Lee Ellis, Leading With Honor: Leadership Lessons From The Hanoi Hilton Quotes

Good leaders know who they are—their strengths, weaknesses, passions, talents, and values. And, developing leaders always starts with self-awareness.

To guard our character with unwavering commitment, our best protection comes from being humbly aware of our vulnerability.

Courage is leaning into the doubts and fears to do what you know is right even when it doesn’t feel natural or safe.

Leaders can choose to grow and change, but generally the most powerful predictor of future performance is past behavior. Evaluate them realistically.

Affirming others isn’t ‘flattering’ them—it’s when you genuinely and consistently acknowledge their efforts and accomplishments, both large and small. Make affirmation a habit and watch what happens!

Good teams are committed to the team mission and to each other personally. Good leaders inspire and build this commitment and trust.

Professional accountability is a good thing. Without it, excellence is merely a pipe dream and even average performance isn’t a realistic expectation.

We all want to ‘count for something’–to make a difference. And, accountability helps us get where want to go in terms of achieving our goals and fulfilling our responsibilities.

As is often the case with children, the rule of ‘monkey see, monkey do’ plays out in the workplace. It’s hard to be good role model, and it’s one of the greatest challenges of leadership.

Leaders must be good listeners. It’s rule number one, and it’s the most powerful thing they can do to build trusted relationships.