Part 01 – Leadership Variables
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7. Focus on the small team. Most of the organization’s critical tasks are accomplished by
the lowest-level managers and their subordinates, so anything done to make them more
effective will have a large payoff
8. Task-organize. The size and make-up of groups within the organization should be
changed according to the needs of each specific mission.
9. Hire via trial by fire. Challenging a prospective employee makes it easier to determine
the fit, and initiates a bond between the hiree and the organization.
10. Employ extreme training. Situations faced on the job shouldn’t seem more daunting
than those faced in training.
11. Breed decision by analogy. Managers can’t be briefed on every possible situation, but
they can be trained to recognize similarities between novel and familiar situations.
12. Cross-train. Running through difficult jobs creates versatile managers who
understand all aspects of the organization, even if at a cost in efficiency.
13. Manage by end state and intent. Tell people what needs to be accomplished and
why, and leave the details to them.
14. Distribute competence. Obsessively and ceaselessly train people at all levels of the
organization.
15. Reward failure. Someone who never fails probably isn’t pushing the envelope.
16. Make personnel functions stepping stones for stars. The development of the most
promising managers should include taking responsibility for hiring, training,
promoting, and transferring people.
17. Glorify the lower levels of the organization. The higher the manager, the harder he
or she should work at making it clear that the rank and file are the heroes.
18. Demand to be questioned. Subordinates should feel free to openly disagree with their
managers, up until it comes time to carry out a final and legitimate decision.
19. Instill values that support the mission. The ability to get the job done can be a
function of shared character.
20. Cultivate opposing traits. Success often requires combining seemingly contradictory
approaches.
21. Establish a core identity. Everyone in the organization should feel they’re performing
an aspect of the same job.
22. Match strength to weakness. Find ways to tilt the playing field to the competition’s
advantage.
23. Surprise and disorient the opposition. A confused and off-balance competitor can be
routed with fewer resources.
24. Make tempo a weapon. Controlling the pace of competition can exhaust and
demoralize the competition.
25. Keep plans simple and flexible. It’s better to have a few options that can be easily
adapted to changing situations than to try to make specific plans for every contingency.
26. Make organizational doctrine a living thing. It’s good to standardize practices, as
long as one of them is to continually refine and occasionally change the practices.
27. Experiment obsessively. Even the most successful organization will eventually stop
winning if it doesn’t explore radically new approaches.
28. Build new tactics around new technology. Fully leveraging technology requires new
styles of competing.
29. Don’t depend on technology. Train to be effective regardless of which technologies
are available.
30. Get an outside perspective. Insights into organizational improvement can often come
from people in seemingly unrelated fields.