Robert Dockson said, “The leader guides people, he doesn’t
force them, and he always treats them fairly.... Too many peo-
ple claim that our only responsibility is to our shareholders. I
believe we’re responsible to them, but we’re also responsible to
our employees, our customers, and the community at large.
There’s something wrong with the private enterprise system if
it doesn’t recognize its responsibility to the community.”
Former Red Cross director Richard Schubert, too, believes
in relating well to others: “How you attract and motivate peo-
ple determines how successful you’ll be as a leader. Above all,
the Golden Rule applies. Whether it’s an employee or a cus-
tomer or a senior vice president, the leader treats people the
way he would like to be treated. Ninety-six percent of our peo-
ple at disaster sites are volunteers. If we don’t attract the right
people and motivate them positively, we aren’t going to make
it.” This concept is so important that I’ll elaborate on it in
chapter eight, “Getting People on Your Side.”
Leaders who trust their co-workers are, in turn, trusted by
them. Trust, of course, cannot be acquired, but can only be
given. Leadership without mutual trust is a contradiction in
terms. Trust resides squarely between faith and doubt. Leaders
always have faith in themselves, their abilities, their co-workers,
and their mutual possibilities. But leaders also have sufficient
doubt to question, challenge, probe, and thereby progress. In
the same way, his or her co-workers must believe in the leader,
themselves, and their combined strength, but they must feel
sufficiently confident to question, challenge, probe, and test,
too. Maintaining that vital balance between faith and doubt,
preserving that mutual trust, is a primary task for any leader.
Vision, inspiration, empathy, trustworthiness are manifesta-
tions of a leader’s judgment and character. Former university
Deploying Yourself: Strike Hard, Try Everything