13 Leadership Tips That Lead to Fast-Growth

Leadership Development is critical for growing companies. Leaders point the team in the right direction and inspire followers to be productive and engaged with the mission.

The Freeman School of Business MBA program (Tulane University) Professor Christopher McCusker is leading a dynamic class to identify successful business leadership techniques. Dr. McCusker invited me to share some ideas on leadership and here are the 13 critical leadership development techniques I shared with the class:

1. Swim In "Blue Oceans"
Leaders need to pull followers to Blue Oceans where companies can prosper and thrive. Markets appreciate the contribution a company provides when their offering is unique and will pay them handsomely. Exit out of the Red Oceans which are filled with sharks and you and your competitors are sure to bleed. MARLIN STEEL exited the Red Oceans of commodity bagel baskets and transformed itself toward a model of "Quality Engineered Quick" baskets for precision material handling applications. Where are your blue oceans? Read Professor W. Chan Kim and Rene Mauborgne legendary studies about seeking your blue ocean.

2. Create Entrepreneurial Culture
Compensate your employees with aggressive large cash bonuses to keep them engaged. Your team craves an achievable carrot that provide frequent gratification. This will encourage out-sized dedication and engagement from your employees. Eliminate the finger wagging middle management roles that monitor bathroom breaks and chatting about sports. Dedicated employees have no time to waste time.

3. Best Tools for Team
Provide superb support (equipment, software, etc) for your team and they will provide extraordinary results. At Marlin Steel, we purchased the best laser (it cuts steel 1 foot a second with 0.004" accuracy) from a factory in Connecticut. It costs more than their competitors however it enables our engineers to get more creative so we can solve our clients challenges. Clients are inclined to choose best of breed companies that utilize the best equipment.

4. Listen
Put a cork in it and listen to your clients or vendors or employees. Really listen. Turn off your cell phone. Listen intensely. You will get more out of meetings and will draw conclusions that will pay dividends. People will notice you are attentive and take meetings more seriously. The duration of the meetings will decline since meetings will go faster since everyone is engaged.

5. Continuous Improvement
Improve yourself and your company 1% each day. By the end of the year you will more than double your productivity or sales. Never be complacent. Even if your team is better than your competitors, they are gunning for you. Up your game so your clients are enchanted with your performance.

6. Cure Mistakes Fast or "Hire Fast, Fire Fast"
In prior Inc Articles, I discussed some of the following techniques (http://www.inc.com/drew-greenblatt/8-leadership-attributes-to-go-extra-mile.html ) like assessing mistakes and then lancing the boil quickly. As the economy picks up, hire people to keep up with demand. Be picky. Purge the mistaken hires quickly so that your "A" players do not become disappointed.

7. Grant Freedom--Hire Great People
Hire great people and get out of their way. If you have a wonderful person, why would you want to slow them down with pestering questions? It slows them down from their mission and makes them second-guess themselves. They will make mistakes but you will be way ahead on the deal if you give them opportunities for an unfettered launch.

8. Mentor, Not Bully
When discussing topics with your team mates, be a counselor. Mentoring talent is the best way to get a dedicated engaged employee. Many leaders get a thrill bossing around people. This bullying tendency drives down employee motivation.

9. Failure is the Leader's Fault
Ted Williams, the best baseball batter there ever was, never batted 50%. Mistakes will happen. Failure is common. Don't throw your team under the bus. As Truman said, "The buck stops here" and the leader should take the fall. Improve systems so failure does not occur again but stand in front of the troops or clients and take the blame. This conduct will ingratiate you with your associates and your team will embrace you for taking the heat.

10. Success is due to the team
Wins happen. Lavish praise on your team and thank them for the success. Do not take credit. The team won the game--you should not call out your contributions. People follow humble leaders.

11. Transparent
Be unique and call it like it is. Do not beat around the bush. When you first observe a problem, share the concern with the person that tripped up. Clearly articulate the failure and suggest ways to improve. Strike when the facts are in and be concise in your description of the problem and the remedy. Do not tolerate lies of omission.

12. Integrity
Be the most honest person on the team. Do not cut corners. Do not enter the "grey areas." People like working for honest people.

13. Cool
Leaders should be even keeled. Quiet understated approach is more likely to generate loyalty and trust. Raising your voice and getting in people's faces do not encourage long-term devotion.

5 Phrases Every Leader Should Overuse

As the leader of a startup, you have to deal with a never-ending series of issues. Startup CEOs must motivate the rest of the team, establish a company culture, and find a way to keep everyone together.

When stepping into a leadership position, it's easy to become overwhelmed. To help, here are five phrases that you should repeat as often as possible. Use these phrases as guidelines for decision making, and you'll become much more effective as a leader.

