Chapter 20 Chapter 19 Dare to act: Be an indomitable leader

Many enlightened leaders insist that admitting mistakes is a sign of bravery and honesty, which can not only harmonize interpersonal relationships and create a peaceful atmosphere, but also enhance the prestige of the boss and enhance the trust of subordinates. Only those leaders with particularly fragile self-esteem dare not admit their mistakes to their employees after making mistakes.This kind of leader is hard to be convinced by employees.Leaders who are convinced by employees are leaders who dare to act and do not shirk their responsibilities. "Admitting mistakes is a person's greatest source of strength." This was proposed by L. Terry, former general manager of the Bank of Tennessee.What it means is that by looking at mistakes, you get something other than mistakes.

After a failed battle plan to rescue hostages at the American embassy in Iran, then-President Jimmy?Carter solemnly declared on TV: "I am responsible for everything." Just because of the above sentence, President Carter's approval rating suddenly rose by more than 10%. The example of President Carter shows that subordinates' evaluation of a leader often depends on whether the leader has a sense of responsibility.The courage to take responsibility not only makes subordinates feel safe, but also makes subordinates reflect on themselves. After reflection, they will find their own flaws, so they will take the initiative to apologize in front of everyone and take responsibility.The most worrying thing for a subordinate is to do something wrong, especially after spending a lot of energy and making a mistake. At this time, the boss said "I am responsible for everything", so how will this subordinate feel?

When the leader does this, on the surface, he takes the responsibility on himself and makes himself the object of condemnation. In essence, he just transfers the responsibility of the subordinates to the superior leader, which makes it easier to solve the problem.If you are a middle-level leader, and you have taken responsibility for your subordinates, will your superior also reflect that he also has some responsibilities?Once the company works from top to bottom to form an atmosphere of courage to take responsibility, it will put an end to the situation of mutual blame and disunity, so that the company will have stronger cohesion and thus become more competitive.

Human beings are not gods, they always have their own shortcomings, and everyone will inevitably make some mistakes.When we make a mistake, the idea of ​​wanting to hide our mistake often appears in our minds, fearing that we will lose face after admitting it.In fact, admitting mistakes is not something to be ashamed of.On the contrary, in a sense, it is still a kind of "heroic" behavior.For the sooner a mistake is admitted, the easier it is to correct and remedy it.Moreover, admitting mistakes on one's own initiative is more forgiving than admitting mistakes after criticism from others.What's more, one mistake will not ruin your future path. What will really hinder your career is the attitude of unwillingness to take responsibility and unwillingness to correct mistakes.

The courage to admit mistakes and failures is also the law of business survival.From the perspective of Terry's Law, the market is not a battlefield where two armies confront each other, and enterprises are not an army; by admitting failure, enterprises can avoid greater market losses, readjust their market strategies, and regain market opportunities. When a leader communicates with people, it is inevitable to say wrong words and do wrong things, and it is inevitable to offend people, and sometimes even bring great mental pain and huge economic losses to them.In this regard, if you can realize your mistakes in time, sincerely apologize to others, and take the initiative to take responsibility, under normal circumstances, you can always be forgiven by others.If you find that you are wrong, and you cannot apologize to others in time, or even try to find excuses to justify yourself, the result will not only not be forgiven by others, but on the contrary, you will suffer moral condemnation and damage to your personality and image. You lose friends, you lose friendships.Therefore, no one should underestimate the role of an apology.

