Leadership: OCD Or Just Extra Careful

By Richard Tyler


Sometimes I feel a bit like I need to be the facilitator of my very own thoughts and take on a leadership role in my own head. Does that make any sense? I bet you, like me, know how it is when we get lost deep within our own minds and nearly none of it looks to piece together or make any sense. Right?

Last week, I was standing on a very cold and windy train platform, at 7am heading for London. I was lost somewhere with my own musings about life. When suddenly I was aware of the taxi driver that had, 10 minutes before dropped me at the railway station. He was methodically cleaning the windows of his taxi. 'Nothing odd' about that I hear you shout. You are quite right! Except he was washing them in a manner that showed he really cared. And I mean REALLY cared. He was looking at each and every smear and blemish. He would look from an alternative angle and then polish again. A few of you 'would be psycho-analysts' will be saying - oh dear - classic OCD? Or may be just classic awareness to detail and to the stuff that does really matters.

Leadership: It matters!

As Director of Performance and Probability at BTFI, I'm compelled to 'clean the windows' meticulously. We really believe that the little stuff does matter. Yes, you need to get the big stuff right first. Clean windows on his taxi are no good if there is not any fuel, bald tyres, broken doors, old seats inside and so on.

It was drummed into me as a singer and performer - 'the small stuff matters'. It will make the difference between being good and being amazing. I remember rehearsing for Les Miserables in London - as an ensemble we were being picked up on the way we needed to come off a note. Twenty minutes it took - twenty minutes for one note! Was it worthwhile? YES! After twenty minutes we all sat back in amazement at how different it sounded. It was, extraordinary. It is that attention that leaves Les Miserables being a multi million pound global phenomenon - still running after 26 years!

Leadership: Polish

Irrespective of whether you are a leader with a team or a sole contributor in your company, where are you acting to be extraordinary? Go on - give it some thought now.

Where do you polish the windows because it truly matters? Where do you take twenty minutes for your ensemble to come off a note at the very same time?

It looks so little, and barely plausible, that it can turn something from good to extraordinary. I have a view. Many in fact. There is little place for being just good any longer. Our clients, external and internal, demand that we continue to give more, demand that we surpass expectancies and demand that we aspire to be fantastic. Taking a leadership role, implies that polishing the windows is a part of your job.




About the Author:



 
Free Flash TemplatesRiad In FezFree joomla templatesAgence Web MarocMusic Videos OnlineFree Website templateswww.seodesign.usFree Wordpress Themeswww.freethemes4all.comFree Blog TemplatesLast NewsFree CMS TemplatesFree CSS TemplatesSoccer Videos OnlineFree Wordpress ThemesFree CSS Templates Dreamweaver