1. "I trust your judgment."

When your team members are facing hard decisions, there will be plenty of times when they come to you looking for a solution. While your natural tendency will be to tell your team what to do, it is better to let them make decisions themselves. It is your responsibility to help your team grow; if you always have the final say in everything, you prevent it from growing.

2. "I don't know."

As people step into leadership roles, there is pressure for them to act like they know everything. Many times, leaders will push an idea on their team or convince themselves that they have to know the answer to everything. This is a disastrous way to lead a company. As a leader, you have to be the first one to admit that you do not know everything. Members of your team may think that by admitting they're unsure of something, they are doing something wrong. This not only prevents them from improving, but also builds a company culture that won't allow people to make mistakes. When you show that it's OK not to know the answer to everything, your team will have much better communication and trust.

3. "What did we learn from this?"

Being a leader is a roller coaster ride, especially in a startup. One day your company is booming and the next you're almost out of business. Mistakes are happening and many times your team is facing obstacles for the first time. When things go sour, it is your job to make sure your team is taking full advantage of its failures. Instead of getting angry with team members, take a step back and ask your team what they've learned from their mistakes. Don't answer this question for them. Instead, give them time to think about what the root cause of the problem was, and how to prevent it the next time. When you do this, you not only prevent future mistakes, but you also keep your team motivated to take future risks.

4. "I'll take care of it."

The ideal situation for a leader is to recruit a team where every member is smarter than than the leader. Then, when faced with tough decisions, they can delegate to the best person on the team. With that said, there are times where you will be the only one on the team that can take care of a problem. When these situations occur, you need to tell your team you'll handle the problem, and to do whatever it takes to execute. Startups are anything but stable, which is why, as the leader, you have to be the one person upon whom everyone on the team can rely. 

5. "We're all in this together."

There's a lot of advice for how leaders should overcome failures. There's not enough written about how you should also celebrate success. Being the leader of a company is a double-edged sword. When your company fails at something, fingers usually are pointing at you. Even worse, when your team succeeds, people will try to say it's because of you that your team won. This is one of worst beliefs a leader can have. If you watch interviews with Steve Jobs, you'll notice how many times he attributes Apple's success to his team. While no one will make a movie about every employee at Apple, Jobs knew he would never have been successful without his team. When your team accomplishes something, remind them that they're the ones who got you to where you are. You win together, and you fail together. That's how you build a great company.

Why the Best Leaders are Servants, Not Kings

If you set out to climb Mt. Everest, one of the first things you do is hire a Sherpa. Originally an ethnic group in Nepal, today a "Sherpa" is the common term used for the leader of a mountain climbing expedition. In business terms, you are hiring a CEO to help you get to the top.

Thinking of yourself in the role of the Sherpa will help you become a stronger leader. This is especially true today where leaders must empower their people, not just command them. As I reflected on the treacherous and risky conditions endured by climbers, it reminded me of our current business landscape and the need for courageous and thoughtful leadership.

Here are five powerful lessons borrowed from those tough-as-nails, yet compassionate, expedition leaders:

1. Your real job is to lead others to the top.

Sherpas are successful by helping those around them reach their full potential. The same is 100 percent true for you as a leader in your organization. Ironically, the more you make it about others, the more individual success you'll enjoy.

2. Detailed planning saves lives.

If your Sherpa just looked up the mountain and said: "Let's go," you'd sprint in the opposite direction. Great leaders carefully plot out each step of their attack to ensure a safe ride.

3. Expect and prepare for setbacks.

Sherpas routinely deal with unexpected weather, animals, obscured paths, and many other obstacles. Rather than becoming derailed, they build contingency plans and adapt in real time. Do you?

4. Walk with your team.

The role of a Sherpa isn't to lead from afar. Instead, these leaders climb the mountain right alongside their teams. As a result, they build trust and achieve success. You can't ask your team to jump through fire unless you're willing to do it too.

5. Become a great listener.

To reach the summit, Sherpas must carefully listen on many fronts. They need to truly understand input from their team, the basecamp crew, and other hikers. They also need to hear rapidly changing weather reports, advice from other Sherpas, andthe latest advances in their field. Are you so busy talking that you fail to listen to others? Great leaders listen intensely and speak thoughtfully. Quite the opposite of the typical blowhard boss.

The old-school ways of barking orders from afar, thinking you have every right answer, shooting from the hip, refusing to adapt, and putting yourself first have been rendered totally ineffective in today's fiercely competitive economy. However, if you embrace the ways of the ancient Sherpa, you may just end up reaching that rarefied air sought by many but enjoyed by few. It's time to reach your own summit by shifting your approach. No ropes or helmet required.