Four leadership tips from Larry Bossidy

Submitted by PhilDourado on January 2, 2009 - 1:16pm.

1. What you do your people notice. So, be self-aware and be authentic.

2. Don't be dismayed at people who are better than you. Embrace them. That's how you create well-rounded teams.

3. Aim for self-mastery. Get better. Renew yourself.

4. Practise humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.

Source: My notes from an interview between Larry Bossidy - former CEO of Honeywell and co-author of Execution and Confronting Reality - and Tom Peters

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love it

By David Straker on January 2, 2009 - 4:09pm

Love the humility quote. T'other stuff is good too. Thanks Dave

inspiring ...

By on January 5, 2009 - 12:01am

"Practise humility. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less" Love that quote - it's a great definition for humility. The danger in thinking of yourself less is that you become unbalanced and focus too much on one part of your life. That's why this one should only go together with the 3rd statement, i.e. renew yourself. If we don't look after ourselves, we won't be able to look after others.

Practise humility - preception to develop internal energy

By Syed Zakir Hussain on January 5, 2009 - 12:35pm

It is easy to phrase -out such an excellent key element in developing oneself in listening to others. And help to recognize others competency and skills. This could be the reason in developing the concept or principles behind designing the round table or oval shape table to convey the message we are all one on this table, to develop the points in order to finalize on collective decision making process. But, which school of thoughts, define the sting behind this Practice Humility. It is an internal energy which pulls the subordinates towards the leader and leader pratise to be close to sub-ordinates. It defines equalization. This is quality get inspired by oneself, and this the reason behind performing prayers in congregational. The more we structure our meetings in congregational, the more you shall inspired by humility. This is one of basic need to qualify ones self as a leader. This quality makes the person pious and with excellent character building. And the reason behind the success of Muhammed, to bring in the change from a barbarian society to a civilized society and to make oneself sacrifice for the welfare of the human being. Before humility, Power, knowledge and Money cannot win. Means all these shall be under control. Wish and like to have email address, and to understand further from the author, what inspired him to take look on this unique quality as a door opening for character building of a leader. best regards, Syed Zakir

The author's background

By The Architect on January 5, 2009 - 1:33pm

Hi Syed. Larry Bossidy was high up in General Electric, where his boss was Jack Welch, then went onto become CEO of Honeywell, which Welch tried and failed to buy before leaving GE. Bossidy then went onto write books that focus mainly on execution as the big problem in large organizations - Too much focus on strategy as 'thinking and planning' and not enough focus on strategy execution - rolling up sleeves and getting the job done. He has written Confronting Reality and other titles. If you look for his name on Amazon, you will find his books. He didn't come to a realisation about humility from any religious route, as far as I know. He says he watched too many bosses become the great "I am", which blinded them to reality, as the people who worked for them were too scared to present reality as is to them and instead presented an image of the organization as the leader wanted it to be. So, the boss's ego contributes to a warped sense of what is really happening. Speaking truth to power is one of the hardest things in an organization and bosses need the humility to want the truth, not something self-aggrandizing. That's how he explains it: he came to the conclusion through empirical observation. Hope that helps. Phil

Humility means a lot

By Eduardo Martinez on January 5, 2009 - 3:07pm

Dear Phil, Thank you so much for bringing this subject up. Dear Syed, Humility means all that human require to be happy; to make every body else happy; to make the world just and happy. It is the opposite of egoism and egocentrism. To be humble means “to be conscious of ones’ failings”. How many powerful people or rich people do you know that recognised they have one single defect? They consider they would humiliate themselves by recognising such defect, so the majority of them act with egoism and egocentrism. Why do you think we now have the global crisis we have? ONLY because of lack of humility. The world’s bosses could see what it was obvious but they just did not care. Nor now; not in previous crisis. I am sure the big minority extreme right wing bosses in USA knew the consequences in the global economy the Iraq war was going to have. The same with the subprime mortgages… Do you think they cared? Not a bit. They just wanted “a little more money/benefits”, as Roosevelt expressed very clearly. No matter what! Egoism and egocentrism run the World and that is why we have so many wars; that is why we just have over 5.000.000.000 people suffering, just a mere 75% of Humanity. That is why HUMILITY is so important. The most important virtue of all. And that is why so few little, apart from Larry Bossidy and a few others, can demonstrate they use humility in their daily actions. Since the bosses use their ego, the rest of the people are not going to less that them and use their ego as number one “virtue”. The sin of this world since Adam & Eve (alphabetical order). Kind regards, Eduardo Martinez, a Global Citizen follower of The God of All Human Beings and trying his hardest to be humble…

Disagree a little here

By Colin Scowen on January 5, 2009 - 8:33pm

Happy new year everyone. The phrase, 'Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less', is I think, not quite complete. In my 'umble opinion,the last part should be 'thinking of others more'. I think this because there is space for assumption in the last part, that should not be there. I read a book recently where one character explained that Pride, in itself, is not a bad thing. Too much pride, or too little pride are the bad things. Take too little pride in your work (such as destructive laziness, or not proof reading emails before you send them (deliberately choosing small things here, that everyone will be able to relate to)), and it lets others down, take too much pride in your work, again, others feel diminished. I think that humility has a similar thing. Not humble enough, and too humble. The same could also be said for passion, something else that is necessary for leadership. No one is likely to follow an impassionate leader, and similarly, if you feel that a leader shows too much passion, that can also make you less likely to follow. Regards, Colin As the great philosopher K said. 1500 years ago, everybody knew that the earth was the centre of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew the world was flat. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

humility

By MO COHEN on January 6, 2009 - 12:14am

here's a story - in a small town far away the congregation decided who was the humblest congregant - and in recognition they gave her a small pin to wear on her lapel - the next week she wore it to services - and they took it away - for being too proud - an article in the harvard business review a few years back named humility as the quality that took leaders to level 5 leadership For me it is the hardest quality to master mo