3 Leadership Lessons I Learned from Shane Tiffany
When I look at my friend Shane Tiffany, I see a leader surrounded by talented, capable people who are fully committed to his company's mission. Since losing my mentor Ray, I've had to learn leadership faster than I expected, so I asked Shane a simple question: if you wrote a book on marketplace leadership, which three principles would take center stage?
His answers all grow from one idea Jesus taught: he who humbles himself will be exalted. If you try hard to be a leader, you won't be one. Take the posture of a servant, and before you know it, you'll be leading.
Principle 1: Set the example.
Your people will adopt the behaviors you model. Before you get frustrated with the people you lead, Shane says, check whether that behavior is actually in you. Culture eats strategy for breakfast, and culture starts at the top.
One of his early mentors put it this way: you will have an abundance of whatever you tolerate. Tolerate lateness and bad attitudes, and you'll get more of both. Expect punctuality and curiosity, and those will multiply instead. It's the same truth Scripture teaches: you reap what you sow, at work and at home.
Setting the example also means consistency. Are you a thermometer that reflects the mood of the room, or a thermostat that sets it? For Shane, consistency came when he realized the company was God's and he was only its manager. For me, it comes from early mornings with the Lord. When I skip them, everyone ends up running around with their hair on fire.
Principle 2: Take the time to think.
A mentor many considered a visionary told Shane he had no special gift for vision. What set him apart was that he took time to think: every morning, no TV, no phone, no newspaper, just coffee and quiet.
That mentor also told Shane to keep a list of ten possible opportunities in his desk drawer, such as a business that might come up for sale or the land next door. For each one, decide ahead of time who you'd call, how you'd finance it and who would run it. When opportunity shows up, you can move fast. Many of Shane's acquisitions came straight off that card. It looks like risk-taking from the outside, but how risky is it when you already have a plan?
Thinking also means seeking counsel, from God first and from people who will listen to a problem all the way through. Shane tells his leaders he'll think more of them for asking for help than for charging ahead alone. The harder question for me is whether I'm that kind of listener for my own team.
Principle 3: Hope for the best, plan for the worst
Your expectations set the stage for your experience. Planning for the worst is good risk management, but hoping for the best is what changes the atmosphere. If you explode when someone brings you bad news, your people will start hiding problems, and you'll find the weeds when they're four feet tall. If you say, "That's unfortunate, but we'll figure it out," problems surface early and confidence spreads.
Shane asked a question that applies to every leader and parent: when your people mess up, do they dread telling you, or can they not wait to get your help? Thankfully, God is the second kind of father.
Shane's company puts this principle to work financially, too. They don't expand in the good times. They pay down debt and build a war chest so they're ready to grow in the next downturn. That is one reason I love infinite banking: it's the best tool I've found for building that war chest.
Learned the hard way.
Shane told me these are his top three because he has failed at every one of them. Early on, he managed by telling people what to do, and talented employees kept leaving. Once he started empowering them, his business grew from one facility and eight employees to four facilities and sixty employees.
Set the example. You will get an abundance of whatever you tolerate.
Take the time to think. Plan for opportunities before they arrive.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Build the war chest in good times and meet hard news with confidence.
If you aren't living these yet, don't get discouraged. I'm still learning too. The goal isn't to compare yourself with anyone else. It's to be better today than you were yesterday.
