mr-entj:

Combined with the following asks:

• Do you have any tips on being a better leader? Especially of unmotivated people who have no interest in helping and get easily distracted? 
  
• Thank you so much for this blog. I’m an INTJ who is majoring in directing for film and TV, but I’ve found that I can be a rather inconsistent leader – for some projects, I’m at the top of my game, but for others, I overthink everything and all self-confidence seems to flee. Do you have any tips or suggestions about how to succeed as a leader, particularly for introverts?
  
• I’m an intj high school student planning to organize/oversee a fairly large-scale fundraising event next year, and am wondering if you have any tips for managing people effectively. As this will be a pretty demanding project, any advice is welcome!
  

Related answers:

• What do you think is required for a person to succeed?
• Do you think that introverts can succeed in the financial/business field? […] What’s your experience with introverts at work and what kind of positions do they typically thrive in?
  

Characteristics of a great leader (my 4 Cs):

1. Competence. A great leader is skillful at something. He should be organized, intelligent, timely, and accessible. I roll all these traits under competence because not having your shit together is the epitome of incompetence.

2. Confidence. A great leader needs to speak up, make tough decisions, stand by those decisions, and follow through. A great leader can act quickly and execute but also knows when he’s wrong and has to reconsider his decisions to choose another route. Balancing those two traits is crucial because too much of the former creates a battering ram boss (a xxTJ and xxFJ stereotype) and too much of the latter creates a scattered and ineffective leader (a xxTP and xxFP stereotype).

3. Communication. A great leader needs to provide the team with direction and clarity. If your team doesn’t know what’s going on, they won’t know what to do and if they don’t know what to do then they’ll either do it wrong or they won’t do it at all. Communication mobilizes the troops, sets expectations, clarifies confusion, helps catch issues before they become harmful, and above all, builds relationships and trust.

4. Compassion. A great leader inspires loyalty and devotion which translates into stronger relationships, happier teams, higher performance, and greater output. Now why is that? Why do likable people make better leaders? Because no one wants to work hard for a person they hate and no one wants to struggle and suffer to make a person they dislike shine. Why the hell would I put in 80 hours a week so you can get a raise?

Compassion is a huge part of charisma. It shouldn’t be fake and insincere but it also shouldn’t be accommodating to the point you’re letting sloppy and unacceptable behavior slide. Compassion is summarized by this statement: “I may not know exactly how you feel or what you’re going through but I’m here and I’m listening because you and your needs are important to me.”

Laws of leadership

1. Lead from the front, not the back. This means you need to be present, engaged, and setting the example for your peers and subordinates. Don’t stroll into work in the middle of the afternoon while everyone else clocks in at 5 am. They might not say anything but your team will resent you. You need to be the first one in and last one out. This will build respect.

2. Never ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself. For example, asking someone to work on a Sunday night on their birthday or asking someone to miss their wedding anniversary to finish a deliverable. Your team will hate you if not outright quit. Also, even if you ask someone to do something that you would do yourself take a second to consider their personality, circumstances, and limits. I can work a 19 hour day because I have no wife or kids at home, but is it reasonable for me to ask someone else to do the same? It’s not. Make the right call. This will build trust.

3. Always explain why, even if they don’t ask. Always provide a justification for your actions even if your team doesn’t ask. This will provide context, clear up miscommunication and assumptions, and build trust. For example: “I’m sorry but we need to put in extra hours just for today because our project deadline moved up by client request and our budget is running low.“ Your team won’t be happy but they’ll at least understand. This will build communication.

4. Protect your people. This is important. This means if a client request is unreasonable, you need to push back. I’ve had situations where the client wanted to schedule 2 AM calls because they were on the East Coast and we were on the West Coast after our team worked an 18 hour day. I told the client to either reschedule the call or that I would be the only one attending the meeting because I was sending my team back to the hotel to sleep. The client wasn’t happy, but they understood.

Also, in the event your team makes a mistake and gets ripped a new one, you need to step up and receive the brunt of the beating. I’ve been on calls where our team was screamed at – cussed out– because something didn’t turn out correctly. Don’t throw anyone under the bus even if you can pinpoint who made the mistake, take the discussion offline, and shield your team from the abuse. This will build loyalty.

My teams would go to war with me, they’d follow me to the end of the world and back.

Motivating unmotivated people

I’m glad you asked this question because you will rarely, if ever, have a perfect team with perfect synergy and perfect circumstances to perfectly deliver a project. Learning how to manage and motivate unmotivated people is a huge chunk of being a great leader and why leaders get paid the big bucks (and also why introverts avoid leadership positions).

I use the carrot and stick method which means I try to fix the problem nicely first and if it doesn’t resolve itself I bring out the ENTJ hammer and bring it down. I never micromanage. I know NTJs get a bad rep for doing this but it’s an absolute last resort, a huge energy drain, and an awful option because if I have to do your job then I can’t effectively do mine.

The Carrot

1. Set expectations early and communicate them clearly. Example: "Our team needs 2 reports from you by Friday next week at 5 PM. I’d like to help you so let me know how you want to tackle this project and what you need to succeed.” This does two things:

1. You’ve preemptively removed the two most common excuses for failure: “I didn’t have enough help/direction/support” and “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”
2. This person feels supported and encouraged to start. He or she will feel comfortable reaching out to you throughout the process.

2. Conduct touchpoint meetings with the entire team to get regular updates and enforce accountability. Keep this person and their progress visible in front of the entire team. "Agenda item 3: getting an update on our reports. Hey John, where are we with that? How’s it coming along and do you need any help?” This does two things:

1. It keeps the person on track without embarrassing or antagonizing them because everyone on the call is treated equally and expected to provide a status update.
2. It allows you to catch issues early.
   

3. Provide frequent feedback. The rule of thumb is that praise should be given publicly and correction should be given privately. This does two things:

1. It corrects issues before they become huge problems.
2. Compliments build momentum, positive feedback inspires and encourages.
   

The Stick

If that fails and the person has a pattern of behavior then I remove them from the team. If you follow steps 1, 2, and 3 it shouldn’t surprise your team or the problematic person why you’re doing what you’re doing and how you came to that conclusion.

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