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Foundations for Leadership Success: People-Centric Leadership Principles
Making sense of leadership advice and principles, by building a leadership framework
Graham Peelle
July 29, 2024
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Core Leadership Development Areas:
Leadership Operating System - How to lead with the 4 E’s: empowerment, empathy, efficiency, and effectiveness
Framework Development: Leadership Foundations - Performance Operations Culture, with a people centered approach
Performance Management - Measuring what matters with visibility and focus
Self Reflection & Awareness: Looking inside for what’s holding you back
Welcome to “Executive Summary | The Dynamic Leader”
Redefining bold leadership through focused principles, inspiring 10x growth
Growing exceptional leaders, while empowering the construction of unrivaled organizations through embracing vision, beyond boundaries
Foundations for Leadership Success: People-Centric Leadership Principles
Making sense of leadership advice and principles, by building a leadership framework
Opening Remarks
When I think about leadership foundations, I think what does good look like in a leader? When we think of the best leaders we have had in our careers, education, our lives, what did they do or how did they impact us?
This isn’t going to be a masterclass in how to be a great leader today, at some point that would be good, but we’re not ready for that today. Today will be more focused on what makes up a great leader, and trying to nail down some of those aspects for a leadership framework. Creating a leadership framework will help establish how to become a great leader.
Leadership is Fundamental
Leadership is one of the most important aspects of work and life:
Leadership in the office
Online
In the classroom
At home
In the community
And so on
But in many ways, we don’t define great leadership, nor do many of us know how to chase or achieve it, because you never catch it, it’s a continuous process. It is the work for many jobs, and should be part of the work for many others.
The Power of Leadership Confidence
I have been fortunate to have seen some great leadership in my career, and this is what it looked liked. Below shows a bit on how they empowered me:
Voicing confidence in people
Showing belief in people
Sharing feedback
Teaching and coaching
Mentoring
Taking a chance on people
Bringing out the best in people
Seeing the capability and potential in people
Helping others finds their super power, or unique ability
Showing others the value they bring
Investing in people
Not allowing the team to limit themselves
These leaders taught me so much about what it can take to reach that next level, value of relationships, and putting yourself out there when it’s scary and you feel so under-qualified, and that some day, it’s your turn to help someone else along the way, which led me to the greatest joy I have found professionally, leading others and helping teams achieve their dreams.
Philosophical Points
A few leadership one-liners I have become accustomed to over time:
Keep the main thing, the main thing
Inputs / Outputs
Mindset over specialization
Focus over scatter
Character over competence
Hire great people, and train them
Impact one person every day
Control what you can control
Keep the people in the center of everything you do
Take care of your people, and they take care of your customers
People over Process —> Process over Tech —> Tech supports both
Business is missing simple & leadership is missing the human aspect
Build people, to build your business
Right people on the bus, wrong people off the bus
Hire for culture and values , fire for culture and values
Be an intentional leader
Do life differently
Get out of your comfort zone
Develop a “Cultural Index”
Successful Failure
Culture Connection
Leadership Traits
Here are a few traits found in successful leaders:
Confidence
Empathy
Collaboration
Integrity
Loyalty
Positivity
Flexibility
Compassion
Emotional Intelligence
No Limit Leadership Lecture
The Ideal Leader Profile: What characteristics make up the ideal leader?
Do what they say, hold up their commitments
Serve other people
Prioritize their people’s future
Think
Vulnerability showing authenticity
Vision
Strategy and planning
Enable action
Empower people
Admit your wrong
Tell stories
Teach others to lead
Inspirational
Networking great
Caring
Self-aware
Passion for Curiosity & Learning
Leadership Philosophies
After doing some brief research on leadership, I found a number of “philosophies”. I looked at a few different sources and some were consistent, and some were completely different. There isn’t a lot of standardization from a quick look at least, and it seems more like describing the approach or style of leaders, not leadership philosophy.
