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

Have length – something you get better at over a lifetime
Have breadth – it should touch many other people
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

Clear direction
Ample Motivation
Supportive Environment

Lead with Clarity and Conviction

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6 Techniques to Speak like a Leader

Credit: Simon Lancaster

Three Breathless Sentences

“A world at war, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a generation”

Three Repetitive Sentences

I love pasta, I love verona, I love tiramsu

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

Metaphor

Use metaphor every 16 words
Use to draw people towards things, and to repel them
Ex. “the Arab Spring” “The financial storm”

Exaggeration

Emotional appeal. “I am going to give you my heart and soul”

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

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

Three Questions Leaders Should Ask Their Teams

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

Leaders Build Systems with 3 things

credit: Donella Meadows – Thinking in Systems

Elements
Interconnections
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

Delaying of gratification
Acceptance of responsibility,
Dedication to the truth
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

A discipline to start
The courage to stop
A person to empower
A system to create
A relationship to initiate
A risk to take

The Habits of Excellence

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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

Cover and Move
Keep Things Simple
Prioritize and Execute
Decentralize Command

Leadership Psychology of Growth

Help the person get their story straight (where are you now? Where are you going?)
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

A character: a person who will take the journey
The Problem: three levels, external, internal, and philosophical
Meets a Guide who Understands their Fear
And gives them a plan: you used to think this way, I want you think another way
That calls them to action
That results in a comedy
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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3 Ways Coaches Can Promote Mental Toughness

The idea of toughness is often lauded as a key ingredient of winning teams. Although the concept of toughness has gained popularity in recent years, the understanding of true toughness still remains hazy.

A useful definition of toughness is: the ability to consistently do hard things that lead to desired outcomes, goals, and objectives.

Commentator Jay Bilas once wrote,

“Toughness is a skill, and it needs to be emphasized, prioritized and valued.”

Building winning teams is always the mix of many different factors; however, the elixir of success is never complete without the presence of toughness.

In particular, the mental side of toughness is often the deciding factor between winning and losing teams. If we believe that toughness is critical to success, then how can coaches and leaders help build tough-minded players and teams?

How can we teach and inspire our teams to build a mindset of toughness that allows us to overcome the obstacles that stand in our way?

Toughness is a skill that must be taught, practiced, and emphasized. Here’s how to do it.

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Toughness is the Ability to Prepare

Understanding that toughness is the ability to prepare dissipates the mystique surrounding a somewhat nebulous concept. In other words, equating preparation with toughness puts real flesh on the idea.

When leaders associate toughness with preparation it removes the uncertainty about how tough teams (and individuals) must approach their work. Tough teams are prepared teams. The ability to prepare not only builds a mindset of toughness, but a foundation of confidence. Preparation begets confidence. As NBA great Steve Kerr once said,

“The more work I put in, the more I prepared myself, the better foundation of belief I built.”

Coaches can help build mental toughness in their players by building a structured system of preparation. Toughness is formed in the hours and hours of preparation in the crucible of the planning for contingencies. In short, preparation provides a pathway to toughness. It is an investment in one’s future ability to deal with difficult things, and as those deposits of preparation are made, toughness grows.

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Toughness is the Ability to Focus

Former UC Berkley Coach Jack Clark said,

Mental toughness is your ability to focus on the next most important thing.

Tough-minded people are able to blot out distractions and maintain focused discipline on the task at hand. Distraction is one of the greatest drains on performance because it impedes progress and sidetracks momentum. Mental toughness is the ability to bring one’s mind back to the present and focus on the next most important thing. A useful acronym for this concept is N.B.A. which stands for next best action. Celtics coach Brad Stevens said,

Toughness is being able to physically and emotionally perform your task through any condition.

Physical distraction (like a nagging injury that distracts an athlete from playing well) or emotional distraction (like when a player fails to get a call from a referee and becomes emotionally upset to the point of ineffectiveness) can be huge impediments to high performance.

A coach’s job is to help bring players and teams back to the present moment. One of the most effective ways to do this is to create a language of belief that brings a team back to center. In other words, as author and coach James Kerr puts it,

Language becomes the oxygen that sustains belief. In this way, leaders rewrite the future.

Leaders should compile a system of “culture codes” — short phrases that emphasize an important principle or truth that can be used in times of emotional or physical distress.

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Toughness is the Ability to Respond (and not Rationalize!)

Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said,

Toughness is the ability not to rationalize. Rationalization is making an excuse for not achieving more than you have to that point.

