The document provides guidance on leadership principles from notable leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Steve Jobs, and David Henke. It discusses Lincoln's leadership during the Civil War, Jobs' focus on products and employees in turning around Apple, and Henke's strategies for turning around companies. The document emphasizes principles like communicating vision, leading by example, focusing resources, and inspiring others to achieve shared objectives.

1. Leadership 101
David Henke
Leadership: The ability to inspire others to achieve a
shared objective.

2. Abraham Lincoln
 Circulate amongst the troops
 Build strong alliances
 Persuade rather than coerce
 Honesty/integrity
 Never act out of vengeance or spite
 Have the courage to handle unjust criticism
 Be master of the paradox
 Exercise a strong hand (be decisive)
 Lead by being led
 Set goals and be results oriented
 Encourage innovation
 Master the art of public speaking
 Influence people through conversation and storytelling
 Preach a vision and continually reaffirm it

3. Abraham Lincoln, by example
 Civil War was worst nightmare in American history (more Americans
killed in this war than all other wars combined)
 Lincoln needed a vision, a plan, people that could execute on that
plan, feedback on the execution of that plan, and the ability to inspire
the country
 Eventually made slavery the key rallying point (Emancipation
Proclamation)
 Wrote and delivered incredible speeches (Gettysburg Address)
constantly reinforcing the mission
 Walked the front line to talk/listen to his troops as well as the
leadership
 Replaced McClellan with a drunk (Grant) because Grant would fight
 Never lost his resolve to complete the task

4. Steve Jobs (from notes at Yahoo leadership meeting)
 Focus
 Know your DNA
 Run the company like a small company
 Management is always the problem
 Passion for products/services
 Passion for employees
 Never forget what you already have (core assets)

5. Steve Jobs, by example
 Apple was 3 months away from bankruptcy when Jobs returned
 Focus: PDA no  IPOD yes, 16 computer lines  4 computer lines
 Know your DNA: build the computers/devices that consumers love
 Run the company like a small company: Simple, functional org, small
number of empowered leaders
 Management is always the problem: got rid of most management, 4000
employees
 Passion for products/services: agonized over UI of IPOD, willing to halt
production at PIXAR because Toy Story was not right; preferred “excellence”
and “caring” to the word “innovation”
 Passion for employees: Apple is best place to work; best people attracts
best people; rewards employees with the work product and financial freedom
 Never forget what you already have (core assets): great employees, great
products, incredible customer base, money

6. Henke Axioms
 What get’s measured gets fixed
 The code doesn’t lie (where there’s one bug there are many; a feature is a
bug in a tuxedo)
 Quality, schedule, features, pick 2
 There are three kinds of feedback, positive, negative, and none. Only one of
them is bad
 Long term vision, short term execution
 Don’t worry about the mule being blind, just load the wagon
 You are only as good as your lieutenants
 Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eras (tell me who you run with and I
will tell you who you are)
 The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz
 Be impeccable with your word
 Do your best
 Don’t assume anything
 Don’t take anything personally

7. Turnaround Principles
 Never give up
 Listen
 Focus
 Promote your best people; otherwise clean the house; shake things up
 Simplify and clarify the organizational structure
 Put recruiters to work, but don’t rely on them for all recruiting
 Hire young people (interns, new college grads) as well as senior folks
 Communicate constantly
 Change the story
 Establish a sense of urgency
 Form a powerful guiding coalition
 Create a vision; communicate that vision; empower others to act on that
vision
 Plan for and create short-term wins
 Consolidate improvements and produce still more changes
 Institutionalize new approaches

8. Organization/Culture
 F == Focus  fewer things done better
 C == Communicating right things to right people at right time
 S == Speed and quality of decision making
 Prioritize, decide, marshal resources efficiently
 Specify clear ownership and accountability
 Conway’s Law (org defines result) instantiated: If you have four groups
working on a compiler, you will get a four pass compiler
 Flatten the hierarchy
 Scrutinize what everyone is working on
 Manage out the bottom 10%
 Leadership, the ability to inspire others to achieve a shared objective
 Leverage: Maximizing value by performing both efficiently and effectively
 Results: Maximizing your time and energy on initiatives that move the needle

9. Top 10 Leadership principles from recent Internet
posting
 Assemble a dedicated team
 Over communicate
 Don’t assume
 Be authentic
 Know your obstacles
 Create a team charter
 Believe in your team
 Dole out credit
 Keep your team engaged
 Stay calm

10. Henke, by Example
 Asked to turn around Overture, responsible for ½ of Yahoo’s revenue stream
 Legacy systems failing; two attempted rewrites had failed in last two years
 Created two teams: one to keep the legacy pig alive, one to build the new pig
 Came up with a narrative (code-named Panama) that built a metaphor for
what we were attempting to do, comparing and contrasting our project with
the construction of the Panama Canal:
 Create the vision and build the plan
 Keep the workforce alive/Build the team
 Come up with an engineering solution that would work
 Invest in the infrastructure necessary to do it
 Constantly re-enforce the vision and the current status and the next
milestone
 When push comes to shove, DIG

11. Appendix A: Some leadership development
suggestions
 Communication: All-hands, targeted meetings, skip-level meetings, brown-
bags, re-enforcement and cascading of messaging
(e.g., leadership, leverage, results, vision/mission)
 Circulate amongst the troops; management by walking around, open door
policy, ad-hoc smoke breaks
 Mentoring: formal 1-1, executive coaches
 Training: LinkedIn University, Leadership Forum, every meeting is a training
session, Professor Flynn training, Public Speaking
training, Toastmasters, second in command represent us, Technology Boot
Camp, Sales Curriculum (very extensive)
 Sharing: numerous memos from personal experience (e.g., Deep Nishar’s
Product Principles)
 Cross-functional helpers: presentations, invitations to meetings, solicitations
 Books: see Bibliography

12. Bibliography
 The Startup of You (Reid Hoffman)
 The Four Agreements (Don Miguel Ruiz)
 The Goal (Goldratt and Cox)
 Six Thinking Hats (Edward de Bono)
 Lincoln on Leadership, Executive Strategies for Tough Times, (Donald T.
Phillips)
 The Art of War (Sun-Tzu)
 The Mythical Man-Month ((Fred Brooks)
 Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the box (Arbinger Institute)
 10 Secrets of Successful Leaders (Kara Ohngren)
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220518
 The Path Between the Seas - The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914
(David McCullough)

13. QA