Which leaders are more transformational, which more transactional and which situational (see Section 9.4)?Fire fast

‘Lessons that will continue to inform my leadership for next year: Hire slow, fire fast. My job is not to spend my time policing people and their work ethic, positive attitude, and focused execution – it’s to bring in people that just have it in them. Then we can simply focus on what matters: growing the business!’

Miki Agrawal, founder and CEO of period-proof underwear startup Thinx, Fast Company, 27 December 2016.

Go with your gut

‘As a leader, I have always aimed to inspire, mentor, lead –

and protect. But when I became a CEO, I faced a difficult situation where I learned that not every important move could be coached or arrived at through consensus. Sometimes, you need to just go with your gut, make a decision and tell people the plan. When we had to make the tough decision [to change the technology platform], it just needed to get done. I didn’t have time to dive into a 30-minute discussion and get people on board. They may not have agreed, but it didn’t matter. I had to tell them what to do, and they needed to do it because I was telling them.’

Heidi Zak, co-founder and co-CEO of ThirdLove, a lingerie company.

MakeIt, 19 November 2018.

Vision and grit

‘A leader should never compare his technical skills with his employee’s. Your employee should have superior technical skills than you. If he doesn’t, it means you have hired the wrong person.

What, then, makes the leader stands out?

1. A leader should be a visionary and have more foresight than an employee.

2. A leader should have higher grit and tenacity, and be able to endure what the employees can’t.

3. A leader should have higher endurance and ability to accept and embrace failure.