First, I need to issue a disclaimer. This is not an original idea of mine. Dan Rockwell’s (AKA @LEADERSHIPFREAK) E’s for Exceptional Leadership blog inspired me. I decided to randomly pick a letter of the alphabet and see what I could come up with. I picked P and here is what I came up with:
1. “Do what you’re passionate about.” ~ Lacey Chabert
Leaders must be passionate about their mission. If you want enthusiastic followers, you will need to be passionate about your mission.
2. “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.” ~ Samuel Johnson
Leaders must demonstrate perseverance. Any mission worth accomplishing will involve overcoming obstacles and at times discouragement. If you want followers who steadfastly help you accomplish your mission, you will need to persevere when faced with obstacles and discouragement.
3. “I’m generally a very pragmatic person: that which works, works.” ~ Linus Torvalds
Leaders must be pragmatic rather that dogmatic. Followers need a leader who is more concerned with finding what will work than with proving the leader’s opinions about what will work.
4. “Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible.” ~ Hannah Arendt
Leaders must be predictable. Followers need to be able to count on the promises of their leaders. A leader who is not reliable cannot expect to have reliable followers.
5. “There are three secrets to managing. The first secret is having patience. The second is be patient. And the third most important secret is patience.” ~ Chuck Tanner
Leaders need to be patient. Leaders should not be hasty or impetuous. Followers will respect a leader who handles provocation and strain with forbearance.
Please feel free to comment on my “Five P’s of Leadership Performance” and/or add your own P’s of leadership performance.
