Focusing on the Followers - Bill Flynn - Leadership in Action- Episode #029

Everyone is always trying to sell you their simple tricks, tips, or habits that leaders must have to be great, but there is no one perfect process for leadership. Bill Flynn breaks down the myths around leadership while drawing on his immense experience to provide you with what really matters in reaching your vision, that being the followers. Learn how to increase buy-in, where to turn to for solutions, and what to look for when hiring for your team.

 

Takeaways:

Leadership is not a repeatable concept. There is not a concrete set of principles that someone can follow and be defined as a good leader. You cannot claim leadership, it must be bestowed upon you by your followers. 
To become a leader, you must create something compelling and have courage. People want to follow something that is compelling, this could be a vision, personality, etc. Leaders need the courage to push the vision despite the strong headwinds.
Leaders also need the courage to give up some amount of control over their vision to their followers. In order to grow, your followers need to learn as they go and they will make mistakes, but that is just a necessary part of the process.
As a leader, you have to be yourself. Don’t try and copy what someone like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk did, be yourself. Along with that, don’t try to change your employees, try to find what they are best at and let them excel at it.
Write down a vivid vision so people can see what it is and decide whether they want to be a part of that or not. If your employees believe in the vision, they will be willing to go to great lengths to help you accomplish your vision.
A good follower will believe what the leader believes but will offer different opinions on how to accomplish the vision. These diverse voices are the ones you want on your senior leadership team. 
Ask your team for a solution to the problem before you tell them what you think your solution would be. The leader doesn’t always have to have the answer and this will encourage more input from your team.

 

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billflynnpublic
Company website: https://catalystgrowthadvisors.com/
Further Faster Book: https://www.amazon.com/Further-Faster-Vital-Guesswork-Growth/dp/1544507836

 

Quote of the Show:

“You have to basically invest in the mistakes of your followers” - Bill Flynn

 

Book Recommendations:

Nine Lies About Work By Ashley Goodall & Marcus Buckingham
Your Brain at Work By Dr. David Rock

 

Ways to Tune In:

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leadership-in-action/id1585042233
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/2t4Ksk4TwmZ6MSfAHXGkJI
Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/leadership-in-action
Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGVhZGVyc2hpcGluYWN0aW9uLmxpdmUvZmVlZC54bWw
Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/4263fd02-8c9b-495e-bd31-2e5aef21ff6b/leadership-in-action
YouTube - https://youtu.be/x69OkNps9Go