Category: Culture

19 Mental Models of Leadership

The Law of the Lid 

Credit: John Maxwell

  • There is a lid on my organization and on my future and that lid is me.
  • I am the problem with my company and you are the problem with your company
  • Your education, character, capacity, ability, and vision are limiting your team

Your Work as a Leader Should:

Credit: MLK

  1. Have length – something you get better at over a lifetime
  2. Have breadth – it should touch many other people 
  3. Have height – put you in service to some ideal and satisfy the souls yearning for righteousness 

When Leaders Help Institute Change there is…

Credit: Chip and Dan Heath

  1. Clear direction
  2. Ample Motivation
  3. Supportive Environment

Lead with Clarity and Conviction

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6 Techniques to Speak like a Leader

Credit: Simon Lancaster

  1. Three Breathless Sentences
  • “A world at war, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a generation”
  1. Three Repetitive Sentences
  • I love pasta, I love verona, I love tiramsu 
  1. Three balancing statements
  • Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country
  • If it sounds balanced, it makes it more believable
  • CONTRAST 
  1. Metaphor
  • Use metaphor every 16 words
  • Use to draw people towards things, and to repel them
  • Ex. “the Arab Spring” “The financial storm”
  1. Exaggeration
  • Emotional appeal. “I am going to give you my heart and soul” 
  1. Rhyme
  • People are more likely to believe something if it Rhymes: processing fluency (easier to digest)
  • Learn things from Rhymes as toddlers

6 Gifts Human Gardeners (Leaders) Offer Their People

Credit: Dr. Tim Elmore

They Paint Pictures

Most people think in pictures. Mentors capitalize on our visual minds and paint pictures of the way leadership works by telling stories, using metaphors, or employing images.

The Provide Handles

Every door or drawer has a handle. A handle is something we can grab onto. Good mentors summarize great principles into simple terms that their mentees can get a hold of and understand. They define the principles and give practical ways they can be applied to life.

They Supply Roadmaps

(1) Give us big picture

(2) Show us where we are

(3) Show us roads to take us to our destination

(4) Reveal what roads to avoid

They Furnish Laboratories

A laboratory is simply a safe place in which to experiment and actually practice the principles being learned. 

They Give Roots

Plants can only grow as tall as their root systems grow deep. Roots represent the foundation for solid growth. They provide strength and stability; something to stand on. These roots might take the form of a “moral compass,” enabling a mentee to make wise decisions based on healthy values.

They Offer Wings

Wings enable mentees to think big, to attempt huge goals, to not fear taking risks.

Leadership as a Parent

(1) I do it; you watch

(2) I do it; you help me

(3) You do it; I help you

(4) You do it; I watch

Building Culture as a Leader

credit: Dan Coyle – The Culture Code

  1. Fill the group’s windshield with clear, accessible models of excellence. 
  2. Provide high-repetition, high-feedback training.
  3. Build vivid, memorable rules of thumb (if X, then Y). 
  4. Spotlight and honor the fundamentals of the skill.

Three Questions Leaders Should Ask Their Teams

  1. What is one thing that I currently do that you’d like me to continue to do? 
  2. What is one thing that I don’t currently do frequently enough that you think I should do more often? 
  3. What can I do to make you more effective?

Leaders Build Systems with 3 things

credit: Donella Meadows – Thinking in Systems

  1. Elements 
  2. Interconnections 
  3. Function or an purpose 
  • A system is an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way to achieve something 

The Four Tools of Leadership Discipline

credit: Scott Peck – The Road Less Traveled

  1. Delaying of gratification
  2. Acceptance of responsibility,
  3. Dedication to the truth
  4. Balancing

The Four Disciplines of Execution 

credit: FranklinCovey

1. Focus on the Wildly Important: Focus on the one or two goals that would make all the difference. 

  • Focus your finest effort on the one or two goals that would make all the
    difference, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals. Leaders must learn how to create energy around the most important projects,
    not just what’s on fire. 

2. Act on the Lead Measures: Lead measures tell you if you’re likely to achieve the goal. 

  • Lead measures tell you if you’re likely to achieve the goal. They can be influenced by the team and are predictive of the outcome. Lag measures tell you if you’ve achieved the goal. 

3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: This helps your team know the score at all times. 

