30 Lessons on Leadership

You have no doubt heard that “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” There’s probably no better adage available to remember Rule 21—Execution!

Is there anyone out there who does not enjoy Thanksgiving dinner? How about the Fourth of July BBQ? Or the office potluck where everyone brings copious amounts of food?

With the pace of business these days, it’s easy to get caught up in pursuing the next project, the next objective, the next dollar. It’s also extremely dangerous to fall into this trap and lose sight of what is really important . . .

I have learned a ton of things over my time in the workplace. Perhaps no lesson was more transformational than the importance of “soft skills” versus “hard skills.”

American folklore loves to celebrate the rugged individual that blazed trails for all to follow. Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, the young Abraham Lincoln. All these big, rugged, self-sufficient men took on the world single handedly and prevailed. Poppycock!

To succeed long-term, you and your team must have alignment of goals and efforts. And the only way to ensure alignment is to review the goals and efforts!

So you’ve built the best team in the world, given them all of the tools, provided a great environment, and let them know you care. You’re done right? WRONG!

The key here is that the statement is “importance of money” and not “importance of more money.” Going back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the 2 base layers include food and home—both of which require money.