The danger of rationalization is found in the failure to take responsibility. The world is given to those who have the courage to take responsibility and learn from their mistakes (and their successes, for that matter). Response is so critical because it reorients one’s path of development. Responding positively (i.e. learning from a situation and trying to improve from mistakes) moves a person towards his or her objectives, while responding poorly (i.e. blaming and rationalizing) stunts one’s growth. Toughness is about building the capacity to be able to bend or flex under pressure without breaking.

Coaches need to set a standard of excellence within their programs that will not accept rationalizing. Building a culture of ownership requires the toughness to respond with responsibility rather than rationalization.

The ability to meet the particular demands of a given situation (whatever, whenever, wherever that might be) is a true sign of toughness. Toughness is rising to the challenge regardless of the circumstance in a way that fulfills the obligations of the present moment while pushing oneself towards the desired objectives.

Coaches can help their athletes push past the fear, distraction, and rationalization by training and equipping their athletes to stand strong in moments of difficulty. Toughness is a skill that must be taught, practiced, and emphasized; it helps us address the inevitable challenges that will confront us on the field of competition and in life. As author David Brooks once wrote,

We are defined by what life asks of us.

There is no greater test of character than having the toughness to respond to the difficult questions that life throws our way. This is the test we should all be preparing for.

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The Goldfish Principle: How Environment Determines Our Growth

Goldfish are what scientists call “indeterminate growers” which means they have an infinite capacity for physical growth. When properly cared for and placed in the right environment, they have the capacity to continue growing until they die. All goldfish are endowed with this ability but most never approach their full growth capacity.

Ultimately, environmental restrictions prevent these popular household pets from fully maturing. The majority of goldfish are placed in small fish bowls which stunts their growth and prevents maturation. A goldfish’s ability to grow is directly correlated to the type of environment they live in—the larger the fish bowl the larger growth potential. The physical boundaries of the bowl or tank are what directly causes the stunted growth. It is pollution created by these enclosures that cause a goldfish’s environment to become dirty and ultimately detrimental to physical development.

Our potential for human growth works in an analogous fashion. We are endowed with a similar ability to experience continuous growth throughout the majority of our life. Physically, most humans stop growing sometime during their adolescent years (usually between 15-20 years old), but our ability to learn, adapt, and acquire new skills is indefinite.

Just like goldfish, the biggest inhibiting factor in our growth potential, is our environment.

Just as you can limit the growth of a goldfish by placing it in a confined area, polluted environments have the power to restrict our ability to develop into the best version of ourselves. Environmental factors play a significant role in reaching our potential both as leaders, athletes, and people.

The effectiveness of a leader’s team is tied directly to each team members ability to become the best version of themselves. Steady, incremental growth over time builds the foundation for a successful team. The critical job of every leader is to create an environment that encourages, promotes, and prioritizes continuous improvement and growth.

The cocktail of a creating “growth environment” is comprised of three key ingredients: a mindset, a language, and a culture.

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A Mindset of Growth

The right mindset is critical to creating an environment that encourages growth. Effective leaders understand that the mindset of their team must be laser focused on the right things, the things that promote long-lasting, sustained success. Teams that are able to adopt a learning and growth mindset are able to improve at a high rate. This helps them prioritize the process over the results, which is able to create a environment suitable for growth.

Popular author Carol Dweck had this to say about her research around developing a growth mindset:

“Did I win? Did I lose? Those are the wrong questions. The correct question is: Did I make my best effort?”

Critiquing effort is a prerequisite to developing a growth mindset because it refocuses us on the factors within our control. Focusing on effort, continuous improvement, and learning from our mistakes is critical to developing a growth mindset.

A Language of Growth

The language of continuous improvement is a critical for leaders who want to help their teams reach their full potential. How leaders describe the inevitable ups and downs of the journey determines how their team will respond in times of difficulty. The language of growth consists of framing each success or failure as an opportunity, because the process of working towards excellence remains the top priority.

As one author wrote,

“If we are only interested in results we defeat the purpose. The process is the purpose.”

In sports, speaking a “growth language” requires coaches to focus their communication around the concepts of effort, focus, body-language, teamwork, and preparation. This type of communication sends an important message to the team: that the most critical components of becoming excellent are found in the factors that lay within our control.

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A Culture of Growth

Culture is the summation of the explicit and implicit symbols, signs, and methods that determine how things are done within a team. An organizational culture positively shapes the environment of growth by encouraging the process of continuous improvement. Culture is the critical final component to building a growth environment.

