “to box” and click send.

Dave: That was terrible to clean up.

Luke: That's bad. Next one. Give your opinion last. That's good.

Dave: Yeah.

Luke: Use positive energy. Of course. That's good. Do what you say you would do.

Dave: Yeah. Keep your word.

Luke: Yeah. Set a visible, theatrical, behavioral example. So, it must be overdo it.

Dave: Yes. Overact a little bit. Like Adam West and Batman. So, people get the point.

Luke: Be confident without being oppressive. That really takes practice. That's tough. That's a tough one. Develop a natural conversational style that's not formulaic.

Dave Yeah.

Luke: Just an easy back and forth.

Dave: Right. Okay. So, these are the ways you can.

Luke: Yeah, there’s some good tips to assume an effective mantle. How to appear to be that leader.

Dave: And, of course, mantle is an old word for coat. It means in appearance or the way you look, right?

Luke: Okay. So back to those four questions.

1. How do we build this in? Give public presentations, lead some type of a civic project. Run for office, even if it's a small position. So, watch and emulate other leaders that you admire.

Dave: And that's an inexpensive and easy one.

Luke: Very easy to do.

2. How do we activate this in ourselves? Try your mantle on, put that coat on and debrief yourself. Kind of give yourself a review. Have a mentor or mentoring group. I think that's very important.

Dave: Yeah,

Luke: That was important for me because I think before I met you and learned Avanulo’s System, I didn't have that. That’s been very effective for me in my career growth.

Dave: It keeps you humble and on the straight path to have this group of people who give you honest feedback. Their only agenda is helping you, and they give you honest feedback about how you're coming across, how you're making your decisions and all that. It's so valuable.

Luke: Yeah, I think that's very valuable.

Dave: Yeah, absolutely.

Luke: So, how do we activate this in others? So, give subordinate leaders gentle, well thought out feedback. So, again, you're not out to hurt somebody or out to diminish someone. You're just giving them factual information that's genuinely going to help them.

Dave: Yeah.

Luke: So how do we learn more about this? Read lots of good books on this. A couple of examples. How to Become a CEO by Jeff J. Fox. The Art of War by Sunzu Anti source the 48 Laws of Power by Robert Green.

Dave: And this is a great anti source because this has got all the things that kind of malevolent evil people do to have power over others. So, if you learn about them, not to practice them, but you can see them coming and kind of defeat that nonsense when you have it used against you.

All right, so let's go to the next side of the toolbox. Deeply understand purpose. To be a leader, you got to know what you're leading, on whose behalf and to what end, what is the noble purpose of your organization, what is the mission of your department?, et cetera. And you've got to know these things well. You've got to recognize the difference between what's projected and what's real.

You can really understand the situation on the ground, so to speak. You've got to learn the real channels of power. What's the decision-making process in the organization? You have to deeply study the business process of your organization. How does it work? What are the sub elements, and so on. You have to fully master the operational process of the section you lead. You need to know it all from stem to stern.

And always remember that every process delivers exactly the results it was designed to deliver. That's coming from the five truths of improvement. Right. And that everything is the way it is because someone in power is allowing that to exist. You have to consider those things carefully when you understand purpose. There's another aspect of purpose I want to cover really quickly, and you can really understand the details of this in Jocko Willink and Leif Babbins book on Ownership.

Luke: Great book.

Dave: Yeah. Extreme Ownership how us. Navy, Seals lead and win. So in this book, he talks about you have to believe, and what he means there is, as a subordinate leader, you have to accept, embrace the purpose, the mission, the strategy, et cetera, of the person that you report to, of the person that they report to, of the organization overall. You simply must. The whole reason you are there as a subordinate leader is to make alive, to animate, the vision and the strategy of the leaders above you. That's the paycheck. So, if you're kind of rolling your eyes and speaking against that often the corners of the organization, you're violating the most basic tenant of your role. So, your role is to bring alive those things that they're envisioning, et cetera. And you need to deeply understand what that is, accept it, and embrace it. So, this is the idea of deeply understand.

