Jack had the Ace of Diamonds up his sleeve, helping him to be a winning team leader for the last 27 years – but it was not always that way. He discovered the Ace during a life-threatening situation, but the experience and rewards were worth it
Jack was a terrible micro-manager, he hated his workers, and they hated him. He never cared about anyone and only focused on his team’s production output. He was a slave driver. Then one day, he was thrown into a potentially catastrophic situation.
One of his workers was in his dormitory room with a sawed-off shotgun and threatening suicide. Jack did not care about this worker’s life and had no training or experience to handle this situation. But Jack’s boss pushed him into the room with the disturbed individual and locked the door behind him. At first, Jack thought his life was in danger because this worker hated him more than the others. He was scared and did not know what to do, so he sat quietly and listened to the individual explain why he had no reason to live.
Jack listened intently and then began to emphasize with the individual. The situation was defused, and all turned out okay after the most excruciating hour of Jack’s life. During that day, Jack realized why his workers hated him – he never cared about anyone but himself and getting the work done. That was the first day he understood that he needed to care about the people working for him.
The next day, a Senior leader gave Jack a book by Zig Ziglar titled, See You At The Top. Jack was intrigued by the book’s central message: You can have everything you want if you just help others get what they want. He knew he needed to incorporate this into his leadership style. Jack developed his own personal slogan to remind himself of this message and repeated it over and over again, sinking it deep into his subconscious mind. Then he began to live it – If you take care of the people, the people will take care of the process.
Jack had never taken any time to know the people who worked for him. He was your micro-manager extreme, a “villianistic” Darth-Vader-like ruthless leader, but things had to change. Jack realized the need to change if he wanted to be a successful leader and a winner in the game of life. He had been at the losing end of most relationships and had no “real” friends or supporters.
Jack began asking the workers about their personal goals. He focused on what the workers needed to do a good job. He got new tools to replace their old broken ones, provided a safer workplace, and solved logistic problems that constantly irritated the workers. He focused on the needs of the workers and stopped being a mico-manager. Jack
learned that the technique of listening to your workers and finding out what they really need comes after you understand that they are not robots – but people with real feelings and needs, just like him.
Performance increased, morale improved, Jack got suggestions from the workers to improve processes, and together they implemented them. The workers no longer hated Jack; instead, after they got used to the “new” Jack, they wanted to keep him as their leader. He had found his niche as a successful leader by helping his workers get what they wanted – not just what he wanted.
The hidden Ace of Diamonds that Jack needed to be an award-winning leader was there for his taking, and he used it every day after that. He kept the card up his sleeve and used it as a constant reminder. He became an example for other leaders and shared his Ace with the younger leaders who would follow him – “If you take care of the people, the people will take care of the process.” I know this story is true because I am Jack.
Michael Wader is a Rotarian, a Toastmaster, and a member of the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers and the Virtual Speakers Association International. He is a best-selling author and known as the “Inspirational Catalyst.”