Here are a few philosophies I discovered:
Transformational
Democratic (participative)
Coaching
Transactional (Managerial)
Strategic
Servant
Autocratic (authoritarian)
Laissez-faire (Delegative)
Democratic
Authentic
Learning
Solution-based
Dynamic
Empowerment
Directive
Core Elements of a Leadership Philosophy
With core elements supporting these philosophies:
Integrity
Empathy
Accountability
Growth Mindset
Collaboration
Vision
Courage
Presence
So what does this all mean for you? If you are seeing challenges in your business, many times it’s with your people, or you. So taking a look through these concepts may trigger some thought on how looking at leadership a little deeper, may help you develop your style with more intention.
Challenges with your business?
8/10 times, you have a people problem
Leadership is often what your business is missing
And if your organization is not performing or in need of real change, consider how you can turn it around through a purposeful transformation.
Turnaround Formula
Observe and assess your people, process, and technology, understanding your culture and relationship dynamics impacting your performance, results, clients, retention, profitability, and the business overall
Determine what your critical goal is as a business - what is the one thing you will change in 30/60/90 days, or 6-12 months, and the top 3-4 additional items
Build your vision and organizational “why” or purpose, to support and grow your people to help achieve your desired business results
Set activity, action and KPI Expectations
Act, review, iterate, communicate, and repeat
Operations | People | Culture | Organizations
What buckets go into this turnaround strategy?
People
Empower your people to grow your business
Values and principles
Incentives
Connection
Care
Collaboration
Community
Relationships
Empathy
Leadership impact
Development
Alignment of individuals future and correlating development
Grow them and take them where they want to go, you grow your business
Process
Business Development
Start with your own people, they will be your best sales force
Technology - enable your people, clients, and process to do great things
Business model
Organizational Principles and Objectives
Here are a few different areas like to breakdown for an organization to structure it’s objectives into more palatable goals, work streams, and a system to communicate internally.
Mission Statement | Vision | Purpose | Core Values | Strategy | Tactical Plans
KPIs
1 core metric as new leader of organization, department or team
Future state moving to 3 metrics can make sense, and then eventually 4-5 if you have core areas of focus, but pointless if you can’t drive change and improvement in #1
Data as a visibility tool, not the gospel
Teach you trends, correlations, performance, and risks
Your direct leaders may have 2-3 to start to drive that #1 for overall metric
How I see functional areas of People, Process, Technology, and Business is about grouping work into sections.
Functional Areas
People - talent concentration, through acquisition, development, and collaboration, building Efficiency and scalability
Process - Flow of work, activity for customer, building, running, or supporting business, operations- building Efficiency and scalability
Technology - internal and external, building Efficiency and scalability through tech to support the business. Tech to support business, don’t let tech run business unless it’s your business
Business - Sales, Finance, Administration
Organizational Culture
Culture is what you do, how you act when you’re alone, and what you prioritize daily. Culture isn’t something you put on a wall to create, or map out, but it grows regardless of what you want.
Steering Culture
You lead the desired culture by treating people well, prioritizing what matters, and making your team feel a part of the vision and purpose.
Changing culture
You change culture by intentionally correcting behavior that is unacceptable under the culture you want to drive.
Performance Management
Hire accountable people with ownership characteristics
Expectations
Accountability
How I see the Playbook for Rookie & Incoming Leaders Understand
Understand your business
Understand your people
Understand your customer
Understand your process
Understand the challenges
Understand the opportunities
Understand the risks
Understand necessary adjustments
Understand, evaluate, act, iterate, and repeat…continuous improvement, never settling for mediocrity.
Timeless business principles
In business operations, not growing or improving means your business is dying
Leadership
Get curious and ask questions
Prioritization
Business Case for Great Leadership
How do you structure your business operations? What’s your philosophy, framework, and how do you look at your work?
