Brian Wright “Lead Don’t Manage”

What makes a good manager? The answer is a good leader. Today ADG looks at seven important leadership principles:

1. Without someone following you, you’re not a leader. For example coach Bill Belichick has Tom Brady and Bruce Holmgren had Brett Favre. Without willing followers you’re that guy that keeps giving orders to people who don’t follow.
2. Those you lead are volunteers, not draftees. You have to give them a reason to volunteer. Just because they’re assigned to you doesn’t mean they are following you.
3. If you want someone to follow you they must first respect you, and respect doesn’t come with intimidation, it is earned by what you say and do and say, day by day.
4. If you want someone to follow you they must first trust you. Like respect, trust is earned by how you treat them, day after day. One of the most important ways to earn trust is to show you care about them as people.
5. If you want someone to follow you they must be motivated to follow you. To them motivate themselves you’ll need to create a vision they can follow. Then you continue to lead from the front.
6. Always share the credit for victory, and take the blame for failure. Praise in public and admonish in private. Always.
7. Leaders know that growth and excellence comes from people, not things, so they spend more time with people than things. A spreadsheet or music scheduling software never accomplished anything by itself. Avoid loving sustems and using people. Do the exact opposite.

Some managers are different than leaders. Leaders are all about growth and strategy, managers are about status-quo and tactics. Which one you are should depend entirely on your goals. If you need to grow, then lead, don’t manage.

Brian is a 30 year radio veteran who has successfully served many companies over the years as Program Director, Operations Manger and VP of programming. After many years of success working for individual radio stations and clusters, Brian Joined one of the most trusted consulting firms in the country, Audience Development Group. For the last 15 years Wright has enjoyed building alliances with scores of stations in the US & Canada helping them grow in ratings and revenue.  Contact Brian at brian@audiencedevelopmentgroup.com