More on Leadership Credit

The idea of “leadership credit,” the topic of my last Leading Thoughts, has continued to stir for a great many of you. So here are three important truths that I want you to add to your understanding of this essential feature of your leadership.

Remember that leadership credit is the trust, the confidence, the devotion that your leadership has inspired among those you lead. This credit is what will allow you to call your followers further, onward, higher, and have them respond. It will be because you’ve proven yourself. It will be because they trust you. It will be because they believe good comes of what you ask them to do. This is leadership credit.

Here is my first important truth for you: You build leadership credit by leading wisely and successfully. You don’t build leadership credit by trying to build leadership credit. If your goal in all you do is to build leadership credit, you will turn into a politician, a people-pleaser, a person ever attempting to make the led happy.

But this isn’t leadership greatness. Great leadership is doing the right thing in the right way and skillfully calling people to it. Credit from those who are led is a byproduct. It is what arises when leadership is effective and fruitful. Yet you don’t achieve this kind of credit—or leadership greatness—by constantly taking the temperature of those you lead to see if they are pleased with you. Instead, you lead. You lead skillfully in the right direction. You prove yourself in the process. You thus build credit for the future. Again, leadership credit is a byproduct, not a goal.

Second, rarely is the leader the one best equipped to know how much leadership credit he or she has. The average leader is too busy and too limited in perspective, to know what their credit is among those they lead. They need other eyes on this, other input. They need trusted people involved who can see with objectivity and perspective and who are courageous enough to report the results no matter how painful.

Only a foolish leader thinks he or she knows exactly how they stand with those they lead at all times. They don’t. They need other gauges and perspectives than they have on their own. In other words, evaluating leadership credit is a team sport, a team project.

Finally, leadership credit should be a vital factor in your thinking because it causes you to consider the human factors in your decisions. You may have a thriving market and plenty of capital for that new initiative. Yet your people may be exhausted by what you’ve already asked of them and may be doubting you a bit because of that bloody firing of a VP. Because you are a wise leader, you take your leadership credit into account in deciding about this new initiative. Perhaps you slow down. Perhaps you build credit in other ways. Perhaps you craft opportunities for rest and team-building and unifying.

I know of one CEO who said to her people, “I’m going to ask you to give more than ever in September. So I’m giving everyone the month of August off. Take a break, but come back ready to be all in for the fall.” This worked, by the way, but it only happened because a wise leader took stock of her leadership credit.

We are going to be asking huge things of our people in the years to come. The economy, global events, and stunning opportunities are going to demand it. We have to ponder this matter of leadership credit if we are going to be successful. I know you will, and I know you will lead well as a result.