Really Insightful Leadership Tips: Part I

I recently heard a great leadership speaker named Pat Murray. Pat was one of the original Vistage chairs (back when it was called TEC and started in Milwaukee), and is now one of their top rated speakers. Pat considers himself a student of leadership and shared some great insights. I can tell you that, among other things, these insights helped me validate many things – including how complex being a CEO is.  Here are a few:

- Andy Grove, long time acclaimed CEO of Intel, would go through an annual exercise each year of literally walking out of his office and pretending he was a new CEO. You don't need to literally go outside, but you should periodically ask yourself, "If a new CEO came in, what would he or she do?” Then, act accordingly.

- "The best leaders are comfortable being uncomfortable." Now more than ever, we need to take uncertainty and challenges in stride.

- "You stand for what you tolerate." Pat suggested that you write down 3-5 things and share them with your team. These could include violating someone's dignity, anything less than full effort, lying, etc. Pat cited a story where he, at 26 years old, was verbally abused by a big client. Without batting an eye, his boss essentially gave him free reign to fire the client. After that, Pat would run through a steel wall for his boss.