So how do you get this started? Create a personal learning model that involves study, practice, and live play. So, you want to study, practice it, and do that in the working world.

Right. And how do you get this going in yourself? Create a detailed set of learning objectives, link them to your calendar, spend time with process owners, map the process, create a value stream map, and so on.

How do you activate this, and others demand that your support and do the same thing that you're doing?

And how can you learn more about it? Read the book deep Dive by Rich Horwath. The book. The Goal by Eli Goldratt. The book. How to Measure Anything by Douglas Hubbard. And that's a dry read, but really worth it.

Luke: That's a tough one, right?

Dave: And read The Rational Manager by Kevin and tragic, that's kind of the granddaddy of all management books. So, reading that will really bring you a lot of insight.

Luke: That's good.

Dave: Let's go to the next one. Yeah.

Luke: So next side of the box. Have impact through others. So, to have this impact through others, got to be able to delegate effectively. That involves being predictable and to make accountability visible throughout your organization. So, Dave and I believe in ETBR, which stands for enjoy the business result. So, this is a core Avanulo concept. So, this allows you to delegate a result, not a task to actually get something done. Right. Which has one owner, one date, one time.

Dave: Yeah, I love that. I love the idea of one owner, a date, and a time, because what we found is that time, when you do that, that takes 60 days of the life of an average project when you're practicing time-based ETB and the whole idea of a result. So, it's restore this vehicle to operation by noon on Thursday as opposed to change the tires. Well, I changed the tires, but it still doesn't work. We don't have the result. Right. So that's a really cool thing, this idea of ETBR.

Luke: This works really well.

Dave: Yeah.

Luke: The next thing is to be so predictable in your behavior that you pass the 75% test.

Dave: Yeah, the 75% test.

Luke: So, the 75% test essentially is, in order to delegate, to really lead, you got to be able to develop your followers. So, this is an ability to decide as you would decide and do as you would do if you're not there.

Dave: Yeah. I love this little scenario where you simply create a scenario and then you ask people to decide from ABCD the answer that you would pick, and you see, you know, what your real answer is. So, you see what they would pick, and then you can actually measure what percentage of your leaders would do what you wanted them to do. Right. It's a great exercise.

Luke: And you want that to be above 75%.

Dave: Right.

Luke: So, this allows you to be predictable enough to allow your subordinates to predict, decide, and act as you would have them act in your absence. And this is a key leadership issue.

Dave: Yeah, very key.

Luke: So, how do we build this in? So, you can build a formal visual delegation system.

Dave: Man, that's important.

Luke: So how do you activate this in yourself? You can delegate using your system for big things and small things. How do we activate this in others? You just demand that they do the same. Again, you kind of see this is a repetitive thing in all of these questions. It's a lead by example.

Dave: Master it yourself and then lead others to do the same.

Luke: Lead by example. Yeah. So how can we learn more about this? A couple of good books on this topic. Predictably Irrational by Dan Irily Drive the Surprising Truth About What Motivates US by Daniel Pink. And so, the anti-source for this. So, something to give you . . .

Dave: Kind of what not to do.

Luke: The opposite content would be The Prince by Nicolo Machavelli.

Dave: Yeah. And there's something else we should add. We didn't get it into the notes for the show, but it's Hyatt’s Five Levels of Delegation. And I think we'll do an episode on delegation and specifically about that, but you can find it so easily on the Internet. Hyatt’s Five levels of Delegation is a very effective way to delegate.

Luke: Okay. All right, so what's the next one, Dave?

Dave: Sure, I just want to share a couple of thoughts before we go on to the next one. Just a moment of reflecting on what you just kind of covered. Okay. So, my father, we’ll talk about him often, because he was just so brilliant, used to say, “the real measure of a leader is how well their people do in their absence. So, if your team falls apart when you're not there, you won't be successful, or you'll never take a vacation and lose your family.” And then he'd go on to say, “those who are irreplaceable are unpromotable.”

Luke: Yeah.

Dave: Yeah. So, you have to train your people to be competent and to act just as effectively as if you're there when you're not there. And that's a real leader. That's the measure of a real leader. And that's what this side of the box is really all about.

