Brian Wright “Lead Don’t Manage”

What makes a good manager?  A good leader!  Here we look at seven important leadership principles:

1. Without someone following you, you’re not a leader. Even the Batman had Robin. Without willing followers you’re that guy keeps yelling, “To the Bat Cave” with no one around.
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 motivate them you’ll need to create a vision they can follow. Then you continue to motivate them as you 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. Right after the Green bay Packer victory over the Kansas City Chiefs last night, Chief’s head coach Andy Reid took full responsibility for the loss and for not preparing his players thoroughly enough.
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.

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 atbrian@audiencedevelopmentgroup.com