Stop right now and read the title of this article again….and keep it top of mind…all day long…every day.
I received a letter once from an employee asking me to remind all managers of their leadership responsibilities. She wanted to tell me that she sent an e-mail to a manager asking for some help on an issue she was having and that she received a return e-mail informing her that the e-mail she sent to the manager was deleted without being read.
I don’t know why any leader would not answer an e-mail from a fellow employee.
- We all have a reputation; and it is, in fact, the most important thing we have.If you don’t have credibility with your team, then you really are not a leader and should not be in a leadership position.
- Leadership is not a job. It is a responsibility.
- Leadership is not 40 hours a week. It is 168 hours a week. It is doing what has to be done, when it has to be done, in the way it should be done, whether you like it or not.
These are difficult times we are living in, and you need great leaders in every position to be there for your fellow employees and your customers.
The letter I received said that many executives and managers are great at follow-up . . . great at communication with fellow employees . . . and wonderful at helping remove barriers and roadblocks.
This is great; but it is not great if you are one of the employees who has a manager who is a non-leader.
Thanks to all of you that find the time to be there for your fellow team members . . . and for you who don’t, please go back and read the title of this article and take your responsibility to heart….Lee
Addressing my compatriot blog followers of I can tell you all that in my 14 year professional relationship with Mr Cockerell, we have corresponded on many occasions, dealing with many issues, as both a cast member, and a cast member alumni, I cannot think of one letter I wrote, issue I raised, or compliment I paid (to a cast member) that did not go personally answered.
The email that was deleted unread, that you spoke of reminded me of poor leadership quality. My wife and I were in Nyack NY at a mall at a now defunct electronics and appliance store. We were awaiting the release of a new electronic game system that had been difficult to get, my wife uses a wheelchair and this particular circuit store was in a mall that was opened 24 hours. We asked if my wife could wait in the mall instead of the outside doors for the release.
The woman we asked asked us to hold on for a minute, while she checked on something. Well about 20 minutes later she came back and said we would have to stand outside as well. When we asked to speak to the manager at which point, she told us “it was my decision”
Ath this point my anger served to fuel my sarcasm. “what’s more likely?” I asked, that you spent the last 20 minutes in some deep thought meditation chamber conceiving your response, or that you had a a mananger back there who could not speak to us directly because they are too busy discussing the latest episode of Survivor over the phone with friends on company time?
Sadly this is not a unique instance. The trend seems to be more and more managers make decisions and are too cowardly to face the customer directly – so the frontline people after left to give unpleasant news.
Up the street I-87 in Yonkers there is one of 3 Stew Leonard’s dairy stores. All of which have a almost trite yet accurate granite stone with “rule 1: the customer is always right….” inscribed. The overall result, Stew pulls in 200 million dollars a year from each of his 3 locations, and Circuit City is out of business.
You can never tell me that solid charismatic leadership is not important.
Lee,
I have alot less yrs in the work industry as you and as I have mentioned to you in past correspondance. I look to the leaders to stand up and lead and it is so discouranging to me that the work forces are so disfunctional because there is no leardership.
As I continue to listen to the words of leadership that you share it saddens my heart that we do not have more leaders like you.
Great post. I would add that not only is leadership a responsibility, it is an obligation. It takes tremendous deliberate effort to always be on and constantly be aware how your are being perceived.
Deleting an unread email is such a simple yet very powerful negative act. The little things do matter.
Thanks Lee.