Here is how one author defined culture:

“The other is ethical social environment, or culture, manifested in organizational rituals, myth, symbols, and informal rules of conduct, which creates fertile ground for moral development, and makes it possible to act according to one’s convictions.”

Each team will develop its own unique cultural flavor, but great teams always maintain several cultural constants. A culture of growth will create “fertile ground for moral development.” This comes as a result of leaders who prioritize building character through the process of competition.

Teams that compete to win but neglect to use that competition as a catalyst in their character formation, ultimately miss the point. And finally, a culture of growth will always encourage team members to pursue their convictions with courage. A culture of growth inspires each person on the team to grow into the person they were ultimately created to be.

Reflection

In what ways have you inspired your team to create a growth environment?

Specifically write down how you have implemented a mindset, language, and culture of growth within your team or organization.

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How Leaders Can Produce Compound Interest

The biggest benefits in life come from compounding interest. Relationships, habits, money, success, and growth are the result of making small investments in the right things and watching those investments grow (on top of each other) over time.

As a leader, you must think like an investment manager—you must ensure the growth of your team by directing them to invest in the right things.

Here are three “investing” principles that will allow you to harness the power of compound interest which will lead to exponential growth.

Invest Consistently

The first principle of investing is simply to invest consistently. Those who consistently make small deposits will reap the exponential benefits over the course of time. Investing consistently allows your investments to grow on top of your investments—this applies to your resources, people, and leadership.

Think about this concept through the lens of a basketball team. When a coach invests in helping his player become smarter, more skilled, and a better teammate, that initial investment by the coach not only benefits that specific player, but the entire team. That player is now more equipped to multiply the coach’s influence throughout the group.

The principle of multiplication is a powerful force. The more time, energy, and care that you invest in the lives of people around you, the stronger your team will become.

Invest Your “First-Fruits”

In the world of finance, psychologists have come up with a nifty trick to help people save more money. They call it the “pay yourself first” principle. Research shows that people who pay themselves first (i.e. saving money by having it automatically taken out of their paycheck at the beginning of the month) will save more than people who are required to make the decision voluntarily. When people make the decision to save money ahead of time, they will not fall into the temptation of overspending in the future.

So it is with leadership. Leaders who invest their “first-fruits” have made the commitment to invest the best they have to offer into their teams. Effective leaders don’t wait to give their key assets their focus, time, and energy until they are distracted, hurried, and tired. Leaders that give away their first-fruits consistently give away the best they have to offer to those who need it most.

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Invest in the Long Game

Successful investors play the long game. They are not held captive by the ups and downs of the market, but rather focus on generating consistent returns over the course of time.

Compound interest is accrued—in money, life, and leadership—when you make a regular deposits over the long-term. Leaders (and investors) can easily get caught up in the latest trends or the excitement of short-term results. Real value, growth, and impact is found in a leader who makes decisions today that will pay dividends tomorrow.

Reflection

Ask yourself these three questions:

Am I investing in my team with consistency or sporadically?

Am I investing the best I have to offer or my leftovers?

Am I investing with short-term or a long-term mindset?

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10 Thoughts on Learning and Growth

10 Simple Thoughts

Learning takes place between the place that you’re most comfortable and the place where you feel out of control. Progress forward is contingent on finding that middle ground.

The ability to remain consistent even when it feels like you’re stuck is critical to reaching your goals. Growth never feels like progress in the moment.

Growth and learning are inseparable. To grow you have to be willing to learn and to be willing to learn you need to have humility to admit you don’t know it all.

Failure is the ultimate growth hack. The more you fail the faster you growth accelerates.

Failure is painful and uncomfortable, but there is no greater teacher in life. When you try and fail that will feel painful in the moment, but you will be rewarded in the long run.

True learning is less about knowledge acquisition and more about discovering and internalizing key principles that explain how the world works.

You don’t really learn something unless you can speak freely about it to someone without referencing notes or materials.

For those who want to continue growing, learning is lifelong process. Learning never stops for those committed to being the best they can be.

Growth is an endlessly iterative process of learning, trying, failing, and reflecting.

The best learning is driven by curiosity, not obligation. Follow the threads, principles, and topics that interest you most. In the long run you’ll never get bored and always find yourself endlessly fascinated with the world.

Do you know someone who would be encouraged by this?

10 Thoughts on Learning and Growth

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