In Sydney recently, Thomas Locke described
what it took to
lead 7,000 FBI agents during the
'9/11' tragedy and recovery period.
Within 24 hours of the planes flying into the
twin towers, Tom was given the job of leading
the FBI's investigations.
Here are his leadership principles:
- Be confident in yourself and in your
position.
- Know what your mission is and how to
accomplish it, i.e. have a plan
- Hire the very best. You would have to in
a relatively small agency like the FBI. It
has only 11,000 agents in total. For
comparison look at New York City which has
50,000 police for the City alone.
- As the leader surround yourself with the
very, very best.
- Care for your people, rejoice with them,
mourn with them but never let them see fear
in you.
- Listen to your people. Listen for their
good ideas. Encourage upward communication
so you know if you've got it wrong.
- Live by the rules - moral and ethical.
But don't get stifled by policies and
procedures. Never accept: it's not my job"
or 'we've always done it this way". But when
you make changes, do it morally and
ethically.
- Embrace change. As the world changes,
organisations and leaders have to change.
- Be decisive and clear. Don't
procrastinate.
- Accept the fact that you might be wrong.
- Accept responsibility. Don't whine and
blame.
- Reward your people but don't be afraid
to discipline them if they get something
badly wrong. They expect it. Other staff
members expect it. But then get over it, let
it go.
- Empower your people - give them the
tools they need to do their job.
- Have fun!
- Take care of yourself.
As I listened to Tom, what struck me was that
here was a man talking about leading during a
time of a world changing event yet the
leadership principles he believes in, would hold
true for any leader, in any organisation, at any
level, at any time.
So review your own behaviours against Locke's
list. Could we depend on you to lead in a
crisis?
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