I stood at the bookstore, dumbfounded, by all of the titles that were in front of me on the subject of leadership.  Each one seemed to purport that the author had, in fact, been made privy to the intangible secrets to effective leadership through the most curious of paths.  There were secrets that came from Santa, Squirrels, Jesus, several dead presidents and yet a few others.  So MANY secrets!!
While contemplating all of the choices, I couldn’t help but think back to when I was a junior Sailor and worked for Captain Pat.  Captain Pat was (quite possibly) the most personable leader that I’ve ever worked for.  On more than one occasion I got to spend some “one on one” time with him as his driver.  While taking him to a meeting one day, I asked, “Captain, how did you make to where you are?  What’s the secret to being a good leader?”  He laughed (as he always did) and responded,

“Lutzey, my boy, there is no secret.  Take care of your people and they’ll take care of you.  Leadership is all about the people.”

In life we get a lot of advice.  Some good, some bad and even more that we neither asked for nor wanted.  That day, I asked for it and I got it!  After, it became the cornerstone of how I led.  To me, there aren’t any “natural born” leaders.  Some have charisma (from the Greek word for “divinely inspired gift) that make us want to follow but, as Captain Pat said, there is no secret….leadership is all about the people and is a deliberative process.  It would be nice if there were a “cookie cutter” method that worked for everyone but the path to leading them is as varied as the people concerned.
How about you?  Have you been waiting for the secrets to be passed to you?  Wait no further…there are no secrets.  Keep trying and keep it about people through these three simple easily actionable methods.

Get Dirty
Nothing garners the respect of your people like rolling up your sleeves, working alongside them and getting dirty.  On a personal plane, I find nothing more gratifying than being physically exhausted at the end of a work day due to the effort I’ve put forth with my people.   On a professional plane, getting dirty is about connection.  From painting, cleaning heads or waxing decks – there has never been a job that I thought beneath me nor have I ever been too senior to sweat.  Working alongside your team shows that you not only respect them and what they do, it also shows that you wouldn’t ask them to do anything that you wouldn’t do yourself.  Further, it facilitates good communication.  You’d be surprised on what you learn about people and the ails of your organization when people know you’re not just talk. Roll ’em up and GET DIRTY!

Make Mistakes
Have I made mistakes in leading people?  HECK YA!  There is no “one size fits all” in leading people.   Different things motivate different people.  What constitutes as a reward to one might not mean anything to another.  Couple this with the fact that people are messy and you’ve got the perfect recipe for not wanting to step out and act.  We want to do something but get paralyzed by the little voice in the back of our head screaming, “STOP, YOU’LL MAKE A MISTAKE!”   The key thing to remember is that mistakes are part of the learning process.  How are you going to know unless you try?   Drown out that little voice and replace it with the voice of “YES!”  YES you can and YES you will make mistakes but, YES, you’ll also learn what’s best for your team.    They’ll respect you and your effort (and will forgive a misstep or two). Sins of omission are FAR WORSE than sins of commission!

Have Fun
Emotions are contagious.  In today’s stressful workplaces with downsized staffs and oversized workloads, most people (including us) are yelling, “WTF!?”  Yes, WHERE’S THE FUN!?  Not every task is enjoyable but that doesn’t mean that we can find the joy in doing it well.  When we, as leaders, can laugh when times are tight that gives our teams permission to do the same.  When people enjoy what they do and who they do it with, they are (from my personal experience) more creative, productive, and will go out of their way to get things done.  Fun is attitude and action combined.  Start with a smile and then work to share a laugh (it personalizes the work and the worker).

These three things aren’t the only things but they are some things to keep it real, keep it rolling and keep it about the people.  Granted, I would LOVE to have the skies part, a light shine upon my head and the hidden leadership secrets of the Egyptian King Ramses II be revealed to me.  However, I find that to be highly unlikely.  Until the skies part and the benevolence of King Ramses II shines upon me, I’ll keep focusing in on the people by rolling my sleeves up, making mistakes and having fun while doing it (and I hope you do the same).