Are You a Good Leader?: A Self Assessment.

Tough Things First

The benefit of self-awareness becomes evident when you put that knowledge into action and then evaluate if these actions are working. In this Tough Things First podcast, Ray Zinn uses his extensive experience as a leader in business to explain why the habit of self assessment and reassessment is worth developing.

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Rob Artigo: In the Zen of Zinn one, we have a series of Zen of Zinn books and it’s one, two, and three, and I picked up the first one and looked at the first entry. So on page one, you ask the question … in your writing, you ask, are you a good leader? It says, “Good leaders can tell if anyone is following by seeing if the tasks are met on time. When you make sure the team is happy and working together, they will follow.”

Ray, isn’t it the trick for starters in being a good leader, convincing people simply to see you as a person worth following?

Ray Zinn: Yeah, we can tell the good leaders. We’re going through an election campaign right now and we’re trying to decide who will make the best leader of the country going forward. We look at how they interact with people, we look at how the people react with them, if they show interest.

As my note said in that Zen of Zinn one, are they meeting their obligations? Are they walking the talk? Are they happy? Do they sound happy? Do they act happy? Are they looking for another job? We look at all the different indicators as to whether or not the employees are engaged, and that determines whether or not you’re a good leader. If the people that you’re responsible for supervising are engaged, getting their tasks in on time, they’re happy, they’re doing quality work and they’re not looking for another job, that’s a good indicator you’re being a good leader.

Rob Artigo: Looking at the productivities and the quote, “If the tasks are being met on time, you can tell if they’re following you and they’re following instructions.” Is there a way that we can, as leaders, quantify or grade the productivity so that we can see that level of productivity that we know is either they’re responding or they’re not responding? How do we quantify that when we look at it?

Ray Zinn: Are they following? Other words, if you said, I need this done by noon tomorrow, as you would, then was it done by noon and was it done right? When you look at the output performance of your employees or those that you’re leading, and if those goals are being met, if you’re being realistic, then shows that the people are following.

Now, I was talking with an individual the other day who said that his new boss he doesn’t like. I said, “Well, why? What’s the reason?” He says, “Well, because he sets unrealistic goals. It’s almost like he wants me to quit, he wants me to leave.” So, I thought that was interesting. I’ve never quite seen it done that way where you set an unrealistic goal to hope the employee quits, because if that’s your goal, then you should just ask them to leave. I mean-

Rob Artigo: Yeah, why waste your time messing around with that?

Ray Zinn: Right, and most states, the right to work, it goes both ways, meaning that they had the right to leave, but you also have the right to fire them. So if you’re not happy with them, you want them to leave, just pull them in and say, “We’re going to give you two weeks or whatever, and here’s your paycheck, and go find another company.”

But to be a miserable boss, that word gets out. That’s not just going to stay within the company, that word gets out. You might be talking to a spouse or you might be talking to your … this fellow was talking to me, and I didn’t think much of the company after that. Even though I had nothing to do with the company, I didn’t think it was very quality of them to … if that’s their goal was to get people to quit and just give unrealistic goals, or harassing them or being belligerent with them.

That to me is not a good workplace, so I didn’t tolerate that at Micrel for sure. I didn’t like any of the managers to treat any employee improperly irrespective of what they were doing or not doing in respect to the performance of their job. If you’re not doing the job, get rid of them, that’s what I told them. Don’t just make their life miserable, because that gets around.

Rob Artigo: Well, now going back to the original question you asked, and this is a question that you were asking of yourself. Are you a good leader? So, give us an idea how we can ask ourselves that question. Is it kind of a daily reflection sort of thing, a self-evaluation?

Ray Zinn: Yeah, I’d say speaking out to the leaders, I’d ask, do you love your employees? Not in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense, do you love them? Do you ask about how are your children doing? How’s your spouse doing? How’s your health or how’s your parents? Or whatever the subject may be, just show you’re interested in them. Do some walking around and just visit with them and see how they’re doing.

That shows them that you’re interested in them as a person. Not just in a piece of the gear that drives the machinery, that you’re really a special individual and that I care for you, I want you to happy. So the good leader wants his people to be happy, and so you got to do whatever it takes to ensure that they’re happy as individuals.

Rob Artigo: Yeah, the listeners should know that this is the kind of thing that you can learn more about in Ray’s upcoming book, Essential Leadership. Stay tuned for that. The Tough Things First Podcast, rapidly growing, one of the top in Silicon Valley. We’d like to keep that up, so make sure you are rating this podcast on your favorite platform. Share it too on social media and spread the word about Tough Things First.

Also, check out Ray’s other books, the Zen of Zinn series one, two, and three, and his first book, Tough Things First. If you haven’t already got those books, then please do, we invite you. Coming soon, again, Ray’s new book, Essential Leadership. I look forward to the next time, Ray.

Ray Zinn: Thank you, Rob.