10 QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN CHOOSING LEADERS

One of the most painful mistakes of leadership is choosing the wrong leaders.

The difference between success and failure begins with choosing the right leaders. (And ejecting the wrong.)

Three mistakes when choosing leaders:

#1. Overlooking introverts. Extroversion is not a requirement to lead.

#2. Succumbing to the seduction of charisma, talent, education, or good looks.

Degrees, talent, and charisma might open doors. But, all the talent in the world doesn’t compensate for bad character.

1. Entitlement.
2. Laziness.
3. Blaming.
4. Insensitivity.
5. Cowardice.

#3. Thinking doers are leaders. You sweat your way into leadership, but leadership is more than getting things done.

It’s foolish to define leadership as getting things done. The focus of leadership is people. You earn leadership opportunities by getting things done. You become a leader when you get things done through others.

1. How do they make people feel?
2. How do they maximize the skills and talents of others?
3. How are they instilling a sense of mission?
4. How are they developing others?
5. How are their values, not urgencies, guiding decisions.

When someone steps into leadership they leverage the talent of others.

10 questions to answer when choosing leaders:

1. What is their definition of leadership?
2. How are they expressing curiosity?
3. Where do they fall on the scale of optimistic vs. pessimistic?
4. How are their values?
5. How do they appreciate the impact of their behaviors on others?
6. What makes you believe they can focus on “what” needs to be done without getting lost in “how” things get done?
7. How are they able to see the world through the lens of others?
8. How are they including others in decision-making?
9. How do they respond to failure or correction?
10. How do they respond to authority?

Bonus: Do they aspire to lead?