Dave: Okay? So, be situationally aware. To be a successful leader, you have to be organizationally savvy. You have to have emotional intelligence. You got to see the signs on the ground, right? So, you really have to listen. A key aspect of this, and it's really tough for Western leaders to do this, western leaders are formulating the answer while the other person is talking . . .

Luke: And they’re not paying attention to what they're saying.

Dave: And they're not paying attention. They're using that person, that's speaking time as a way to think about what they're going to say next. Right?

Speaker C: You can see it on their faces.

Speaker B: You can. Oh my gosh. It's very obvious, right? So, this is something you have to kind of erase the programming in you and replace it. Don't formulate your response when others are talking. Just deeply listen, intake, listen, observe, so to speak, without judgment. And then take some time and formulate your response after they're done talking. So, this is one way to be situationally aware. Another is to keep your airtime below 30%. If you're talking as a leader above 30% of the time that's going on in the exchange, people are turning you out for sure. Another is slow down and listen to your lizard brain. What does that mean? There's this gut check, a gut feeling, they'll call it, about what to do or not do. That happens in all of us. Learn how to listen to that. There's all kinds of thinking going on in your brain that you don't have access to, but it's drawing conclusions and leading you in a direction that's very powerful. So, listening to your lizard brain is important. Get a lot of input about what's happening, what just happened, what happened last time, what will happen next from subordinates and peers. Don't just rely on reports and paperwork. Go see for yourself. And we're going to do episode after episode on this idea of Genshi Genbutsu, going to the Gemba, all that kind of thing. But this is critically important.

Luke: Yeah. Getting input from others besides specifically data. Let them tell you, give their input, give their opinion.

Dave: Yeah. Don't let your ego rule you. Keep that little ego locked in the box and off in the corner of your mind. And then give your opinion last. We've mentioned that before, but part of being situationally aware, it's worth noting again, once you give your opinion as leader in the room, all other opinions shut down. So, always be the last person to give your opinion. Unless you don't want opinions, in which case, don't ask for them. Just state what's going to happen and move forward. So, this is the idea of being situationally aware.

Okay, so how do you get started on this? Take a listening course. Just really study the art of listening. Right. Go hunting. That's a great way to learn about listening. Take a body language course. Build a diagonal network in your organization. Not just your subordinates, not just your superiors, but kind of create a diagonal slice across the organization of people that you have a relationship with, and you can get input from. Take the Carnegie course. The Dale Carnegie Course is really great for this. Take a free online emotional intelligence test and then take it again in six months and see if you've improved.

So how do you activate this in yourself? Take 30 to 60 minutes to think every day in a quiet place with a journal. Not your car, not a TV or music playing. Set aside a regular time to do this and think. Think about what happened. Think about what's going to happen. Make notes and so on. How do you do this in others? Model this behavior and use what is happening. Model the subordinates and promote this idea of Carnegie with your people.

How to learn more about it. Read how to Win Friends and Influence Others by Gale Carnegie. Still classic, right? Read a Vision So noble, the OODA Loop, by John Boyd. So, John Boyd is an Air Force Colonel who taught fighter pilots. And he invented this concept of the OODA Loop for a way to be aware and then to react appropriately in the situations that fighter pilots are faced with, which you can apply to life. And then Gemba Walks, by James Womack. So, James Womack is probably the greatest mind alive today in terms of Lean, and he wrote this book, Gamble Walks which . .

Luke: Great concept.

Dave: Yeah. Rich with things you can learn about how to be aware. All right, so let's go on to the next one. Master the Art of Doing Nothing.

Luke: Not much talk about on this one.

Dave: Yeah. Our notes are blank on this right. For a reason.

Luke: Doing nothing.

Dave: Yeah. Sometimes the right answer is to just do nothing. See who will rise up to solve the problem. See if the problem is real if it goes away on its own. Sometimes it's better to just observe without judgment.

Luke: Yeah. Don't say anything.

Dave: Yeah. And sometimes just be curious. Right.

Luke: True leaders can do this very effectively.

Dave: Yeah. And you need to practice when . .

