Robert Gates Looks at Leadership - Round 1

Notes from A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service by Robert M. Gates:

• To be successful agents of change - or reform - leaders not only must be able to envision a new way forward but also must be practical, with skill to build broad support for implement their vision.
• To  answer "change" questions, the most critical thing a new leader at any level should do is listen.
• For successful change at every kind of institution in both the private and the public sectors, a leader must win the support of those in the trenches who deliver the mission of the organization.  Recognition of their critical role and respect for them go a long way.
• A leader must make time to think and to plan - to strategize.
• To achieve especially challenging goals, a leader should always be prepared to tailor his reform strategy to the culture of the institution.  This requires investing much thought in tactical creativity - as well as unorthodox approaches and the element of surprise - in developing strategies for implementation.
• The best way to get access to, and use, internal talent and ideas for specific steps to implement reform is to get people from different parts of the organization working together outside their normal bureaucratic environment.
• A leader bent on transformational reform will benefit greatly from demanding - and demonstrating - transparency and sharing of information about implementation, both internally and externally.
• Be vary of consensus.  When it comes to implementing reform, you must look very closely at any recommendation for action characterized as the consensus of the group.  Does it advance your agenda?  Is it as bold as you want or need?
• A leader implementing reform, within the confines of law and regulation, must decide how much analysis is needed before making a decision and action.  Analysis must not be an excuse for paralysis.
• Deadlines for implementation are important in every initiative for change in every organization.
• Implementing reform, a leader must master the available information, make decisions, assign responsibility for action, have a regular reporting mechanism that allows her to monitor progress and performance, and hold people accountable.  And then she must get out of the way.  "Micro-knowledge" is necessary; micromanagement is not.
• If you don't have the guts as the leader to make tough and timely decisions, for God's sake, don't take the job.
• A final, and critical technique for implementing change is managing follow-through.