In two past blog posts on leadership, I shared with you a number of key traits that are common among effective leaders. In the first post entitled (“No trust = No Leader”, and “7 Steps to Make Leadership Simple”). When combined, these two posts covered a great deal of territory found on the leadership landscape.
In an earlier blog post entitled “No Trust = No Leader”, I explained the importance of trust in a leaders relationship with his or her team. Those in a position of authority know that they must earn the respect and trust of their team to be effective.
Over the last week we read how the CEO of HP, Mark Hurd, lost his job over expense report irregularities’. While I will not question, at this time, HP’s Boards decision to ask Mr. Hurd to resign, I do want to examine how Mr. Hurd put himself in this position in the first place.
When I was promoted to Senior Executive Vice President and a Member of the Office of the Chairman at USLIFE (NYSE), the ink was not yet dry on my press release when I got my first “in your face” lesson in leadership and good judgment from my best friend Tim Sullivan.Tim was our CFO and a big man in body (6’ 6″) and in his loyalty to me and USLIFE. Tim walked into my office, closed the door and proceeded to pick me up and pin me to the wall and said “Congratulations on your promotion but don’t ever believe your press release and do something stupid! You’re our leader and we are all depending on you.”
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