“Great leaders surround themselves with trusted advisers, experts, and mentors.”
Failing as a leader is a reality that can be avoided. One way to guard against leadership failure is to build partnerships with your teammates. Another way is to build a community of support with other leaders.
It’s easier than ever before to access or build a strong community of experienced leaders. Similar to how a startup community (like 1776, or the Axel Springer Plug and Play Accelerator) enables experience and knowledge sharing, a cooperative group of experienced leaders enables all participants to punch above their individual weights.
Leaders are stronger when they have active relationships with each other.
Here are three real-life examples.
Marine Corps NCO
As a Marine Corps non-commissioned officer (NCO), I was one of the front-line, tactical-level leaders. NCOs, often called the ‘backbone of the Corps,’ manage the daily efforts of their teams as they work to keep aircraft running safely, patrol hostile regions, maintain communications equipment, and generally ensure the Marine Corps is accomplishing its mission.
The NCO corps was a brotherhood within a brotherhood. We helped each other solve professional problems, shared our experiences in managing projects and people, and even provided a ‘safe space’ within which we could openly discuss our struggles and failures. The other NCOs with whom I worked became my confidants, and I keep in touch with many of them to this day.
The value of being an NCO was that I knew I could find a partner (or partners) who would help me figure things out. When I didn’t know how to handle a particular disciplinary concern, I leaned on my NCO network. When I had a big project to manage but found myself fumbling, it was the candid and confidential chats with my peers that helped me realize how to adjust my approach. Likewise, my technical and leadership advice was sought by other NCOs as they faced various obstacles.
Marine Corps Officer
Nearly a decade after I enlisted, I received my commission as a Marine Corps officer. The responsibilities I had as a young NCO paled in comparison to what was expected of me as an officer of Marines. I was charged with the physical, mental, and moral well-being of junior Marines; I was responsible for ensuring my Marines were proficient in their occupational specialties and in basic combat skills; and it was on me to accomplish the orders given by my commander, even if that meant placing myself or others in grave danger.
There was a bit of a learning curve after all my initial training was complete. Joining my Fleet Marine Force unit and ‘snapping in’ (becoming accustomed to the routine) placed new obstacles in front of me; some of which I couldn’t have foreseen. Thankfully, I could lean on my fellow lieutenants to answer questions, provide context, offer assistance, and generally keep me from falling on my sword. I could not have overcome the technical, tactical, and leadership obstacles I faced as an officer without what we called the ‘lieutenant protection association,’ or LPA.
The LPA is led by an informal but highly valuable ‘gentleman’s’ agreement among lieutenants: “We help our own.” It’s a network of leaders committed to helping each other succeed in each one’s role. Life in a battalion, or anywhere in the Corps for that matter, would be exponentially more difficult without the implicit understanding that a young officer can rely on the collective expertise of his peers.
Future Business Leader
Shortly after I left active duty in the Marines, I began my MBA studies through the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. I was in the Global Executive MBA program, but don’t confuse that with the myriad ‘executive MBAs’ that are completed as part-time pursuits. Darden has no part-time MBA programs. My classmates and I all maintained full-time employment, while completing the requirements of a normal MBA curriculum in the same timeframe of two years. Yeah…it was tough.
One perk of the program was that it provided opportunities for us to hear from successful business professionals. One entrepreneur we heard from was Doug Lebda, the founder of LendingTree. Doug also happens to be a fellow Darden grad.
In a casual dinner event with Doug, we heard his perspectives on leveraging strong relationships with other successful business leaders.
Doug is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), which describes itself as: “…the global platform for chief executives to engage, learn and grow. YPO members harness the knowledge, influence and trust of the world’s most influential and innovative business leaders to inspire business, personal, family and community impact.”
Doug related to us that among his YPO colleagues he’s found a tribe built on trust, openness, and sincere interest in enabling him (and all the members) to achieve greater balance and impact as a leader. Through frequent contact and retreat-style events, he and his YPO pals are able to discuss their business and personal struggles in a way they can’t with their executive teams, and sometimes even their families and close friends. It seemed to me that Doug found great value in his YPO partners, and considered that network to be extremely helpful for him as a business leader, and as a human being.
From these three examples, and from the multiple other anecdotes I could describe just from my own limited experience as a leader, I find the following to be true:
–Great leaders surround themselves with trusted advisers, experts, and mentors. They lean on other leaders, and take lessons from the successes and failures of their peers and predecessors. They don’t go it alone.
Now, it’s your turn. Build your leadership network, in order to realize greater and longer-lasting success.
