Welcome to the 11th edition of North Star Blueprints! In this weekly newsletter, we embark on a journey of personal and professional growth, offering observations, strategies, and inspiration to help you navigate life’s challenges and reach new heights of success. This edition will provide a summary of the daily insights I posted throughout the week, packed with valuable tips, thought-provoking ideas, and actionable advice designed to provide you with concepts and ideas that have helped me to become a better leader in my professional life and a better person in my day-to-day interactions, which will hopefully help you to unleash your better self.
April 29: More Input ≠ Better Output
“Let’s add more people to the project, it’ll help us deliver faster”, a sentence every leader has heard or said to themselves at some point. But is this actually true? If we increase the input, will that positively impact the output?
Very often I’ve been finding myself in situations where it might seem that the answer to better output, faster results, and more growth was to increase team sizes, finish more deliverables, or work longer hours. However, merely increasing input doesn’t guarantee better results at the end, just like doubling the number of musicians in an orchestra won’t help them to play their piece twice as fast.
My reminder for you today – prioritize quality over quantity. It’s so easy to fall back into the mindset of “more is better”, it’s a lot harder to stop and assess what work actually leads to “better”. Plans change, goals shift, requirements get updated – you have to always adjust and ensure that your and your teams’ efforts are impactful and effective, leading to better outcomes and sustainable success. Instead of striving to do more, aim to do things well.
Remember that success isn’t measured by how much we do, but by how well we do it.
April 30: The Currency of Leadership
Have you ever heard of the term “Leadership Capital”? It is not something inherited or automatically granted with a title; rather, it’s earned through consistent actions and decisions that inspire trust, respect, and confidence in those you lead. Each interaction, each decision, contributes to either accumulating or depleting this capital. It’s similar to a bank account, where every positive leadership action deposits capital, while missteps or failures withdraw from it. To build and maintain leadership capital, we must then be intentional in our conduct.
It’s also important that we spend this accrued capital very carefully. Just as in financial matters, where wise investment yields dividends, leveraging leadership capital strategically can yield significant returns in the form of enhanced influence, cooperation, and unity within the team. Consider this situation – as a leader you’ve been in the trenches with your team, showing them you’re not afraid of the work, making good decisions, and always protecting your team, by doing so you’ve accumulated a lot of leadership capital. Until one day comes and you have to make your team work late, on a task no one wants to do. The team is not happy, and you have to spend your capital to make them do the work. But, since you had so much capital to spend, the team will quickly forget the late night and continue to stand by your side. The same situation for a leader with minimal leadership capital would’ve likely resulted in a much more severe outcome, with team members potentially leaving or putting minimal effort in the task.
Remember, whether it’s rallying support for a new initiative, navigating through challenging times, or inspiring peak performance, leaders who understand the value of their accumulated capital can effectively mobilize resources and achieve objectives with greater ease and efficiency. So, make sure you emphasize building a wealth of leadership capital, and only spend it when absolutely necessary.
Make sure you check out this video on leadership capital as well!
May 1: Don’t Forget Yourself
As a leader, it’s easy to get caught up in the needs of your team and the demands of the organization, often neglecting your own well-being in the process. However, prioritizing yourself as a leader is not only essential for your own health and happiness, but also for the effectiveness of your leadership.
First of all, self-care is crucial for maintaining the energy, focus, and resilience needed to lead effectively. Just like an athlete needs to rest and recharge to perform at their best, leaders must prioritize activities that replenish their physical, mental, and emotional reserves. This might include regular exercise, adequate sleep, healthy eating, and activities that bring joy and relaxation.
Moreover, prioritizing yourself sets a powerful example for your team. By demonstrating that you value self-care and work-life balance, you create a culture where well-being is prioritized and team members feel empowered to take care of themselves too. This leads to higher morale, greater productivity, and lower turnover rates within the team.
Remember, investing in your own well-being is not selfish; it’s strategic. An ambulance is not useful for anyone if it gets into in accident and doesn’t make it to its destination… similarly, a leader must know how and when to prioritize themselves in order to be at their best when their team needs them most. So, put on your own oxygen mask first before assisting others, because a healthy and well-supported leader is the foundation of a thriving team.
May 2: Don’t Miss the Big Picture
Have you ever worked with a manager who was “too hands-on”? Working so closely with the team to the point they would correct spelling errors in deliverables? These leaders typically have good intentions, but forget that when they start working on the ground, there is no one to occupy their actual role to see the situation unfold from above.
As a leader, maintaining a strategic perspective is critical to achieve your long-term objectives. Leaders must resist the temptation to be too involved in the day-to-day tactical operations, since doing so can detract from the ability to see the broader landscape and anticipate future challenges and opportunities. When you get too close to the specifics, you risk missing critical insights that appear at a higher-level view, resulting in decisions based on short-term gains rather than long-term strategy. In other words, you begin developing blind spots.
On the other side, if you’re a team member, you also play a crucial role in supporting your leader by handling the tactical execution of tasks and initiatives. By focusing on the details and executing the leader’s strategic vision, you as a team member enable your leader to concentrate on strategic decision-making.
This division of responsibilities ensures that each member of the team operates within their area of expertise, maximizing efficiency and effectiveness. Team members excel when they focus on their specific roles and tasks, allowing the leader to maintain a clear view of the overarching objective.
Consider this example – in combat, a General tends to have a view of the whole battlefield, while each soldier only sees a smaller area through their rifle scope. Should the General start looking through a scope as well, their vision will narrow significantly. At this point, no one sees the entire battlefield anymore. Be careful not to fall into the trap of being so focused on details that are better left to your team members, that you lose sight of the bigger picture.
May 3: Leaders are Forged, not Born
To conclude a week of leadership insights, I’m reflecting back at what sparked my interest in leadership to begin with. The origins are pretty humble with what was a very small homemade production in 2015 – the Jocko Podcast. Coinciding with the beginning of my professional career, this podcast has taught me countless lessons in managing up and down the chain of command, improving my communication skills, understanding how people operate under stress, and most importantly learning to control myself.
With each episode focusing on a certain topic, a book, or a guest appearance, you get to explore a wide spectrum of themes and tools that can be used in your professional and personal lives. Besides the podcast, Jocko Willink has authored multiple books that further explore the topic of leadership and the difference between good and great. One of my favourites is “Extreme Ownership”, a book that emphasizes the concept of accountability. Whether you’re a business leader, team member, or aspiring entrepreneur, the principles outlined in this book will empower you to take control of your circumstances, overcome obstacles, and achieve your fullest potential.
I highly recommend you give both the podcast and the books a try. Some of the lessons may seem extreme and are often framed in the context of military and war, but they always dive deeply into the human element which remains consistent in every arena of our lives. The lessons I’ve learned through countless hours of listening to Jocko and his guests have formed the foundation of my leadership style and provided me with valuable insights, I hope you will find his teachings beneficial for your journey as well.
Thank you for joining me on this journey of growth and discovery. I hope these insights illuminate your path forward as you pursue your aspirations with purpose and determination. See you in next week’s edition!
