Years ago I had the pleasure of listening to General Norman Schwarzkopf address an audience after his successful Desert Storm campaign in Iraq. He talked about the qualities that he looked for in leaders. He made the comment that people wanted good leaders, not good managers. That one and a couple of his other comments have stuck with me and have served me well over time. His others were:

Rule 1: When put in charge, take command. When put in the leadership position, lead. Listen to the team. Learn the situation. Build the consensus and respect that a healthy organization needs. But when it comes time to make the call, the hard decisions that every organization faces, it’s your responsibility to make it. Don’t delay, shirk or waffle.

Rule 2: When put in charge, do the right thing. There are always many forces acting upon leaders. There are always stakeholders that would prefer the status quo. There are usually easier ways or paths of lesser resistance that may not take you to the objective you have set. The leader should always do the right thing. Not the easy, nice or expedient thing. They must choose that action that moves the organization forward toward the goal.

These were pretty simple rules coming from a then 4-star general, but as I learned to apply them it became evident that they didn’t need to be any more complicated than that. Take command. Do the right thing. I think we would all be a lot better off if everybody had a couple of simple rules like this.