Simply put, an apology must master two principles: one is to be sincere, and the other is to be timely.There are several ways to make a timely and sincere apology. 1. To express awareness and hope to be forgiven During the Three Kingdoms period, Gongsun Yuan separatist in Liaodong, afraid of Cao Cao's conquest, wrote a letter to Sun Quan to submit to Soochow.Sun Quan decided to send troops to support him with money, and made Gongsun Yuan King of Yan.Minister Zhang Zhao believed that Gongsun Yuan was unreliable and strongly opposed Sun Quan's doing so. The two had a fierce dispute because of this, but Sun Quan still did not accept his opinion in the end.Zhang Zhao was so angry that he refused to go to the court. Sun Quan was also angry and sent someone to block the door of Zhang Zhao's house.Zhang Zhao didn't show any weakness, and let his family block another layer in the door.Later, Gongsun Yuan killed the people Sun Quan sent, and Sun Quan realized that Zhang Zhao's opinion was right, so he went to Zhang Zhao's house several times to admit his mistakes, but Zhang Zhao just didn't see him.

Once, Sun Quan came to Zhang Zhao's house again and called Zhang Zhao's name loudly, but Zhang Zhao was still bedridden.Sun Quan sent people to burn his door, intending to force Zhang Zhao to come out, but Zhang Zhao ordered people to close the windows too.When Sun Quan saw it, he asked someone to put out the fire, and he himself stood in front of Zhang Zhao's door. Later, after his son's persuasion, Zhang Zhao finally showed up. Sun Quan was very happy when he saw it.Since then, the monarch and his subjects have been reconciled as before. 2. Expressing abandonment of past suspicions, hoping to get help

In 1754, Washington was still a colonel, leading his men stationed in Alexandria.In one election for the Virginia legislature, a man named William Pace opposed a candidate supported by Washington. Washington is said to have had a heated argument with Perth at one point over election issues, and he said something offensive to Perth.Pace knocked Washington to the ground, and Washington's men rushed over, ready to avenge their chief.Washington stopped them on the spot and advised them to return to camp. Early the next morning, Washington sent Pace a note asking him to go to a small hotel as soon as possible.

Perth arrived as promised, he was coming for a duel, and to his surprise, he saw not a pistol but a wine glass. "Mr. Pace," said Washington, "it is human nature to err, and it is an honor to right it. I believe I was wrong yesterday, and you have been satisfied to some extent. If you think you can If it's settled, then please shake my hand—let's make friends." From then on, Perth became an ardent supporter of Washington. 3. Express responsibility and hope to be understood In the 1950s, the chancellor of the GDR visited China and planned to sign a treaty of friendship and mutual assistance between China and Germany.In accordance with international practice, the announcement should be made at the same time as agreed by both parties.However, due to the negligence of the reporter, the news was sent in advance before the treaty was signed.When Premier Zhou Enlai saw the newspaper, he immediately called to apologize to the Chancellor of the GDR who had already visited other places.

In the afternoon, he invited relevant leaders and reporters to his office for a meeting.After understanding the process of the problem, he said: "I only reminded the reporter not to publish it at the state affairs meeting, but did not explain it to the reporter at the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. As a result, something went wrong. This is my negligence." Then, the Prime Minister It is only then that the nature and impact of the mistakes, as well as their respective responsibilities and lessons are pointed out to the relevant personnel.The chancellor of the GDR was very moved by Premier Zhou's proactive apology and expressed his understanding.

