Page 57 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

38 • CEO Material: How to Be a Leader in Any Organization

come off as totally self-focused, show poor manners, and look disgusting.
You want to look controlled versus anxious to be out of there, even if you
are anxious to be out of there.
And in a meeting, don’t keep a running conversation going on in
your mind. Shut it down. Listen to what others are saying without inter-
rupting, finishing their sentences, or guessing what they are going to say.
Don’t forget that you are on stage and being watched all the time.
Your boss figures that however you handle yourself in a meeting is how
you likely will appear in other venues when representing him or her. Your
boss wants someone who makes him or her look good.
Again don’t be afraid to judiciously joke and kid. You’ll improve
communication with confident, good-natured humor, look smarter, relax
others, set an optimistic tone, and get the same important work done.
Afterwards, memorialize what you garnered from the meeting in a
brief e-mail: “This is my understanding....” You keep lines of commu-
nication open, minimize misunderstandings, and document in case you
end up in court some day.

Delegate Effectively—Before, During,

and After the Meeting

When you delegate, you give others an opportunity to do and learn. Open up
opportunities for them to shine. Get more done because more are doing it.
A leader either does something personally to get the job done or
delegates to get it done. Ask yourself

■ What am I doing that doesn’t need to be done at all?
■ What am I doing that only I can do?
■ What am I doing that could be done by somebody else?

Delegate to the lowest level where the job can effectively be done.
Have them report on performance. If they stop reporting, you know
the canary died, and there is a problem.

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