Page 287 - Fearless Leadership

274 FEARLESS LEADERSHIP

This message calls for people to take personal accountability for how
they choose to behave every day. The message emotionally connects peo-
ple to the larger mission. No longer is the goal an abstraction; it is some-
thing that every person can influence and contribute to.
How do you communicate to others? Do you talk about a concept, con-
tent, or context? If you are a concept person who finds ideas, intellectual
abstractions, theories, and high-level thinking fascinating, you will most
likely use this approach to engage others. You probably talk about lofty
ideas and high-level strategies. Unfortunately, concepts by themselves lack
practical, on-the-ground action to make them useful. Even though you
may clearly see how the concept applies, others may not see it without a
powerful context.
If you are a content person—someone who loves details and facts and
figuring out the process from A to Z—you will use this approach to per-
suade others. The problem is that not everyone shares your love of details.
Although it may surprise you, your facts are not compelling to everyone.
Leaders often tell us that they must overcome years of technical thinking
in order to learn a new way to engage and motivate people.
If you are a context person, your natural proclivity is to inspire people
with a visionary message and a compelling purpose. What you must ask
yourself is “Am I providing a compelling personal mission for people to
engage at a higher level of performance?” Although you may be provid-
ing an organizational or business context, by itself this is not sufficient to
gain the discretionary effort and commitment you will need from people
to achieve your business mission.
To provide a personal context, you must raise the standard of behavior
and help people learn and grow. You must put yourself and your behav-
ior on the line and lead by example. People need to see how you strug-
gle, recover, and overcome blind spots so they have a new model for
winning together.
To create a credible personal context, do the following:
1. Articulate the new behavior that is needed. Highlight the
new action, thinking, and speaking needed. For example:
“We are going to do something that our competitors aren’t
doing—build committed partnerships with our customers.