Leadership Thoughts from Founder, Art Schooley

Before founding the Personal Coach in 2001, Art Schooley was the legendary manager of FC the Manulife branch in Kitchener-Waterloo.  Art is legendary for his sales results and, more importantly, his focus on surrounding himself with smart people and mentoring them to success.  Here are Art’s leadership principles from an email he wrote several years ago, with minor edits only.

As you know, one of my first points was hiring smart people.  Hire people who are smarter than you - surround yourself with great people. 

Make sure that you work in an environment of empowerment.  Great people want to be empowered, and they don’t want people looking over their shoulders.  They want a clear idea of where the organization is going or where your particular unit is going and then empower them to help you and them get to that direction.

Be excited about the development of your people.  Great leaders provide a fertile ground for their people to grow and, in fact, create an environment where there is a desire to have their people grow.

If you've hired great people, all you need to do is fertilize and water and those individuals will grow just like plants. However, if you don't have the proper seed, the best farming in the world isn't going to help you.

Have a ‘how do you know’ attitude – what are the possibilities?  Even though you’ve had a great past, you should have an attitude that the best is yet to come.

Never burn your bridges.  Always keep the door open for future opportunities.

The beginning of definiteness means the end of confusion.  If you are really clear on your vision, on how you see the future, then people around you also share in that clarity, and it minimizes confusion.

Believe in people.  Sometimes you will need to loan them leadership until they develop a leadership within themselves that is far greater than anything you can ever loan them.

Great leaders are great cheerleaders.  Let people know when they’ve done things well and thank them for their efforts.

Understand who your customer is and be customer-focused.  Once you’re clear as to who your customer is, then it’s easy for you to develop strategies around satisfying the needs of your customer.  In your case, you’re going to need to be really clear about who your department serves and specifically what are the needs that you are supporting.

Have a mission, vision and passion around meeting that vision.

Make sure that everyone is on the same page and shares your vision, mission and passion.

Believe in your people, particularly when they are having a confidence crisis.  From time to time, people will start doubting themselves, and it is at this point that great leaders jump in and provide that leadership/confidence that gets them back on track and helps them to move to the next level.