The February 2013 issue of Inc. Magazine reminds all leaders, including healthcare leaders, of important leadership principles. In a brief article titled The Overachiever’s Playbook, Inc.com columnist Jeff Haden reminds leaders that, “The most successful people in business approach work differently. They don’t just work harder; they work smarter.”
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“They don’t create backup plans. Backup plans can help you sleep easier at night, but they can also create an easy way out when times get tough.
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They start at the end. Decide where you want to end up, and make that your goal. Then you can work backward and lay out every step along the way. The key is to never start small when laying out your goals.
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They avoid the crowds. Conventional wisdom yields conventional results. Joining the crowd – no matter how trendy the crowd or hot the opportunity – is a recipe for mediocrity.”
Many experienced leaders, and sometime even highly successful leaders spend inappropriate time and energy creating backup plans or starting at the beginning, middle or somewhere other than the end. From time to time, many leaders consciously or subconsciously succumb to the great temptation to “join the crowd.”
Spend a few precious minutes honestly evaluating your leadership style, and most importantly, your actions. Ask yourself – and your colleagues – for the honest truth about your habits:
- Do you refrain from creating backup plans in order to not give yourself “an easy way out?”
- Do you start at the end and work backward to lay out the steps to your goals?
- Do you avoid joining the crowd no matter how tempting that path looks?
Never forget: “The most successful people approach work differently. They don’t just work harder, they work smarter!”
How about you?
