Leadership Tenets
A
G R E AT E R
M E AS U R E
O F
CO N F I D E N C E
Of these, self-awareness (emotional selfcontrol, accurate self-assessment, and selfconfidence) will be most tested by the Ten Tenets of Leadership.
Tenet #1: Respect people. Trust them.
All of the other tenets are based on this first one. People want to do a good job. And they will work hard to succeed. This is a basic assumption about human behavior that is either believed or not believed. My experience in industry tells me that this is absolutely true, from the factory worker to the boardrooms. But circumstances and environment will spoil this, as people begin to feel ineffectual. When people feel they cannot succeed, they will stop trying. They may even become cynical and destructive. The job of a great leader is to create the environment to make success possible, and trust people to rise to the occasion. There are many reasons that leaders fail in this regard. But interestingly, our failure says less about the worthiness of others than it does about who we are. Leaders must have a high level of self-awareness as part of their EI, and confidence that giving trust and respect to others does not diminish a leader’s position.
Ten Tenets of Leadership
Larry Pendergrass, Keithley Instruments, Inc.
Effective Leaders
Throughout your career, you have probably had the opportunity to follow some great leaders and others that were less than stellar. Watching a great leader in action can be inspiring. And being subjected to a terrible leader can be depressing and demoralizing. Still, we can learn from both experiences, if we spend the time to examine carefully what we observe, avoiding the mistakes of poor leaders while emulating the actions of the best. This paper describes Ten Tenets of Leadership that I have found to be essential in the management and guidance of a wide cross-section of people, from the highest performers to the less inspired. They are drawn from personal experience, from
G R E AT E R
M E AS U R E
O F
CO N F I D E N C E
Of these, self-awareness (emotional selfcontrol, accurate self-assessment, and selfconfidence) will be most tested by the Ten Tenets of Leadership.
Tenet #1: Respect people. Trust them.
All of the other tenets are based on this first one. People want to do a good job. And they will work hard to succeed. This is a basic assumption about human behavior that is either believed or not believed. My experience in industry tells me that this is absolutely true, from the factory worker to the boardrooms. But circumstances and environment will spoil this, as people begin to feel ineffectual. When people feel they cannot succeed, they will stop trying. They may even become cynical and destructive. The job of a great leader is to create the environment to make success possible, and trust people to rise to the occasion. There are many reasons that leaders fail in this regard. But interestingly, our failure says less about the worthiness of others than it does about who we are. Leaders must have a high level of self-awareness as part of their EI, and confidence that giving trust and respect to others does not diminish a leader’s position.
Ten Tenets of Leadership
Larry Pendergrass, Keithley Instruments, Inc.
Effective Leaders
Throughout your career, you have probably had the opportunity to follow some great leaders and others that were less than stellar. Watching a great leader in action can be inspiring. And being subjected to a terrible leader can be depressing and demoralizing. Still, we can learn from both experiences, if we spend the time to examine carefully what we observe, avoiding the mistakes of poor leaders while emulating the actions of the best. This paper describes Ten Tenets of Leadership that I have found to be essential in the management and guidance of a wide cross-section of people, from the highest performers to the less inspired. They are drawn from personal experience, from