It's Not Rocket Science: 4 Simple Strategies for Mastering the Art of Execution

Chapter 21Four Ways to Measure Your Leadership

The Challenge

Ultimately, all leaders are measured by results. However, results alone can be a misleading indicator for how effective one is in his or her leadership role. Hot economies, popular products, weak competitors, or other favorable conditions can make the terrible appear tolerable, the subpar look good, and the good appear great.

To gain a more objective view of your own, and other leaders' true effectiveness, we will need to dig deeper and examine four key areas that serve as an acute and telling report card of true leadership abilities; all of which portend one's potential to execute effectively. Below are four quadrants of leadership that offer a more insightful view into your own leadership and that of others within your organization.

The First Quadrant of a Leader's Report Card: The Culture You've Created

A leader is the chief architect and primary influencer of his or her culture. He or she can either shape it productively or have it destructively shaped by outside forces, such as indifference, an absence of absolutes, and entitlement. The next section, “Get the Culture Right!,” will go into far greater detail in this regard. For now, because culture is palpable (you tend to feel it even more than you see it), evaluate the following criteria for measuring the culture you're responsible for:

• Clear and high-performance expectations in writing for daily, weekly, and monthly activities and outcomes—master the art ...