Learning about Leadership -- not from Tony Hayward's Yacht

I've blogged about our "Distribution Club" in MDM last year -- we're a group of 7 regional distribution company owners who get together to share ideas and help one another.  We recently got our Leadership Teams together to learn about "Admired Leadership" from Randall Stutman, one of the best speakers I've ever heard.  He's worked with leaders of all stripes and has complied a list of do-it-today behaviors that make a leader admired and successful....and I bet taking a yacht trip in the middle of a crisis is not among them!

We had 80 people from all functions in our companies - they had a chance to network and compare notes, and we all got terrific take-home value about leading people and teams. 

Here are just a few of the ideas that resonated with folks on our team:

• "Play favorites with your high performers" -- give them extra attention, extra time...others will follow or opt out.  How often do we spend time with "problem children", assuming the high performers don't need our attention?
• "Frequency of contact really matters" -- touch base with your followers more often than you think is necessary, stay mindful that quantity build relationships.
• No more "feedback" -- "Feed Forward only" -- looking back leads to interrogations and punishing honesty, discussions about what to do next time keeps the focus on improvement.

Thanks to Randall and all of our teams for a great session -- please let me know what new leadership ideas you are trying ....and what you think Tony Hayward and the BP team should be doing to be "Admired Leaders."