In elite teams,<\/a> leaders act more like gardeners than managers. They see their role as providing an environment where the conditions are right for everyone to grow and flourish. While, like gardening, this certainly involves a fair measure of weeding out the wrong people and pruning the organization into the correct shape, elite-level leaders focus more on the growth of their people than anything else.<\/p>\nNowhere is this more evident than in elite special operations units such as the US Navy SEALs. Rich Diviney is the founder of Attributes Incorporated. Rich spent more than 20 years leading Navy SEALs and has now transitioned that experience into helping corporations, sports teams and individual leaders become better at their jobs. His latest book, Masters of Uncertainty,<\/i> examines how leaders navigate uncertain environments.<\/p>\n
In this interview, we asked him to apply his views on leadership. His answers reveal a counterintuitive truth about leadership that challenges the traditional nature vs. nurture debate, and why he believes the most important leadership tool is something most people avoid.<\/p>\n
Q1: What is the role of a leader from your perspective?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: The role of the leader is to create an environment that generates success, thriving and prosperity. We have to create that environment. We do that through modeling. We do that through culture building. We do that through behavior, and we do that by rewarding those people who are actually modeling or behaving the way we want to see. So our number one role is to set and create the environment.<\/p>\n
Q2: What\u2019s the one thing that every leader needs to know?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: Leadership is a behavior, not a position. You are a leader because someone chooses you to be based on the way you behave. Are leaders made or are they born? The answer is neither. They\u2019re chosen based on the way you behave.<\/p>\n
Q3: What\u2019s your most important habit?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: My most important habit is honest and frequent self-introspection. And I think that\u2019s a habit I\u2019d like to inculcate in as many people as possible. I try to teach it to my kids. But how often am I honestly looking at my own performance, my own behavior and asking, \u201cOkay, is this positive or this negative? Where is this taking me? Where can I improve? What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses?\u201d And being humble and clear about that, so I can continuously grow and improve.<\/p>\n
Q4: What\u2019s the most important thing for building an effective team?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: Most important thing for building an effective team is trust. You have to have trust. If I were to relate it to sailing, trust is the boat while inspiration is the wind. Inspiration, we\u2019ve all heard about effective teaming, inspiration being very powerful, cool. But we can be sailing on the seven seas and going at a clip and then the wind dies down. We\u2019re in the doldrums. If we don\u2019t have that boat, we\u2019re sinking. And so we have to work on building that boat of trust. Inspiration might come and go, but trust has to be present, ever present.<\/p>\n
Related: <\/b>How to Make Smarter Decisions Under Pressure, From an ER Doctor Who\u2019s Done It for 20 Years<\/b><\/p>\n
Q5: What\u2019s the biggest mistake you see other leaders make?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: I think one of the biggest mistakes is not understanding that behavior can be seen, while intent cannot be seen. And so someone can be behaving in a way that\u2019s completely misconstrued by others, but their intentions are all good. And so as leaders, we need to be very explicit all the time and transparent about our intent so that our behavior matches that and is transparent and explainable to others.<\/p>\n
Q6: What\u2019s the best way to deliver bad news?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: With empathy. If we\u2019re going to deliver bad news, let\u2019s first put ourselves in the shoes of the person we\u2019re talking to, figure out their perspective, and then deliver the bad news with empathy and care, in the context of helping them and the team improve.<\/p>\n
Q7: What\u2019s something you\u2019ve changed your mind about recently?<\/b><\/p>\n
Diviney: I\u2019ve changed my mind about the ideas surrounding limiting beliefs. In other words, I\u2019ve done some recent reading about the power of limiting beliefs and the fact that we, as every individual, often say things to ourselves that we don\u2019t know are detrimental, but they\u2019re detrimental to our purpose, to our identity, and to all those things. And so I\u2019ve changed my mind about how I talk to myself in some of these limiting beliefs, and I try to do an exercise almost every day where I ask myself, okay, what limiting beliefs may I be carrying with me and let me change those and make a new decision.<\/p>\n
The full interview with Rich Diviney can be found here:<\/p>\n