For those of you who would rather listen to The Hidden Leader, it is now available on
Audible
.
Ideas to Improve Your Performance
- Management guru Tom Peters wrote in his endorsement of my book The Hidden Leader, that "A leader's job is to create more leaders...", and essentially to improve the performance of others. Can you find 10 minutes each day to do that? Coaching and mentoring others doesn't need to be heavy on time and a little goes a long way.
- Don't confuse developing others and coaching with inspection, getting updates, asking for information. If you want to improve the performance of someone, it requires deliberate focus on the acquisition or refinement of knowledge, skill, and attitude.
Reflections
Investing and Leadership
Last month I attended the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. It was the 50th Anniversary meeting and I hadn't attended previously, but since it's referred to as "The Super Bowl of Business", I was curious. For nearly 6 hours Warren Buffet and his vice chairman, Charlie Munger fielded questions from a panel of reporters, analysts, and an audience of more than 20,000 in a packed arena. The other 20,000 who descended upon Omaha for the event watched via live feed on large screens at the convention center and hotel ballrooms close by. For fun, here is a picture of the line at 5:45 a.m. for an 8:30 a.m. "kickoff," and the picture below is where we sat as a reward for arriving more than 2 hours early!
You should have seen the line behind us.
I expected that a significant portion of the meeting would be about complex financial topics. Instead, I heard a lot about leadership and culture as key drivers of business growth. I was a bit surprised to hear so much about these topics since the investment community frequently discounts them. Warren Buffet noted, "A culture that is clearly defined and deeply embedded pervades a company. It is everything." He went on to talk about how leaders of Berkshire Hathaway companies are expected to cultivate a strong culture that drives performance. That culture is articulated clearly, recognizable in the behaviors that are modeled by managers, and the right behaviors get rewarded while the bad ones have consequences. I'm working on my next article for Forbes about the leadership and investing principles Warren and Charlie shared at the meeting, and I'll include a link in a future newsletter. But I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotations of the day, which came from Charlie Munger. "We didn't do very well until we started winning." Keep at it!
A slice of life balance
- It is officially summer time. Find an outdoor activity that you can participate in. Most of us spend significant time inside, and no matter how nice the office, hotel, or first class cabin is, you need fresh air. Those of you in colder climates have no excuses now.
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