Focus on results....

I once worked with a guy who was better at making speeches than decisions: he was popular yet relatively ineffective. Good talkers are like that: they can excite a crowd but not effect change, carry on a conversation but not carry the day, or add up columns of numbers but not make sense of complex issues. He was a nice guy, but back then there weren’t many KPIs or metrics: ‘sort-of’ was often good enough. But I’ve come to appreciate that while ordinary professionals focus on giving advice, extra-ordinary ones are laser-focused on giving results. We need to watch and guide the ordinary ones, but the great ones need only a little direction and then a lot of runway: they’ll ask insightful questions, give clear feedback, and motivate others. Carefully prepare to lead them: they’ll want and look for clear discussions and directions – there’s an art and science to when you hold the reins and then let them go. The best way to get extra-ordinary performance out of your team of professionals is to be an extra-ordinary leader today.                                                                                                  

Ashish Patel (b. 1975): Canadian cricketer.