  • This helps everyone know the score at all times, so they can tell whether or not they’re winning. 

4. Create a Cadence of Accountability: Meet weekly to report on commitments and review the scoreboard

  • This is where the execution happens. Your team should meet weekly for 20–30
    minutes to report on commitments and review the scoreboard. Disciplines 1, 2, and 3 set up the game, but until you set up Discipline 4, your
    team isn’t in the game.

Tools to Improve Your Leadership

credit: Craig Groeschel

  1. A discipline to start
  2. The courage to stop
  3. A person to empower
  4. A system to create
  5. A relationship to initiate
  6. A risk to take

The Habits of Excellence

Become a lifelong learner

How to Change Your Perspective as a Leader

credit: Mark Batterson

Change of pace + Change of place = Change of perspective

The Laws of Combat Leadership

credit: Jocko Willink

  1. Cover and Move
  2. Keep Things Simple
  3. Prioritize and Execute
  4. Decentralize Command

Leadership Psychology of Growth

  1. Help the person get their story straight (where are you now? Where are you going?)
  2. What is it that you’re afraid of that’s stopping you from moving forward?

The 80% rule of Decision Making

Based on 80% of the information available are you 80% sure this is the right decision? 

Storytelling as a Leader

credit: Donald Miller

  • Stories are the best invention to deliver mental models that drive behavior, how we make meaning of life
  • Simple structure to stories: a character has a problem, then meets a guide who gives them a plan and calls them to action. That action either results in a comedy or tragedy
  1. A character: a person who will take the journey
  2. The Problem: three levels, external, internal, and philosophical
  3. Meets a Guide who Understands their Fear 
  4. And gives them a plan: you used to think this way, I want you think another way
  5. That calls them to action
  6. That results in a comedy 
  7. Or results in a Tragedy

Mastery Starts with YOU

For the Self-Directed Leader

The Rule of Three

  • When telling stories: Find a Beginning, a Middle, and a End
  • In a crisis: Assess, adjust, act
  • Look, listen, speak
  • In conversation: Ask the person to go deeper 3x and you’ll get closer to the truth

Building a System of Belief – Constructing a Culture

  • Why – Purpose – Belief (ethos)
  • What – Pillars – Values (pathos)
  • How – Processes – Systems (logos)

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19 Mental Models of Leadership

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Building Purposeful Culture

Why should you strive to build a purposeful culture?

Purpose is the reason why you do what you do, the thing that only you were created to do.

Culture is the alignment of your purpose, values, beliefs, and behaviors. It is the seamless integration between the WHY, WHAT, and HOW you do what you do.

Don’t pursue passion, become passionate about pursuing purpose.

Looking towards your purpose is not about self-discovery, but self-sacrifice. Think about purpose as a mirror, not a flashlight. When we think about purpose as a mirror we tend to focus on ourselves. What is MY purpose? What makes my life fulfilling? What am I meant to do? These questions are not wrong, but they undermine the true character of what purpose is about.

You will always find your purpose just on the other side of “what’s in it for me?” Purpose is about self-sacrifice more than self-discovery. A better question is to ask “who am I here to serve?” rather than “what I am here to do”.

Purpose is the path to meaning because meaning is found in becoming a means to an end for someone else. Just as a flashlight illuminates the room, following your purpose helps light the way for others to become everything they were created to be. Purpose has a price. The price is found in counting the cost of becoming the means to an end for someone else. The measure of a life is counted in the amount of it that is given away. The cost of giving away your time, talent, and treasure is the price of living a purposeful life. In the end, there is no more valuable way to construct your life than setting it up to be given away.

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Why Teams Should Act Like Family

Unity is critical to creating a winning culture, and winning cultures are built on trust. Family is a commonly used metaphor for teams that are trying to build the chemistry, cohesion, and character it takes to win and compete at a high level.

The idea of family evokes strong emotions because (for many of us) it represents a lifelong bond (for good or for bad) that is nearly impossible to replicate in any other area of life. Familial bonds create a unified culture because it takes a lifetime of relational deposits to achieve this deepest kind of trust.

Great teams learn to tap into this resource of trust by behaving like a well-functioning family. What results is a brotherhood or sisterhood that is not the result of chance, but rather the culmination of learning to act like a true family.

