Marketing Leadership Lessons

15 golden rules of leadership from my 15 years of leadership experience.

1) Listen a lot, take lots of notes, and spend time thinking about what you heard.

2) Genuinely care about the success of others. Your success comes from their success.

3) Be intentional with designing your team, for the short- and long-term. As the team grows and changes, don’t assume won’t worked in the past will still work.

4) Show compassion to all. We’re all humans trying to do our best.

5) Be yourself and be ok with being yourself. I know it’s easier said than done. Don’t pretend to know all the answers.

6) Create a team vision and set of values. Use both as a rally cry for your team.

7) Be a strong supporter and defender of your team. The circle of safety feeling is real and can be seen and felt.

8) Never stop learning. Be a student first and a teacher second.

9) Be honest and show your authentic self to your team. It’s hard, but is critical to building trust.

10) Share lots of positive and critical feedback, publicly and privately, with the right amount of context and compassion.1

1) Obsess about being better at hiring and learning from how you hire. Hiring is like compound interest to a team.

12) Use language that people will understand and is inclusive. Don’t try and sound smart.

13) Pay close attention to team dynamics both within your team and with other teams. Be transparent with your team.

14) Never gossip. It’s toxic, unproductive, and can be damaging to you and others.

15) Design a set of team rituals. Use the rituals to create a team rhythm - a way of working that should help people feel ownership, accountability, and belonging.