A true apology is not just about admitting your mistakes and acknowledging that your words and actions have damaged the relationship between each other, but about taking responsibility for your mistakes bravely.Showing that you take the mistake seriously and want to get back together by apologizing can not only make up for a broken relationship, but also strengthen the relationship. The courage to admit mistakes is not only a quality that a leader should have, but also a rare virtue.In fact, the leaders of many large companies have such good qualities.Here, we first give an example of Konosuke Matsushita. Once, a subordinate made it difficult to recover a sum of money due to lack of experience.Konosuke Matsushita was furious and severely criticized the subordinate at the meeting.After his anger subsided, he was deeply disturbed by his excesses.Because I also signed the payment slip, the subordinate just didn't check it well.Since he should also bear certain responsibilities, then he should not criticize his subordinates so harshly.After figuring it out, he immediately called the subordinate and apologized sincerely.It just so happened that the subordinate moved to a new home that day, and Konosuke Matsushita came to congratulate him, and moved the furniture for the subordinate himself, sweating profusely, which moved the subordinate deeply.However, the matter did not end there.On this day a year later, the subordinate received another postcard from Konosuke Matsushita, and left a line of handwriting on it: Let us forget this hateful day and welcome the arrival of a new day.After reading Konosuke Matsushita's handwritten letter, the subordinate was moved to tears.Since then, he has never made a mistake and is loyal to the company.Konosuke Matsushita's sincere confession to his subordinates has become a good story in the entire Japanese business world, which is indeed commendable. "Authority theory" is quite popular in China. Even if the leader of an enterprise is wrong, he will not easily bow his head and admit that he is wrong. Doing so will not only fail to maintain his "leadership image" in the eyes of his subordinates, You will also lose everyone's trust.And if you admit your mistakes frankly, you will not only get understanding, but also prestige, support and respect. Dick Morris, who was once Clinton's close staff, said in his book about dealing with scandals: "When a scandal is exposed, past experience shows that the reporter who exposed the scandal often has enough ammunition and is deployed to follow up. A few days of offensive and plot arrangement. They and the editor will cleverly package the stories and plots related to the scandal, segment by segment, and publish them day by day, so that the scandal plot will have new developments every day, which can continue to be hyped and even heated up. .” If a scandal is exclusively revealed by a certain media, the person involved must be mentally prepared: the reporter has already arranged the reports and related plots for the next few days like a "chapter novel".If you are lucky and try to cover up the truth with lies, or just confess the facts bit by bit like "squeezing toothpaste", you will easily fall into the trap of the media and be hit head-on by the ammunition that the latter has already stored up, "slap in the face" Another slap" came ruthlessly.Therefore, it is better to admit mistakes first, and not to give others the opportunity to "deduce". "Apple Daily" is one of the Hong Kong media's masters in chasing scandals. In 2000, on the first day of the revelation of Cheng Jienan's "use of power for personal gain" scandal, the "Apple Daily" only disclosed very limited evidence, making Cheng Jienan take it lightly and take chances. Take it, and cover up some of the facts.Unexpectedly, the reporter of the newspaper was already prepared to fight. At the meeting, he used many words in his defense and asked him to guarantee his personal integrity.It was not until the next day that the newspaper further disclosed more information, refuted and questioned his defense made by the press conference the day before, and made Cheng respond again, exhausted.Repeating this game for several days in a row will exhaust the parties physically and mentally, and the honesty will gradually go bankrupt, just like "a cat playing with a mouse", which is not cruel. Similar practice, "Apple Daily" has a long history of criminal record, but it is only applied to the "entertainment section", Cheng may not have noticed it because of this.At that time, it was reported that the wife of a famous Hong Kong male TV star had an extramarital affair. After the couple came out to "love" and solemnly denied it, the newspaper published the photo of his wife making out with a third party the next day, which made the person concerned eat a lot. Remembering Sap and being humiliated also makes the news more hype-worthy. There is a concept in the stock trading industry called "cutting meat", which means that after the stock price falls to a certain warning line, you must reluctantly part with the losing stock at one time, so as not to sink deeper and deeper, and finally fall into the bottomless abyss.Although it will be painful, the advantage of "cutting flesh" is that at least you know how much you will lose.There is always a trace of luck in people's hearts. When losing money, they always hope that good luck will come again tomorrow, but in this way, they often lose their "net worth" in the