In leadership, when you step up to a promotion to lead others, you may want to evaluate if “what got you here” to your current position is still the right skills that’ll “get you there” as the leader. Now, you become the coach, the mentor, the leader. Your mindset shifts from “knowing it all” to “teaching it all.”

Consciously think about the culture you want to create on your team. How you will drive that change?

When you take over the team, it’s an opportunity to redefine the culture. You will be leading people on a journey to the new vision you have for the team. Creating a set of tactics that are different actually demonstrates the shifting culture—such as celebrating the small wins.

You may also want to think about the rate of change your team can absorb. What are the specific new tactics? What are the so-called “bite-sized chews” your team can implement as part of their shift to the new culture you are consciously creating?

When you think about the Golden Rule, it has you in the center—doing unto others as you would have them do to you. Think about the Platinum Rule, where the arrows point outward and you are thinking about your audience—your team members—and what they are listening for. What messages do they want to hear? Think about the Golden Rule and combining it: the Golden Rule is treat others as you would like to be treated. The Platinum Rule is treat people how THEYwant to be treated.

Are you trying to create a group of strategic generalists? Investment experts who can operationalize transformation? How do you define success for the team? How are you  capturing and assessing the external patterns of what is happening out in the market? Are you comfortable making decisions in ambiguity with incomplete information? Is this a skill to develop in the team? Do you gravitate towards uncomfortable new things so that you are learning, as opposed to trying to do the easy things that are in your old comfort zone? As the leader, are you collaborating as a peer or leading as a general? Sometimes you have to be the general. Sometimes you need to be the cheerleader for your team—collaborating as partners and peers.

For your own professional effectiveness, you have to think about how you create more bandwidth. Are you making time to take care of yourself—your health, your fitness, your sleep, your family—as part of your own effectiveness and personal time management?

As a leader, your courage will need to increase. You must be decisive. Your humility will increase because you have a lot to learn. If you are humble, this means, “I have a lot to learn.” This means your team will feel listened to.

You also need to make sure that your team pushes you up and elevates you so that you can have time to strategically lead. If your team is not capable enough, and they constantly require and consume all your time, then they drag you down and you don’t have the mental and emotional cycles to think about the vision for the team and how to help the team elevate their capabilities.

If you think of the “high potentials” on your team—by definition—they free you up. They are not “net takers” of your time. Your low performers are net takers. You need to be thoughtful as you assess the mix of executives underneath you. You need to be intentional in how you construct the team. You want to create alignment around the same goals, but you do not want everyone to think in the same way. You want diversity of thought and ideas. Nobody has a monopoly on all the smart ideas.

You need to develop a strategic mindset to look around the corner.

You want your team to be a mosaic of different people. You need to orchestrate this and accept the fact that some of your team members may spike high in different areas. You might have team members who spike high in external customer/partner market relations. You may have team members that spike high in operational excellence. You may have team members who spike high in detailed, thoughtful analytics and diligence. When you construct a whole team, it will be a mosaic of different superpowers. You want to help everybody realize their potential while putting enough tension into the system.

Don’t hire people that are all just like you. You want to draw on the historic strength and success of everybody’s thinking while also opening the creative doors for some innovative and disruptive thinking. As the leader, you will have to monitor the balance to choose the right time to challenge your team members and the right time to support them.

Just as you will build your personal network and professional network intentionally, the same is true for your team. Encourage your team to develop their networks. Additionally, just as you will build a Vision for your team and a “Purpose”, you will want to be sure that you as the leader are also spending time on the things where You are passionate and where you have your own superpowers.

You will want to have specific values—such as always being candid. Always come forward when you need help and have problems. It’s OK to be vulnerable. There’s no punishment for making mistakes.

If there’s bad news, bring it right away. Bad news is a meal that should always be served hot. Bad news given too late—and hiding things—is something that should be discouraged because there’s no opportunity to recover or remediate. Bad news is good if you serve it hot. You can’t change it.

Deliberation and decisiveness are somewhat opposing concepts, but are critical to blend. You need to make decisions. It’s OK if they are not right—if you course-correct quickly. Being indecisive at a certain point is a decision. The market moves forward.

One of my favorite new acronyms is G.S.D. (Get Shit Done).

Think of your favorite word. Mine is courage. What is yours? What is the favorite word of everyone on your team?

Who inspires you? Who inspires them?

Together, let’s build an extraordinary version of you as the leader. You are the force multiplier to maximize the talents on your team—(or make the decisions about where people stand and where they don’t)—have the courage to forward build when necessary. Have the candor to coach those that have an opportunity to improve and recognize those who may be a better fit in a different spot.

It’s critical to always have empathy, vulnerability, and be an active listener. If your team knows you care about them, they will care about you—and they will follow you into the burning building of change and uncertainty.

Together, you will be able to cohere and weave a fabric of extraordinary growth and incredibly satisfying results.

In Summary:

1. Evaluate your skills: You may want to evaluate if what got you to your current position is still the right set of skill sets to get you to your next level as the leader. Your mindset shifts from “knowing it all” to “teaching it all.”
2. Redefine culture: When you take over the team, it’s an opportunity to redefine the culture. Consciously think about the culture you want to create on your team.
3. Consider the Platinum Rule: Think about the Platinum Rule, where the arrows point outward and you are thinking about your audience—your team members—and what they are listening for. What messages do they want to hear?
4. Define success for your team: You need to define success for the team, capture and assess external patterns, and make decisions in ambiguity with incomplete information.
5. Develop yourself and your team: You need to think about how you create more bandwidth for your own professional effectiveness, make time to take care of yourself, and develop skills on the team.
6. Increase your courage and humility: As a leader, your courage will need to increase, and your humility will increase because you have a lot to learn.
7. Be intentional about your team: You need to be intentional in how you construct the team. Your high potentials free you up, while your low performers are net takers. You need to be thoughtful as you assess the mix of executives underneath you.
8. Embrace diversity of thought: You do not want everyone to think in the same way. You want diversity of thought and ideas. Nobody has a monopoly on all the smart ideas. You want your team to be a mosaic of different people.
9. Serve bad news hot: Bad news is a meal that should always be served hot. Bad news given too late—and hiding things—is something that should be discouraged because there’s no opportunity to recover or remediate.
10. Show empathy and vulnerability: It’s critical to always have empathy, vulnerability, and be an active listener. If your team knows you care about them, they will care about you—and they will follow you into the burning building of change and uncertainty.

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