Leadership Culture

Top 20 Frameworks for creating your leadership culture

It’s time to get back to rounding out Cook’s Corners of Leadership from my Top Level Framework (Post 2 - graphic below).  Over the past several weeks, we’ve covered the Strategy Corner and the Decision Making Corner (3 Part Series) and the next corner is the LEADERSHIP CULTURE (lower right).

This week I’m leading with a simple list of Top 20 Leadership Culture frameworks (mental models). I’ll be going much deeper in future posts on many of these frameworks so hit the Subscribe button to get these delivered to your inbox weekly.

As I was preparing this week’s newsletter, I was reminded my guest podcast appearance with CJ Gustafson (Run the Numbers) where he asked me to discuss a few Leadership Frameworks. We ended up discussing 7 of these frameworks a year ago.

A few days ago a friend/neighbor, Andy Byrne - CEO of Clari, posted on LinkedIn similar questions on leadership. It was one of those moments where, like a songwriter, a top 10 list poured out of me in about 10 minutes and I added my thoughts in the comments on that post.

With those two sources as a starting point, I opened up my “Best Of” files on “Leadership” I’ve collected and curated over the last 20+ years, and it ended being my own Top 20 list.

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TOP 20 LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORKS:

1. “Mind the Gap” between Expectations and Reality

2. Leaders must lead with a Clear Point of View (PoV)

3. Connect and lead with Why, What, and How

4. Create an “Ownership Culture”

5. 5 C’s (Criteria) for Leadership

6. 5 P’s of Leadership

7. 4 C’s:  Critical Team Behaviors

8. Share & Ask;  NOT Show & Tell

9. Connect - Respect - Gratitude

10. Trust requires Transparency;  Transparency is the foundation of Trust

11. “Challenge Culture;” Great leaders create this kind of culture

12. Team 1st & 1st Team

13. Zoom Out to Zoom In

14. Play Your Position

15. Chief Juggling Officer 

16. Hang On! Hold On! - leadership is a rollercoaster

17. People are Watching

18. Leaders create Space; Space creates Time

19. Time is your most valuable resource

20. Listening Tours

Please post your favorites in the comments and/or add your own.

Let’s unpack all 20 of these with some quick high level summaries. I’ll be writing more in depth about several of these in upcoming posts. Though this post is super long and I’m sure it will be met with TL;DR (too long, didn’t read), I felt it was important to put all 20 Leadership Frameworks in one post for future reference.

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#1 - “Mind the Gap” Between Expectations and Reality:

I love the phrase “Mind the Gap,” first hearing it in the London Underground. Problems begin in leadership and relationships when there is a gap between Expectations and Reality. Suffice it to say this gap in “Expectations” is where most conflict occurs. Be as transparent as you can be with your expectations early and often. If you find yourself in conflict, then rewind in order to re-align. Start over in the conversation and now start with expectations and desired outcomes of both parties. You’ll be amazed at how much better the conversation now becomes since you are now Minding the Gap.

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#2 - Leaders Must Lead with a Clear Point of View (PoV):

Leadership is not possible without a clear view (vision) of where you, the team, or the company are going. This point of view also applies to beliefs and assumptions that apply to critical decisions.

Everyone needs to lead or simply express their own point of view. No one person will likely ever be 100% right nor 100% wrong. Together, the goal is for everyone to learn something from each other. Learning will only happen, however, if everyone offers their own point of view.

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#3 - Connect the Why, What, and How:   

If the phrase “Strategy, Structure, Execution” is ringing in your head, then gold stars for reading my past newsletters or for working with me in the past. The below is a classic Simon Sinek drawing (I think). Yes, he Starts with Why. I’ve changed this to “Lead with Why.” But don’t ever forget to always connect the What and the How back so the Why is always the bullseye.

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#4 - The 5 P’s of Leadership

• PoV (Point of View)

• Principle-Based Leadership

• Passion (Energy)

• People First

• Performance (Accountability)

Note: ChatGPT (DallE) keeps getting close… but I’m not spending any more time on trying to get this image perfect.

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#5 - The 5 C’s (Criteria) for Leadership

• Credible

• Capable

• Confident

• Communicator

• Coach

If you want only 3 C’s then definitely be Compelling, Clear, and Confident.

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More? #6-#20?