Once upon a time a King ordered his two sons to build two

large aqueducts to supply water to his country estates,

which were in a very poor state due to a great

drought. The first son took part of his father's riches

and part of the army. With them he travelled north

where he ordered the people of those lands to work hard

on building the aqueduct. He oversaw the work very

carefully, paying the villagers fairly, and finishing the

project within the predicted two years. Proud of his work,

he returned to the palace, only to find the place in the

midst of celebrations for the coming crowning of his

brother as King. He was told that his brother had taken

only one year to build his aqueduct in the south, and that

he had managed to do the job with hardly any soldiers or

money.

This seemed so strange to the first brother that he began

to investigate the southern aqueduct. What he found

amounted to more than a few irregularities. He returned to

the palace, telling his father to avoid this madness of

making his brother King

"Why do you say that? Is there something I should know?"

asked the King. "You know how much I love my

brother, but he must have gone crazy. He has dragged

our good name through the gutter. He built his aqueduct

deviating from the plans. He created so many outlets that

barely half the water arrives at the royal estates. He

confronted the prime minister in front of the

villagers, and he left without paying any of the workers.

He even used your soldiers as labourers. And who knows?

Maybe that's only the start..."

The King, gazing affectionately at his son, replied.

"My son, what you say is true. Your brother had the

initiative to modify the aqueduct to improve it; the wisdom

to propose something which would improve the lives of

everyone. And so he convinced the villagers to work

quickly and without pay. He had the courage to confront

the prime minister to defend justice, and the charisma to

set his soldiers to work even more hours than the villagers.

His commitment was so great that he himself was the one

who worked hardest on the project, forgetting his Princely

status. You know what, my son? This is why everyone

adores your brother, and would do anything he were to

ask of them. He is more than their King, he is their

leader".

The Prince left, deep in thought. He came to

recognise that the words of his father indeed pointed

to the greatness of his brother. And without

hesitation, he ran to his brother, to congratulate him.

1 – Leaders set the direction
Once upon a time, a group of soldiers became lost in the Alps. They were hungry and
disoriented. They argued about which way to go, but in the fading light every peak
looked the same. The soldiers had no chance of surviving the night in the freezing
temperatures.

Suddenly, a miracle.

One of them found a map sewn into the lining of his kitbag. He plotted a route, and
marched them briskly back to base. Later, when they were warm and well fed, the
soldier looked closer at his map. It actually was of the Pyrenees – hundreds of miles
away.

It’s like the old saying – when you’re lost, any old map will do.

Take-away: Leadership entails vision. Otherwise where are you leading people to? If
you don’t know where you want to go to – and if you can’t communicate that direction
effectively – then you have no right to ask people to join you on the journey.
2 – Great leaders let people get on with it
Bad leaders like to ‘shake the pan’.

You see this a lot on TV cooking shows. The producer tells the chef to keeping shuffling
the risotto around the pan. It’s more fun to watch, but apparently it’s not always the best
way to cook.

To top chefs, learning when to leave food alone – when to resist the temptation to flip
the steak – is as important as learning when to manipulate it. It’s the same for leaders.
Great leaders know when to stir things up and when to let it simmer.
Leadership Stories #1: There and back again,
turning an A Player into a B Player
In a past company, we had a small team that worked remotely. We got
together a few times a month, but otherwise relied on email and calls
to stay on the same page.

This was great to allow everyone to be efficient and focused on their

work.

Unfortunately, it also created management blind spots.

Over time, another leader and I noticed one of our best team members
seemed to be disengaging. They didn’t bring the same enthusiasm and
extra touch to their work we previously saw.

In a one on one with their manager, we discussed their recent

work. Did we need to let them go? What happened?

Neither of us knew the answer.

The epiphany: A lack of real communication

As we continued speaking we realized both of us had failed to check in
with her. It had actually been months since either of us last checked in
with her.

Realizing their drop in quality of work might just be our fault, I took
responsibility. I reached out to them and immediately scheduled a 1
on 1. I’m very glad I did.

I started the 1 on 1 by apologizing that we hadn’t been checking in with

them. Then we started talking about how they were doing.

It was then I discovered that their interests had shifted and they
wanted to make some small changes to their role. They also had
different long term goals now, so what we thought was great tasks that
furthered those goals, were actually wrong.
What’s most amazing to me in retrospect is how quickly things turned
around. After just two 1 on 1s where I listened and made some small
changes, they started showing their past enthusiasm and quality work.

The Lesson:
From that point forward, I’ve always kept in mind that you can’t take
any of your good people for granted. You have to make time to check
in on them, and assume if there’s a problem it could just as much be
you causing it as anything wrong with them.

And all it took was making time to listen and take action on what I
heard.
Why it works:

For decades, great leaders have sworn by the value of one on ones. Yet,
there wasn’t always qualitative evidence to back it up. Fortunately,
now there is.
Leadership Stories #2: How a missed phone call
made a great impression
The second leadership story, is not one I experienced first hand, but
it’s stuck with me ever since. I learned it from my father, who I’m
lucky to have as a father and a mentor in business and leadership.

He told me this story during a catch up call shortly after it happened.

Since learning the lesson, I’ve tried to always do the same to great
effect, so sharing it with you today.

The phone call

One day, my father was meeting privately in his office with a staff
member. They were discussing a number of issues important to them
when the phone rang.

My father ignored it.

After 3 rings, she looked at him and asked, “Aren’t you going to get
that?”

He paused, and remarked, “No. I don’t know whether that call is

important or not, but it can wait. I do know this meeting is
important.”

Feeling valued, she got a big smile and they continued the
conversation with new energy.

The Lesson:
What you pay attention to, and how you respond to things matters a
great deal to your team.

If you meet with your people and let push notifications, texts, IMs, and
calls constantly distract you, you’re telling your team those things are
more important than them.
When people don’t feel valued, they won’t trust you, or bother to bring
issues to you unless they feel they will get your attention. It’s a great
way to end up in a constant fire fighting, reactive management mode.
Why it works:

When you show your people you value your time with them, you are
much more likely to have strong communication and engagement with
them.
Leaders Develop Themselves First!
What’s wrong? The problem is that it is easier to quickly identify the
faults and weaknesses of others without seeing our own. Even when
they are very obvious.

I found the following story the other day that illustrates this in a light
and humorous way.

A group of suppliers was once given a tour of a mental hospital. One of

the visitors in the group had made some very insensitive and insulting
remarks about the patients.

After the tour was completed the visitors were introduced and met
with various members of the mental hospital staff in the cafeteria. The
unkind visitor chatted with one of the security staff, Bill, a kind and
wise ex-policeman.

“Are they all sick and crazy loonies in here then?” the insensitive and
rude visitor asked.

“Only the ones who fail the test,” replied Bill.

“What is the test?” asked the man.

Bill replied, “Well, we show them a bath filled with water, a large
bucket, a large cup and a spoon. We then ask them what the quickest
way to empty the water in the bath would be.”

The man said, “Oh, I see… that is pretty simple – the ‘normal one’
knows it’s the bucket, right?”

“No actually,” replied Bill. “The normal ones say pull out the plug.
Should I see if there is a bed free for you?”

It is easy for leaders to get so caught up in seeing the weaknesses of

others that they lose sight of their own development needs. However,
before we look to develop others, it is wise to do our own personal
inventory. What personal leadership development gaps should you be
filling?