Families fight fair (and well!)

Unity is built on understanding, and understanding is born out of healthy conflict. Learning to fight fair is one of the critical skills a family can learn. Conflict (in the context of relationships) undresses our proclivity to hide the most vulnerable parts of who we are.

It reveals the insecurities, insincere niceties, and superficial masks that we use to maintain artificial harmony with those around us. Conflict brings the ugly realities (and trivialities) into the light and exposes them to the fresh air of truth and transparency. Fighting well allows us to air our grievances in a way that propels us towards a more stable equilibrium. Knowing that my brother or sister has the courage to confront me builds confidence.

In short, fighting well releases me from my insecurity of having to guess what someone thinks of me. Think about the relief you felt the last time you worked through difficult conflict with someone in your life (especially with a family member). Put simply, the pain of conflict produces understanding, and understanding builds a greater depth of unity and trust.

Families tell the truth

Families learn to tell the truth and live unoffended.

Truth telling is critical to creating a culture of unity with your team or organization. Families and teams who tell the truth understand the deadliness of deceit. Telling the truth (or at the very least not lying) has a supernatural quality all its own.

It frees us to be ourselves without having to hide behind the pretense of being something we are not. This authenticity comes from having the courage to tell the truth even when the truth is difficult to say out loud. The truth puts all our cards on the table and allows families (and teams) to get on the same page moving forward.

When your team gets comfortable hearing the truth (from both players and coaches), it has the power to spur growth and create camaraderie when done with the right spirit. Truth has an antiseptic quality all its own; it has the power to clean, enliven, and regenerate even the most dysfunctional teams.

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Families serve sacrificially

Families train themselves to sacrifice for one another, to commit to serving the group’s needs above the individual’s. Sacrificial service is best exemplified in doing the small things that bring teams and families together. Unity is cultivated in the small acts of selflessness, the little acts of service that speak louder than words.

From cleaning the locker room to making the extra pass on the court, an “others-centered” culture is found in the small acts of “dying to self” that make teams (and families) great. The teammates and families who are willing to give of their time, talents and treasure to build into something greater than themselves are the ones that experience the greatest unity.

Ultimately, sacrifice is a choice that must be made over and over again in order to build a bond of unbreakable trust

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The Real Power of Diversity

Diversity is one of the most powerful team-building tools on the planet. Leaders rarely equate diversity with the notion of transformational leadership because the concept has been distorted over time. 

For many in the business community, the word “diversity” immediately brings to mind ideas of boring seminars, forced interaction, and mind-numbing workshops. In reality, diversity is one of the most critical components of successful team building. 

The power of diversity is found in the collaboration, chemistry, and continuity that comes from a group of people who respect, embrace, and work to leverage each other’s differences. “Difference” can be a difficult thing to appreciate, but teams that leverage their uniqueness are able to create a tapestry of dynamic interconnectedness that is difficult to replicate.

Mastery Starts with YOU

For the Self-Directed Leader

Diversity Makes Your Team More Innovative

Diverse teams are ultimately more innovative. Research on diversity within a business context concludes that diversity leads to more sustained innovation and profitability over the long-term. Innovation and creativity is cultivated in environments where a confluence of unique perspectives are brought together to achieve a common purpose. 

Leaders who embrace humility will seek to add diversity within the team context because they understand that one person doesn’t have all the answers. 

Diversity Makes Your Team More Efficient

Efficiency is a critical component to high performance. Teams that spend the least amount of energy to achieve the greatest results will gain an advantage over time. Efficiency describes a team’s ability to streamline their habits towards a common end. 

Think about two of the best basketball teams in the NBA over the past few seasons, the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets. Both teams were effective at scoring the basketball, but Golden State relied on passing, player movement, and teamwork to create their scoring chances.  They collectively shared the burden of putting the ball in the basket. In contrast, Houston averaged the least amount of passes per game in the entire league. They relied on individual talent to beat their man in order to be effective.  While both teams can put points on the board, over the long-run Golden State’s efficiency gave them a better chance to be successful because every single player on the team is encouraged to play to their strengths. 

