This column is part of Globe Careers' Leadership Lab series, where executives and experts share their views and advice about leadership and management. Follow us at @Globe_Careers. Find all Leadership Lab stories at tgam.ca/leadershiplab.
The truly great leaders have a natural affinity for avoiding certain pitfalls.
They don't:
1. Try to balance work with their personal life. There is no "balance". Greatness requires an all-out singular focus.
2. Hangout in "the herd" with the comfort of numbers and sameness. They are loners and often attract the "weird" tag from the crowd.
3. Criticize an employee in a crowd knowing there will be virtually no push-back.
4. Study and religiously adhere to traditional leadership dogma, accepting without question what the pundits say.
5. Put an academic pedigree before demonstrated accomplishments.
6. Spend weeks on developing their strategy and run out of time to detail specifically how the strategy will be executed.
7. Forget someone's name.
8. Let their eyes wander to see who else (more interesting) is in the room while they are in conversation with you.
9. Write and talk with a high "fog factor" to unnecessarily complicate the intended message for others. Simplicity is key.
10. Copy what others do with the mistaken belief that somehow it will give them a strategic advantage.
11. Sleep well at night. At best they have an "uneasy" rest, with problem-solving preventing them from escaping their day.
12. Assume that a change in direction can merely be pronounced to their organization and everyone will immediately know what to do to execute it.
13. Enter a room before others.
14. Seek perfection and expect it from others.
15. Take an entourage with them when they are "out and about" in the workplace.
16. Delegate responsibilities that require their personal touch.
17. Expect others to follow their orders without question just because of their position in the organization.
18. Play politics to the detriment of another person.
19. Take personal credit and praise for an achievement that was delivered by individuals and teams.
20. Break a promise. Period.
21. Give orders with an authoritative and commanding tone of voice paired with a bullying demeanour.
22. Go it alone, rarely asking for support from others.
23. Send one of their lieutenants to deliver bad news to the organization.
24. Ignore "Grandma's" advice. Leadership skills come from the most unexpected people; they are open to the wisdom of people with greater life experience than they have.
25. Cancel a customer meeting for any reason whatsoever.
Manage by walking around, casually observing what is going on and pressing the flesh with employees. They "serve around", looking for opportunities to bash barriers that prevent people from doing their job.
The to-don't list of amazing leaders is lengthy; it comes from many years of experience.
Failing and succeeding both serve equally as beacons to their success.
Roy Osing (@RoyOsing), former executive vice-president of Telus, is a blogger, educator, coach, adviser and the author of the book series Be Different or Be Dead, dedicated to helping organizations and individuals stand out from the competitive herd.