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From Mark Ford, editor, Creating Wealth: The three most important lessons in leadership I ever learned, I learned on the dance floor.
Several years ago, my wife, K, and I decided to do something about our fear of dancing at social events.
We hired a ballroom dance instructor to teach us the basics: one slow dance, one fast dance, and a rudimentary salsa.
It soon became clear I wasn’t very good at leading on the dance floor.
“It will take some time,” our instructor told me. “But I believe we can turn you into a great leader if you’re willing to follow just three rules.”
Here are the three rules, and how to apply them in dance—and in business:
1. Know What You’re Going to Do Before You Do It
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On the dance floor: “One big mistake men often make on the dance floor,” our instructor said, “is they make split-second decisions about which move they want to do next. That gives them no time to signal their partner, so they compensate by pushing and shoving. “Pushing and shoving is the opposite of good dancing. And it’s easy to avoid. Just know what your next step is going to be, and give your partner the signal at the right time so she can follow you gracefully.” In business: Having a long-term vision of what your business should become is like knowing what type of dance you want to do. But being a good leader requires more of you than that. It demands you have good ideas about the medium- and short-term tasks required to achieve that vision. And it means you must communicate those ideas to your partners—the employees, vendors, and suppliers who are working closely with you to achieve your long-term vision. |
2. Signal Your Intentions Distinctly
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On the dance floor: After learning Rule No. 1, I practiced dancing by myself until I had a complete repertoire of moves I could do without making any quick or sudden changes. Then, K and I resumed dancing together. It was much better, but there were still problems. Every once in a while, K hesitated or stumbled. I thought, “Gee, I must be learning faster than she is.” Our instructor had another interpretation. “You aren’t leading well,” he told me. “You’re giving wishy-washy signals. The stronger your signals are, the easier it is to follow you. And the easier it is for your partner to follow you, the better you’ll look, and the more she’ll like dancing with you.” In business: Knowing what you want from your partners (again, your employees, vendors, and suppliers) isn’t enough. You have to let them know what you want them to do by communicating it to them very clearly. And you have to give them enough time to do it. |
3. Lead to Demonstrate Your Partner’s Strengths
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On the dance floor: Sure enough, my dancing improved with these two rules. “You’ve come a long way,” my instructor told me one day. “But there’s one more thing you need to do… This will take you to the next level.” “In dancing,” he explained, “the purpose of the man is to lead—but the purpose of the dance itself is to showcase the woman. Think of Fred Astaire, one of the greatest dancers who ever lived. None of the women he danced with had his level of mastery. But he always made them look better than they were and put them at the center of the dance when they were performing the moves they did best.” When he explained it that way, this rule made perfect sense. And by keeping it in mind, I was able to improve my dancing almost immediately. In business: If you want all your business efforts to be successful, you need to get all your partners working at their peak levels. And you want to take full advantage of all the things they do especially well. This means giving them the opportunity to do those things (especially when they’re better at them than you are). |
All three lessons are critically important—in fact, necessary—for good leadership.
But this third rule is the most important for business leaders whose businesses are beyond the first stage of development… when continued business growth demands the contributions of many talented people, not just those of the entrepreneur who started things. (I explain the various stages of business development in my book, Ready, Fire, Aim.)
Being a good leader means you must have a vision. It means you must have a plan, too, so your partners know what their next steps should be.
It means communicating those next steps with precision and in time for them to respond.
And it means giving your partners the space they need to do their own thing.
Reeves’ Note: In the October issue of Creating Wealth, Mark reveals the simple tool he uses to evaluate his businesses, regardless of their size or model. Subscribers can look for the issue in their mailboxes this afternoon.
Creating Wealth is a “holistic” wealth advisory normally retailing for $199 per year. It’s provided free to readers of The Palm Beach Letter and Mega Trends Investing.