Luke: It’s hard to do.

Dave: Yeah, it's hard, because want to jump in and solve the problem.

Luke: Yeah. Usually, naturally, I'm a problem solver. Right. So, I naturally want to jump and try to help somebody. So, to sit back and then try to let other people resolve it on their own. You know what, there's a good example of this – my kids. As a father, you're always trying to want to help them figure it out.

Dave: Yeah.

Luke: You want to fix it for them, but long term, that's not going to be good.

Dave: Yes.

Luke: So, I need to step back, let them. Figure it out on their own.

Dave: Yeah. Let them fall in the mud. So, there's no, “how do you build this?” You just practice this.

The only way is this. When you're looking at intervening as a leader, you ask this question, “is this an opportunity to master the art of doing nothing?” And if it is, pause for a while. Just put a mental hook in place, when should I check back to see how it's going? But if you practice this and master this art, you'll dramatically improve your leadership capability.

Luke: Big leg up there. Yeah.

Dave: Okay, so those are the six sides. We want to give you a quick reminder like we talked about in the very first episode one. That there's two authority streams, leader, and manager. We're talking about leader here and not manager. We're talking about the leadership skills, the things that you use to communicate a compelling vision, to put the right people in the right place at the right time, to ensure fiduciary in your organization and a healthy culture, and to be present during times of crisis and high opportunity. So that's the authority stream that we're talking about – leader, right?

Okay. Some interesting, useful things to kind of help us close this out. Another one from dear old dad. “Blood makes a fine lubricant, but it dries quickly and must be reapplied often.” And what he meant by that was, if you're going to be the leader that yells and kicks and screams, then no one is going to do anything until you yell and kick and scream. And you're going to have to do that more and more often to get things done. So that's not an effective way to lead. What are a couple of others?

Luke: So, “there are no critics if everyone is on the stage.”

Dave: I love that one.

Luke: Yeah.

Dave: You get everybody involved, everybody engaged. No one's being critical. Right?

Luke: Can’t be critical.

Dave: Yeah.

Luke: Okay. Small minds talk about others. Mediocre minds talk about things, and great minds talk about ideas.

Dave: Yeah. So as a leader, be a great mind. Talk about ideas. Right. All right. And so, you talked about this one before. It's actually in Portuguese. We do business, of course, all over the world, and we learn from people all over the world. We learn this doing business. In Brazil, “um cachorro com dois donos more de fome,” so a dog with two owners dies of hunger. So, this is the idea of Captaincy, or the accountability always coming down to one person by name. Then we have another foreign language one here, too. Right?

Luke: I'm going to let you tackle that.

Dave: So, this is one we learned in Germany. “Alles hat ein Ende. Nur die Wurst hat zwei Enden..” This means everything has an end, only the sausage has two ends. And this is to remind us that things are often not as they appear. So, make sure that you're understanding fully well before you move to make a correction, and so on.

All right. So, our summary. The summary is simple. There are these six sides of the leadership toolbox you can use to build a framework for studying, practicing, and becoming a better and better leader.

And that you should be a leader and not a technocrat. If you were promoted because of your technical expertise, that's okay, but become a better leader and by studying and practicing you can do that. You can become a much better leader. So, the six sides of the toolbox:

7. operate against principles inviolate. The main part of that is having a personal code, right?

8. Assume an effective mantle. Become leader like.

9. Deeply understand the purpose of the organization

10. Have impact through others.

11. Be situationally aware.

12. Master the art of doing nothing.

And then within the framework of those six leadership sides, you want to remember to be predictable in your leadership style so that people will decide and behave as you would have them do if you were there. And make sure you schedule time to study for your role as a leader to study, practice, and reflect.

So that's it. That's the leadership toolbox. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and please like and share, and we will be back soon . . .

Luke: for the next one.

Dave: Yeah, with more exciting stuff. Thanks again for listening.

Luke: Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

Narrator: Thank you for listening to the TPL Show. We hope you'll apply what you learned today and tell us how it went. If you want to share, want more information, or have questions, please contact us at info@tpl.org. Have