The Leadership Die: A Simple Tool for Leadership Complexity

A client and I were evaluating the various scenarios surrounding a critical leadership decision he was facing.

“We need a leadership magic eight-ball,” he announced. “That would be useful. Shake it up and see what it recommends I do.”

Google quickly informed us there were twenty sides on the “icosahedron” within the eight-ball.

“Twenty is too many,” my client said. “Let’s identify the first principles of leadership—the bare essentials that would serve any leader in any situation, including this one facing us now.”

We narrowed the list to the following:
1. You are owed nothing.
2. Deliver value first.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Give credit.
5. Take blame.

You are owed nothing.
Self-entitlement is hardly an affliction reserved for the young.
Leaders at all levels must remain vigilant against this subtle disease.

In coaching construction leaders—and listening to myself—I’ve learned there is one common phrase that hints we’re violating this first maxim.

The phrase is, “It would be nice if . . .”

Beware “It would be nice if . . .”

It’s a gateway to self-entitlement.
And self-entitlement is a disease.

Deliver value first.
Go first.
See what happens.

Most will reciprocate in some way.

But not all.

Be okay with that.

Two other insights here:

1. If you cannot explicitly state the value you deliver, you’re probably not delivering enough.

2. You do not define the criteria of the value you deliver—your customer does.

It’s not about you.
The default question of “What’s in it for me?” can be replaced by “What’s in it for them?”

This is more than a subtle suggestion—it’s an imperative.

Everything that really matters in life only comes your way once you remove yourself from the center of attention.

My wise friend, Tim Rethlake, once said to me, “I can explain leadership in four words.”

1. Give
2. Credit
3. Take
4. Blame

Give credit.
Warren Buffett, the most successful investor of all time, consistently deflects praise as he shines the spotlight on his longtime #2, Charlie Munger, and the leaders of the businesses they acquire.

“Berkshire has been built to Charlie’s blueprint. My role has been that of a general contractor, with the CEOs of Berkshire’s subsidiaries doing the real work as subcontractors.”

Take blame.
John “Jocko” Willink, Jr., the retired Navy SEAL, consistently absorbed blame as he served our country. It’s the thesis of his best-selling book on leadership, Extreme Ownership.

Willink and his co-author, Leif Babin, write: “On any team, in any organization, all responsibility for success and failure rests with the leader. The leader must own everything in his or her world. There is no one else to blame.”

My client recited the list.

1. You are owed nothing.
2. Deliver value first.
3. It’s not about you.
4. Give credit.
5. Take blame.

“For a quick and dirty top-five, it’s not bad,” he said. “It’s a far cry from my dream of a leadership eight-ball, but it’s clarified the decision I have to make here.”

“You know what I could do,” I yelped, seizing a germ of an idea, “we could engrave these on an enlarged, wooden die. The phrases are short enough.”

“Enlarged wooden die? What?”

“The singular form of dice,” I explained.

“Two dice, one die. I can make you a leadership die.”

“There’s a pun in there somewhere,” he noted. “Leadership. Die.”

Yes, we made these.

And no, there’s no magic in our little wooden cube—this leadership die—but our hope is that it can help you, in some small way, keep rollin’ with whatever life throws at you as you keep the dream alive.

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Thanks for reading.