end. The same is true for dealing with scandals, which also requires "cutting the flesh".Putting an end to taking chances and telling the whole truth at once, although it will be painful, it is better than having to deal with scandals and the media in the future, fearing every day, not knowing whether the truth will be further exposed tomorrow, and your lies will be exposed And cover up, regardless of self-psychology and public impression, points will be deducted continuously, and personal integrity will be lost in the end.If you "cut the meat", you will not let the aforementioned traps like novels in the media chapters have an opportunity to take advantage of. One of the best cases is the 2003 Hong Kong Financial Secretary Leung Kam-sung's "stolen car purchase" incident.Liang is suspected of "sneak buying a car" before the announcement of the car tax increase in his own budget.On the day the scandal came to light, he only said lightly that buying a car was to prepare for the family needs after his wife Fu Mingxia gave birth to a baby, and that he bought the car in January and decided to increase the tax in February.He also promised to donate twice the tax difference involved (100,000 yuan) to charity to show that he has no desire for petty gains. However, on the second day after the incident was exposed, a senior executive of a certain car dealership called the commercial station "Beacon" program in the morning, questioning that the tax price difference involved in the model car should be more than 50,000 yuan. The press secretary Liang Jinsong made a clarification at night, saying that the price difference was 190,000 yuan Yuan, and changed from Asong to donate 380,000 Yuan.On the third day, another car dealer called the same program, saying that as early as January, Liang Jinsong had visited his car dealer to ask the price. At that time, he had asked the latter jokingly whether the government would increase taxes on cars. There is no reason for investors to be unaware of whether they are suspected of "stealing to buy a car" from beginning to end. On the same day, another newspaper reported that an official admitted to the newspaper that the government's "Budget Strategy Group" had discussed the adjustment of the first registration tax for automobiles in October of the previous year and February of that year. The statement that the tax increase was decided in February was once again questioned. Later, another newspaper reported that Yang Yongqiang, another senior official who was held accountable, learned that the budget proposed to increase the first car registration tax in the middle of a high-level government meeting a few hours before the announcement of the budget. He immediately declared that he had ordered a new car, and the same The occasion Liang remained silent.After the news was exposed in the newspapers, the incident suddenly turned into a political storm. Throughout the incident, Leung Kam-sung passively responded to the development of the situation and the newly exposed facts, and confessed bit by bit like "squeezing toothpaste".His integrity was gradually lost, and in the later stages of the incident, not many people believed his words.If he had made a decisive decision from the very beginning, resolutely "cut the flesh", and chose to confess the truth of the whole matter in one go, the damage would have been reduced a lot. Let me give another example: a few years ago, there was an incident in Hong Kong where several district councilors were suspected of going north for pleasure.At that time, these councilors visited a certain place in Guangdong, but were tracked down by magazine reporters and took pictures of them behaving intimately with several glamorous girls, and accused them of going north for pleasure, but there was no further evidence to support these allegations in the magazine.At first, several congressmen firmly denied it, refuting the magazine's speculation.However, because the incident involved two members of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, the party's top management held an emergency meeting immediately after the scandal was published in the issue of the magazine, and pressured the two to make a 180-degree turn, confess their mistakes, and apologize to the public. A high-ranking member of the party talked about this matter. He explained that their countermeasure was very simple at that time, that is, they had to cut their flesh decisively. They would rather sacrifice two people than take the risk of helping them to "hold on". Otherwise, more people would be implicated at any time. , and even lose the integrity of the entire party.The executive said, how do we know if the magazine has kept more explosive photos or evidence (such as interviews with sexy girls, etc.), and they will not publish them. Only after you swear and firmly deny them will they be further exposed and hyped in the next issue of the magazine ?In that case our party will only be implicated and lose even worse. What will be paid is no longer the personal morality of individual party members, but the integrity of the entire party. It is wise to "cut the meat" in time, admit mistakes first, and don't give others the opportunity to "deduce", so that he will not be able to manipulate you. Tigers also have naps.As a manager, when you snooze, management blunders pop up.You will find that there are major problems in the company, poor capital turnover, prominent personnel conflicts, outdated management