Diversity Makes Your Team More Effective

In a battle of diversity vs homogeneity—assuming equal competence—diversity wins every time. Diversity fundamentally describes the ability to cultivate a new set of perspectives. A team’s ability to adapt, relate, and problem-solve in complex environments is a hallmark of diverse teams. 

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What Ancient Spartan Warriors Can Teach Us About Leadership

Spartan military culture has recently been popularized through movies (i.e. Zach Snyder’s 300) and comics, giving us a glimpse into the unique culture of these ancient warriors. Aside from earning a reputation as ferocious fighters who overcame seemingly insurmountable odds, there are two valuable leadership principles embedded in Spartan military tactics that if embraced will drastically improve your team’s performance and culture.

Spartan Culture

Spartan fighting forces were notorious for developing some of the fiercest and most effective soldiers in the ancient world. The Spartan army routinely beat the odds by defeating opponents with much larger armies and much better military equipment. Their unique organizational tactics, uncompromising culture, and fearlessness allowed them achieve seemingly impossible feats in the face of overwhelming odds.

In particular, the Spartan military used two very distinct fighting tactics that gave them a decided advantage over their adversaries. Their use of circular shields (called an aspis) in conjunction with a military formation called the phalanx made it difficult for much larger armies to penetrate their ranks.

Let’s dive into what each element can teach us about the importance of leadership, strength, culture, and team-performance.

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The Spartan Shield (aspis)

The aspis was a circular shield with a slight curvature, a wooden or leather laminated support underneath, and a bronze covering on the exterior. Each warrior was expected to protect their shield with their life. The shield was more than just another piece of military equipment, it was a deeply symbolic part of a Spartan solider’s identity. Spartan women are said to have sent their sons off to war with a stern reminder:

“Return with your shield or on it.”

Spartan Battle Shield

The importance placed on the shield was not primarily connected to a soldier’s personal well-being, but to the greater good of the entire fighting force. The size and shape of the aspis allowed a soldier to protect the blind spots of his fellow companions in the heat of battle. Each soldier would cover for the man next to him which in turn would allow the man next to them the freedom and confidence to fight with bravery—because they were not worried about protecting their own blind-spot. 

As one Spartan King said regarding the importance of the shield,

“because the latter [other armors] they put on for their own protection, but the shield for the common good of the whole line.”

Spartan King

Every great team must have their own shield to protect themselves (and their team) against hostile influences that want to destroy them. Just as the Spartans used their shields to ward off approaching enemies, effective leaders equip their teams with the necessary tools to protect the interests of the group at all cost.

The Spartan Military Formation (phalanx)

When the Spartan’s were greatly outnumbered on the battlefield, they would engage their enemies in a formation called the phalanx. A phalanx was formed when Spartan warriors would form a rectangle-shaped mass of soldiers, tightly packed together, with the outermost warriors of the formation turning their shields outward to form a protective casing.

This densely packed group of warriors allowed them to thwart various external threats while allowing them to advance in unison to engage their opponents from a position of relative safety and strength. The phalanx served a defensive and offensive purpose. They would fend off attacks by linking their shields together to form a protective outer layer, then the Phalanx would move forward as one unit to execute their offensive strategy.

The particulars of how phalanx operated offer us a fascinating look into the essence of building a strong team of people. 

Spartan Phalanx Battle Formation

The spartans would carry their shields on the left side of their body which allowed them to cover the blind spot of the warrior fighting next to them. Commanders would arrange it so that family members and friends were placed next to each other within the formation. The belief was that warriors would be less likely to abandon their comrades if they were fighting next to someone they deeply cared about. 

The strength (and ultimately the effectiveness) of the phalanx was encapsulated in the “next man up” approach. If a warrior was injured or killed on the outer edge of the formation, the next man behind them would step up and take their place. The integrity of the group’s formation was protected at all costs, because without the strength of the phalanx to protect them, each man on had little chance of surviving the battle on his own.

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Building Your Team

Every team needs the right protection (shield) and the right formation (phalanx) to effectively engage the obstacles that stand in front of them. With the right protection and the right formation, each team-member will able to move forward with the confidence and fearlessness they need to attack the challenges ahead of them.

Thought exercise:

  • How can you apply the metaphors of the aspis and the phalanx to your team
  • What kind of protection and formation does your team need to gain the confidence and fearlessness it needs to be successful?

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