After years of studying them, I have come to the conclusion that most leaders do too much. Leaders need time to think, contemplate, discuss, reflect, ruminate. After all, their decisions can be far reaching. But too often, they allow themselves to get dragged into tasks, meetings and issues, that should be handled by others. It’s really simple – when you’re doing so much, it becomes difficult to look ahead, set the vision and inspire those who look to you for direction.
“If I make three good decisions a day, that’s enough.” That’s how Jeff Bezos explained his philosophy around decisions. Study – gather input – be curious – ask questions – reflect – be at peace. You can’t do that when you’re doing stuff. Lots of leaders I’ve met are doers because that’s how they moved up within the organization. The challenge is that it can be tough to turn this off, to trust others, and become a thinker rather than a doer.
The CEO of a grocery chain once told me that one of his biggest challenges in developing his management team was getting them to stop thinking like store managers. This is true for those shifting into leadership roles in any industry.
The same is true with founders. They start the business and work 18 hours a day to make it a success. But once it is a success, they don’t know how to stop. They can’t seem to shift from doing to thinking. As a result, they don’t take the time to think ahead, anticipate, commune with other leaders and point everyone else in the right direction. On top of this, those around them think they are control freaks because they are always involving themselves in stuff they should leave to others. This leads to micro-managing and all the challenges with that kind of behavior. They didn’t mean to do it. It just kind of evolved.
So, how do you make the transition? Emulate the leaders you admire. Ask yourself, “What are they doing that I should be doing?” and “What they are not doing that I should not be doing?” Work at it little by little. Be vulnerable. As those you admire how to do it. They’ll help you because we’ve all been through it.