Business Operating Systems
EOS
EMyth
Scaling Up
4 Principles of Execution
Element
ScaleX Framework
Closing Bell
My framework- “Lead10x OS”
This is a Leadership Philosophy that I’ll be using to build Lead10x OS - an operating system built from experience and the best leaders and systems the world has seen.
Leadership framework is centered on three core areas:
Accelerating organizational value creation and efficiency, pushing organizations beyond barriers
Challenging the status quo by scaling strategic global delivery, integrating talent capital with AI/tech-enabled organizational development
Design, develop, consult, and lead driving a Performance Operations Culture
Rough Draft: Lead10x Operating System
Quick ramp to understand business and people/team
30/60/90
People
Determine the immediate #1 goal & BHAG
People
Build vision & customer focus
Establish what you will be great at
6/9/12 months
2/3 years
BHAG
People
Build people trust
Care to relationship
Communication
Talent Development = investment in your people
Build strategy with tactical planning
People element- design your plan based on your people, OR design your team (people) based on your plan
Establish expectations and measurement/metrics
People link
Careers growth and expectations
WIN
Operate (sell, serve, etc.)
People
Continuous improvement
Learn
Iterate
Action
People
Scale
Bigger does not equal better
Empire or mission?
People scale - what how why. Limitations depending on team ceiling
Learn how to scale- not this book (ScaleX)
Replicate
Learn and look at future for growth opportunities
Resources
ScaleX
COO Alliance
Invest in Your Leaders
John Maxwell
David Senra, Founders podcast
Quiet Rich
My First Million podcast (MFM)
Here are a few leadership specific editions amongst others available
Major Influences On My Work
Simple Scaling
Cameron Herald, COO Alliance
Alex Hormozi
John Maxwell
David Senra: Founders focus
Jim Collins
Steve Jobs
Adam Grant
Allegis Group
Jade Bonacolota
Ben Meer
Pat Flynn
Guy Raz
Amy Porterfield
Nick Loper
Ed Mylett
Sean Castrina
Dean Graziosi
Alex Lieberman
Jesse Puji
Ben Horowitz
Marc Andreesen
Justin Welsh
Matt Gray
Leila Hormozi
John Maxwell
Peter Drucker
Simon Sinek
Seth Godin
Martin Lindstrom
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Thanks for being here on the journey.
Hopefully, this added a little value to your business or your career. Thank you for reading. Please repost or share with someone who may benefit from this edition.
Climb Higher | Raise Your^ROI
Core Topic Areas:
People
Integrated Talent/Workforce Strategy: Talent Attraction, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Retention, and Optimization (Forecasting & Staffing)
Associate Relations - Proactive Employee Care and engagement: appreciate, listen, respond, communicate, and resource
Integration: People, Process, and Technology
Organizational Strategy
Strategy & Scaling - Vision to Growth
Restructuring & Turnaround - Stabilization & Mitigation
People & Profitability - Operational Efficiency, Growth Drivers, and Cost Reduction
Leadership
Leadership Foundations - Performance Operations Culture, with a people centered approach
Leadership Operating System - How to lead with the 4 E’s: empowerment, empathy, efficiency, and effectiveness
Performance Management - Measuring what matters with visibility and focus
Strategic Partnership Development
UK/EU launching to US market, US company operating in UK/EU
Strategic Partnership Development
Solutions - establishing creative ways to get thing done
Check out mba101 - coming soon!
Curated Business Education Built For You
Community and collaboration with efficient and meaningful connection
Personal development and growth fostering a positive learning environment
Career/job search support helping network to find the best opportunities
Empowering Leaders & Organizations to Unlock Greatness through Scaling —> People | Process | Technology
Accelerating value creation and efficiency
Challenging the status quo
Driving the Performance Operations Culture
If you would like to see more perspective like this, hit 🔔 to follow along on LinkedIn, and the link below👇 to check out my website or Medium articles. If you think this would help someone else, please repost or share. Thanks for reading. 🌍
Climb Higher | Raise Your^ROI
For additional content, check out articles on Medium.
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