Premise of the Thought: High-performance leaders are different from high-performance individuals. Distinction we need to understand.

High-performance leader gets things done on the other hand high-performance individual does the things in terms of himself or herself. High-performance leaders are able to

command respect without authority. These people think externally first and do not believe in rear-view mirror. They seize opportunities and talk about what could be possible.

Leadership blunders

1. Leading beyond Exposure

As a promising leader one really needs to be exposed beyond the people intended to be lead

or else forfeit your right to lead them. A leader has to necessarily look out from where they

are because they will not be able to lead any further beyond their own exposure.

Self proclaimed leaders claiming or pretending to have bigger exposure may initially be able

to impress but very shortly lose confidence of team they are leading.

Management may hire a person for any leadership position or role based on his/her honesty

and attitude towards work and NOT on the basis how well he/she proclaims to be known in

the society. Management should look for documentary evidence of contribution and should

avoid reliance on verbal generosity.

2. Selecting Friends instead of TEAM

A Leader should avoid bringing FRIENDS or people with whom they feel comfortable on the

team for function. If a team member decides to be your friend, that is wonderful thing but

remember that as an effective leader you need to choose function over friendship.

Management should avoid or restrict the REALTIONSHIP hiring, as it prompts for DECISION

PARALYSIS. With friends on board (integral part of team) the deliverables are compromised

and accountability cannot be fixed and not only that framing RULES becomes difficult.

3. Rewarding favouritism

Leader should avoid favoritism and ONLY reward people for their performance, not for their

personality or their association and closeness or position. Where leaders reward only their

relatives and friends, then they directly advocate that one needs to be close to the top

authorities in order to be promoted.

4. Avoiding Confrontation

People in leadership role are expected to be nice, but it destroys potential to lead effectively

as if, at the expense of being liked, leaders won’t confront what needs to be confronted.

5. Overpromise and Under deliver Leadership should always have biasness for action. If a leader can’t bring his/her reality up,

then they MUST bring their advertisement down. Avoid talking and building castles in air, say

NO whistle blowing rather be grounded and always try to live up to expectations.

6. Avoid FM broadcast. Ambiguously articulating EXPECTATIONS When you speak an expectation, you know what you meant but that doesn’t mean that

people heard what you said. Have people say back what they heard to make sure you and

the other people are on the same page.

Avoid playing your favorite radio stations only.

DO not outsource your EYES and EARS specially to few selected favorites

7. Avoid being Regimented As a Leader you need to be having a very flexible approach. People will not follow something

that does not move no matter how much they love it! Avoid having fixed boundaries around

the working procedures and processes.

8. No Updates

Always share information, find ways to update your people and not just few. If you are not

sending out updates, you are building the mentality of your people around where you’ve

been instead of where you want to be.

9. Leading without Listening

Even if you don’t like what somebody says, give them the chance to say it anyway. People

will not follow if they cannot be heard. Listening does not make you weak, it makes you

wise. Let them say!

10. No to CROSS POLLINATION If you train your ears to only respond to one tune, you won’t be able to learn from other

leaders outside of your domain. You might not agree with everybody but you can learn

something from everybody

As a leader learn to tackle challenges and keep moving despite the obstacles - Take

calculated risks and seize every defining moment - Make great choices and start living

your best life now—tomorrow might be too late.

CA Vinod Kr Sharma

vinod.kr.sharma@gmail.com