The Operational Leader

by John C. Maxwell

There are four main types of successful leaders. In this article, I want to talk specifically about one of those leadership aptitudes—the operational leader.

I'll help you determine if you are an operational leader. If so, I'll help you play to that strength. If you aren't—if you are more inclined to be a directional leader, a strategic leader or a team-building leader—then this lesson will help you identify one of the greatest needs you have: an operational leader.

We can identify operational leaders by six characteristics:
1. They provide stability to the organization.
2. They devise systems to make things run smoothly. They have a system for every problem in life.
3. They serve as a hub through which activity is coordinated. Just like Atlanta is the hub for the airline industry in the Southeast, operational leaders are the hub of an organization. People turn to operational leaders because they truly know what is happening.
4. They share the bad news. Generally, these leaders aren't paid to bring performance level up, so they often aren't responsible for the bad news. They are, however, aware of it because they are in tune with the organization.
5. They create new solutions to old problems. Operational leaders are the best problem solvers. If you've got problems, you want to have one of these people around you.
6. They often complement the other three aptitudes. This is the person who usually is not the true "out-front" person, but often shows strengths as a servant leader and, therefore, best complements the other three by far.

Operational leaders are essential to the success of an organization, but, like the other three leadership aptitudes, they have their weaknesses. And rather than trying to work on developing other aptitudes of leadership, their time is better focused on shoring up their weaknesses as operational leaders.

Operational leaders, for example, easily slip from leader to manager because they are usually more comfortable managing. They also tend to dislike conflict. They're usually very smart—they know the numbers, they know the realities, they know what needs to be done—but they often avoid getting in the middle of conflict.

Because operational leaders are focused on the details, they often fail to see the big picture and they sometimes lack motivational skills. And because they understand the negative realities, they can be viewed as a hindrance to progress. When the company's moving forward and everybody's seeing the mountain, the operational leader is the person who raises the flag.

Finally, the operational leader usually has the least amount of influence with the other three aptitudes.

In fact, if you're one of the other three, the first person you should seek to be on your leadership team is an operational leader because, to a great degree, operational leaders support and serve the other three leadership aptitudes.

From Jim Rohn’s newsletter, a great post from John Maxwell on the leaders.

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Reaping a Multiple Reward by Jim Rohn

For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards. That's one of life's great arrangements. In fact, it's an extension of the Biblical law that says that if you sow well, you will reap well.

Here's a unique part of the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Not only does it suggest that we'll all reap what we've sown, it also suggests that we'll reap much more. Life is full of laws that both govern and explain behaviors, but this may well be the major law we need to understand: for every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards.

What a concept! If you render unique service, your reward will be multiplied. If you're fair and honest and patient with others, your reward will be multiplied. If you give more than you expect to receive, your reward is more than you expect. But remember: the key word here, as you might well imagine, is discipline.

Everything of value requires care, attention and discipline. Our thoughts require discipline. We must consistently determine our inner boundaries and our codes of conduct, or our thoughts will be confused. And if our thoughts are confused, we will become hopelessly lost in the maze of life. Confused thoughts produce confused results.

Remember the law: "For every disciplined effort, there are multiple rewards." Learn the discipline of writing a card or a letter to a friend. Learn the discipline of paying your bills on time, arriving to appointments on time, or using your time more effectively. Learn the discipline of paying attention, or paying your taxes or paying yourself. Learn the discipline of having regular meetings with your associates, or your spouse, or your child, or your parent. Learn the discipline of learning all you can learn, of teaching all you can teach, of reading all you can read.

For each discipline, multiple rewards. For each book, new knowledge. For each success, new ambition. For each challenge, new understanding. For each failure, new determination. Life is like that. Even the bad experiences of life provide their own special contribution. But a word of caution here for those who neglect the need for care and attention to life's disciplines: everything has its price. Everything affects everything else. Neglect discipline, and there will be a price to pay. All things of value can be taken for granted with the passing of time.

That's what we call the Law of Familiarity. Without the discipline of paying constant, daily attention, we take things for granted. Be serious. Life's not a practice session.

If you're often inclined to toss your clothes onto the chair rather than hanging them in the closet, be careful. It could suggest a lack of discipline. And remember, a lack of discipline in the small areas of life can cost you heavily in the more important areas of life. You cannot clean up your company until you learn the discipline of cleaning your own garage. You cannot be impatient with your children and be patient with your distributors or your employees. You cannot inspire others to sell more when that goal is inconsistent with your own conduct. You cannot admonish others to read good books when you don't have a library card.

Think about your life at this moment. What areas need attention right now? Perhaps you've had a disagreement with someone you love or someone who loves you, and your anger won't allow you to speak to that person. Wouldn't this be an ideal time to examine your need for a new discipline? Perhaps you're on the brink of giving up, or starting over, or starting out. And the only missing ingredient to your incredible success story in the future is a new and self-imposed discipline that will make you try harder and work more intensely than you ever thought you could.

The most valuable form of discipline is the one that you impose upon yourself. Don't wait for things to deteriorate so drastically that someone else must impose discipline in your life. Wouldn't that be tragic? How could you possibly explain the fact that someone else thought more of you than you thought of yourself? That they forced you to get up early and get out into the marketplace when you would have been content to let success go to someone else who cared more about themselves.

Your life, my life, the life of each one of us is going to serve as either a warning or an example. A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction and ambition... or an example of talent put to use, of discipline self-imposed, and of objectives clearly perceived and intensely pursued.

From Jim Rohn’s newsletter, a wonderful article on the power of discipline.

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Vitamins for the Mind by Jim Rohn

Reading

Everything you need for your better future and success has already been written. And guess what? It's all available. All you have to do is go to the library. And there's probably a library in every neighborhood.

Some people read so little they have rickets of the mind.

I now have one of the better libraries. I admit that I haven't read everything in my library, but I feel smarter just walking in it.

Don't just read the easy stuff. You may entertained by it, but you will never grow from it.

The book you don't read won't help.

Books are easy to find and easy to buy. A paperback these days only costs six or seven dollars. You can borrow that from your kids!

It isn't what the book costs; it's what it will cost if you don't read it.

"Vitamins for the Mind" is a weekly sampling of original quotes on a specific topic taken from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn. The burgundy hardbound book with gold-foil lettering is a collection of more than 365 quotes on 60 topics gathered from Jim's personal journals, seminars and books and spanning more than 40 years. Click here to order The Treasury of Quotes.

From Jim Rohn’s news letter a wonderful book on the power of reading and education.

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A negative mind spawns only negative ideas. | Napoleon Hill Foundation

Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the day
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"The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. This is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big." —Jim Rohn

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