Nine Traits of Exceptional Leaders

February 28, 2022

Good morning! It was a bad week to have been invested in the Russian ruble, a good week to have been invested in wheat. What are the etiquette guidelines for thanking someone who has done an exceptional job of thanking you — and where does it end? Serenity happens to those who are prepared for it.  (Bradford, et al.) “My life is the best omelette you could make with a chainsaw.”  (McGuane) “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”  (Lamott)

• Lay musings on inflation… as promised:
  • It takes more money to buy less stuff;
  • If you don’t need any stuff, or if all the stuff you need has a fixed cost, inflation is mostly a moot point;
  • If you need stuff and your income (money/ resources) is fixed, you can’t buy as much stuff (goods or services);
  • If you absolutely need stuff and you don’t have enough money, you will need to borrow in some way — or go without; e.g., starve, experience homelessness, stop driving;
    • Credit cards, banks, bartar, relatives, friends, a pawn shop, the mob (careful of those last four!);
  • Generally, the poorer you are the more you’re impacted negatively by inflation because you need ALL of your money to buy stuff you NEED;
  • If you have lots of discretionary money you can use it to make even more money during inflationary times; e.g., interest from bonds or a bank — or from your poorer relatives;
  • Who wins during inflation?  Businesses without competition and/or providers of the stuff people absolutely NEED to survive;
    • At some point, what about greed — and hoarding?
  • Some say the government wins because when (if) personal income increases to keep pace with inflation it translates to more taxes;
  • Why haven’t we learned how to control inflation after all these years?
  • Because of something called the mystery of the human condition — and because of something called supply and demand — and other reasons;
  • Think of carrying a nearly filled shallow pan of hot liquid across the room…
  • … and then once the liquid starts moving from one edge to the other, try to keep it from spilling.
    • That’s what it’s like to control inflation — or, at least it’s the best I can offer at the moment.
• Pretty good rejoinders last week from two of my more faithful readers… good enough to share with the rest of you:
  • “RE: Bell. What about those of us who would rather shave our teeth than face going back to work from home? There must be more than just me. I don’t mean that as “whataboutism,” I mean that there must be a cadre of employees who are happier and perhaps therefore more productive because they and at least some of their coworkers are working not from home, and therefore the “odd reason” could be a workforce that is happier and better performing, even though a few of the work from homers depart?  Maybe vanishingly small, the Venn diagram could be the same as those who wish they could still run 100 milers AND want to experience Wagner at Bayreuth in their lifetime AND whose favorite vacation destination is less than 30 miles from home.”
    • “Also, on a more serious note, who’s studying the inequities in the flex/work from home movement? One of our warehouse staff was actually asked in April 2020, “Are you working from home?” Some can’t, and how much exposure and harm due to COVID did those who couldn’t work from home face? Who then should get the preferred treatment? Right now labor has the upper hand, if one wants to trade in class warfare scenarios, but as sure as Ecclesiastes 1:9 is a truism, there will come a time when there is too much labor chasing too few jobs – even while those with specialized skills will still be able to dictate terms.”  (Thank you, Brian)
  • “I had a partner in our small firm who gave up coming into the office my last 15 years in practice, he worked from home.   Frankly, it irritated me and b/c he could never commit to a regular schedule of occasionally showing up, like 1x / week or every 2 weeks, it made decisions difficult and frankly eroded a bit of the spirit of the office and planning for the future.   The last 5 or 6 years of my practice I worked primarily from home, so I get the benefits, but to maintain spirit and culture WFH is a challenge.  By then it was just him and I so I gave up caring about any spirit in our partnership.   Glad I don’t have those decisions anymore. I did miss the collegiality of the office, but remote has great benefits too.”  (Thank you, Michael)
• “Go to bed a little smarter each night.”  (Buffet)
• The chart below from M.I.T. is good enough, I don’t need to tinker with it.
  • Pencil-in your business or profession:

Nine traits of exceptional leaders

• Nine traits of exceptional leaders:
  • Respect
  • Authenticity
  • Communication
  • Humility
  • Accountability
  • Lead by Example
  • Empathy
  • Visionary
  • Care
• “If you travel in the fast lane you get to the toll booth faster.”  (Ketchum)
• Final thought:  Does your work place culture feature no-risk or at least low-risk encouragement for speaking truth to power?

• On the topic of vision… since that’s what this Newsletter is all about:
  • “You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.” Alvin Toffler
  • “Leadership is transforming vision into action and sustaining it.”  (Bennis)
  • “A great leader’s courage to achieve a vision comes from passion and not from position.” (Maxwell) — (though the two need not be at odds.)
  • Vision is a destination – a fixed point to which we focus all effort. Strategy is a route – an adaptable path to get us where we want to go.” (Sinek)
  • “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.” (Ali)
  • “A person without a vision for the future always returns to the past.”  (Unknown)
• “To become a successful philosopher king, it is much better to start as a king than as a philosopher.”  (Taleb via Jordan)
• “Revelry comes to those who make it.”  (Crosby)