3rd and 10 Decisions and How the Leader Approaches Them

Being a former athlete I like to use "sportisms" to make critical leadership points. I found that my athletic days taught me a lot about people, life and leadership. Everyone has situations in their lives where they are forced to make tough choices and decisions that can shape their lives going forward. I call these 3rd and 10 decisions. I chose that moniker because in football 3rd and 10 presents a difficult solution. Do you run or pass? Do you try to outsmart the defense or do you do what you do best? As a leader I attack 3rd and 10 problems with what I do best and sometimes that is not always the best solution to the problem.

In my attempt to grow as a leader I realize that I have challenges when it comes to certain things. With that said I try to recognize critical gaps in my leadership capacity so that I don't resort to my shortcomings on 3rd and 10 decisions. I have become better at recognizing these gaps as I have gotten older, but I made some crucial mistakes as a young leader that could have derailed my career. As a young salesman I did not view relationships with those that I worked for as critical to my development so I made multiple 3rd and 10 decisions that cost me promotions and other recognition that I worked hard for. Now I know where I went wrong and what the signs were to cause those bad decisions.What are some of your shortcomings that you might resort to during 3rd and 10 decisions? Do you have a plan that will help you develop to make better choices when those tough decisions are required?

Leadership capacity assessment is not as difficult as people make it seem. There is an easy way to assess your potential as a leader. Ask yourself three key questions.

1. Do I view myself as a leader and if so what leadership competencies do I possess?
2. Do others see me as a leader and if so what strengths do they observe?
3. How can I mesh my self assessment and that of others to increase capacity?

When you ask these questions be honest with yourself and ask others to be as candid as possible. The response(s) that you get will be your guide to handling tough decisions and help increase your capacity.

How I Increased Leadership Value

How can I increase my leadership value is a question I have been asking myself for the last three years. One of the ways that I thought would increase my value was to get an MBA. While it has not been easy I would not change the decision for a minute. Leaders have to challenge themselves if they want to continue their development and have the credibility to lead others. 

As I developed the plan for the second half of my life (I'm 38) I knew that I wanted to position myself to be an entrepreneur. I looked at business school as the final piece to the puzzle, a critical cog in my quest to bring value as a leader. Some would say, you don't need business school to bring value or be a leader. While that is true, I felt that the obstacles I faced in my career were primarily because I didn't have the quantitative background that I needed to effectively bring value. Yes, I had the basic skills needed to be a good employee, but I lacked the understanding of the crucial pieces needed to analyze a business at the level where you can truly qualify and quantify individual contributions. 

I am currently a Global Executive MBA student at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. Since starting business school, I have seen my quantitative ability to assessment skills grow exponentially. How has this increased my leadership value? It has increased it in two ways. First, my confidence is well above the level it was previously. I realized that I was a good employee but not someone that analyzed a situation any differently than other good employees which made me expendable. Second, my quest for understanding of complex work and business issues is not relegated to a ten or fifteen minute research period. Instead it involves a detailed process that which provides a solid foundation for understanding and presenting concrete solutions to complex issues. 

As I continue on my journey I am keenly focused on the continued improvement of my skills as a leader and business person.  

4 Questions Leaders Should Ask Themselves

As the study and of leadership continues to grow in the 21st century, there are several simple questions leaders can ask themselves to ensure that they are on the right developmental path. As I stated in a previous post, I always thought of myself as a leader in the "picked first for the basketball team kind of way," but leading is so much more than that. You can use these questions as you assess your individual development. 

1. Are you doing your absolute all to be the best leader you can be? If this is a no, you do not need to move to the next question(s).

2. Do you inspire others to be great? Perhaps the hardest of the skills that a leader must acquire. What and how do you inspire others to be great? 

3. Are you confident or arrogant in the delivery of your leadership duties? How do you decipher the two and walk the delicate balance of not being viewed as arrogant. Many leaders have mistaken confidence and arrogance and paid the ultimate price. For leaders the ultimate price is the loss of trust of those you are partnered with in the leader-follower relationship.

4. Can you "walk with kings nor lose the common touch." Your ability to relate to all around you will win you favor with those you lead.

As a young man I didn't have a solid game plan for my career. I was selling pharmaceuticals and was a middle of the pack representative when I developed questions 1, 3 and 4.  When I did a serious self assessment I realized I wasn't doing all that was necessary to improve as an employee, and leader. I made these questions part of my routine and my sales numbers grew quickly. After a relatively short amount of time I was consistently exceeding goal and became a resource for those I worked for and with. Once I became a manager I added question 2 and am working on mastering this everyday in all of my relationships.

Use the questions as a baseline for development and growth. For those of you who have a firm understanding of leadership theory use question 2 in other parts of your life. Do you inspire your family, friends, and others to be great?