Leadership: what do you want on your tombstone?

Published: 2011-09-12   There are 6 comments ... please add yours below

It takes a stonemason to chisel words on a tombstone. But, it’s up to each of us to ensure our life merits a report. I spent many hours at university in a lecture theatre that carried a plaque commemorating a famous professor of engineering. The Latin tag was ex fructibus eorum cognoscetis eos – by their fruits ye shall know them. It’s what we do that counts both in life and as leaders. Here are seven leadership upgrades to consider – and act on.

1. Vision … not just goals. Most of us have goals – for the current week, month or year. But, the change-agent has a vision too: to develop a cure for cancer or to make their city more liveable. Or, in business perhaps, to make their service the market leader. What’s yours?
2. Benefits … not just costs. Everything we do consumes energy and resources. And, these need careful allocation. However, the key is the payoff – to justify the cost and hard work of making things different. What could your vision deliver? For whom and how?
3. Generosity … not just profits. Most things worth doing have a wider, non-commercial or public dividend as well. Your product may change an industry. So, be willing to share some of the fruits – perhaps making your IP public. Or offer your service free to not-for-profits.
4. Plans … not just responses. Being proactive is central to change. It’s necessary (but not enough) to react and adjust. You have to define what you’ll do (with whom and by when) and how you’ll measure and monitor progress. And, update or make new plans as needed.
5. Decisions … not just fudges. Moving your organisation to a new place takes tough action: dumping well-understood practices and changing people’s roles and expectations. Do this fairly and compassionately; but do it! The future has to supplant the past.
6. Investment … not just expenditure. New endeavours and outcomes require incremental improvement, day to day and week to week. But, they also need upfront commitments for different equipment, better training and closer leadership. It’s about capital as well as costs.
7. Self-development … not just default behaviour. We have to model the change – in ourselves and how we lead. New activities demand new leadership. Unless people see us make the effort, why should they? We must lead from the front – inspiring and not just instructing.

When a great person dies, it’s hard to find sufficient space on their tombstone to capture what they’ve done. This is as true for an outstanding business builder as it is for a renown politician or scientist. For you and me, the tombstone may not need to be all that large. But, each and every day, we need to be mindful that we’re writing our story that the stonemason will one day abridge in a few well-chiselled words. What will it be? I’d like to think mine might read something like this: in his own small way, he left the world better than he found it. Please, share your own desired epitaph – or your thoughts on the topic more generally.

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®