methods, and so on.At this time, you must find a way to review your management mistakes: find out the problem.Think carefully about where you lose.In 1980, Ford sent a research team to visit the dealerships of Ford and Japanese cars in the United States, and compared the records of buyers sending in repairs or claims during the warranty period.They found that the claim rate of Japanese cars was much lower than that of Ford cars. This was the first impression of the Ford team's interview. It also made Ford face the pressure of the surge in sales of Japanese imported cars in the United States and had to conduct self-examination.Also check to see if you are falling behind in the following areas: whether your company has made a mistake in hiring or promoting people, whether you have fallen too far behind in launching a new product, whether you have lost touch with your customers, etc.You can benefit a lot from talking to other companies in addressing these issues.If you find that your costs are too high, but you don't know why, you have to check every link in the production line and compare it with others in the industry. Choose the path that will solve the problem for you.Find ways to solve the problem for you.Contact with suppliers, customers, industry associations, consultants, especially customers.Don't be afraid to call a rival company and say, "We all have problems, but we admire your approach, let's share it." Don't forget to visit companies that you are not familiar with, and pay attention to technical details At the same time, don't forget to ask about the management tips you care about most. You might be flattered by an unexpected welcome.Experience sharing is allowed in today's world.For example, one of the conditions for winning the Badridge National Quality Award from the US government is to teach other companies how to succeed.As a peer, maybe he is also hoping to communicate with you. Treat employees with hospitality.If you're a supervisor, everyone in your organization is your internal customer.If you are a decision maker, you'd better prepare a blank sheet of paper or distribute a questionnaire to understand public opinion. Your work must be supported by everyone in the group in order to generate benefits for customers or shareholders. One of the issues that must be addressed before managers can treat your employees well is demystifying the leadership role.Power, as we all know, isolates. Isabel, chairman and general manager of a plastics factory in Russia, despite her reputation as "tough", is still fully aware of this danger: "I keep going to the grassroots. A shower gives me courage." At Kodak Camera, Jacques?The smartest people on Pahrump's team don't ask for an appointment in advance, but advocate a push-in reception.Despite his busy schedule, the managing director of Japan's largest telecommunications company never refuses to chat for a moment with the executives who walk past his office. "There's nothing like direct intercourse." At Club Med, Serge?Trigano was happy to receive any of his assistants at any time for their advice.Serge "Mr. Quick Service"?Kraszonski was still "Mr. Serge" to most of the staff.And all these are the successful practices of the pioneers of company management who are good at hospitality. Looking at a person's self-cultivation, judging from his attitude towards accepting criticism, it is the most representative.No matter who you are, when you are criticized, you will initially resist subconsciously, and then you will make a rational judgment on the criticism. Behavioral experts suggest that when you accept criticism, you should first judge whether the criticism is justified, then think about who is criticizing you, analyze the critic's reaction, and observe the other party's emotions.Based on this, you can make corresponding motivations and take appropriate countermeasures.According to the rules of modern leadership cultivation, when a leader is criticized, he should try to do the following: (1) Understand the focus of the critics' criticism, and avoid being arbitrary; only when you grasp the focus of criticism can you consider how to respond. (2) Don't rush to fight back or find excuses to justify; retorts are harmful and useless, and forced excuses won't help. (3) Don't pretend to "agree" or keep silent.If you do not accept the criticism in your heart, but accept it verbally, then the critics will think you have been lying when they pay attention to whether you have corrected it but have not seen your actual actions.Saying nothing about criticism can easily lead critics to think that you have been engaged in "silent protest", which will not help solve the problem. (4) Try to ease the atmosphere down.When being criticized, the emotions of both parties are often very tense. You should suppress your emotions and listen to the critic's conversation calmly. If necessary, you can ask the other party to provide more information, for example, you can ask the other party "Can you speak more clearly?" Can you be more specific?" You can also ask the other party to propose or assist in finding a solution to the problem.This often eases the atmosphere and facilitates in-depth discussions. (5) Make accurate judgments on criticism and take corresponding countermeasures.If you feel the criticism is correct, accept it directly and without ambiguity.If you are unable to judge whether the criticism is correct or not, you can express to the critic that you need to consider the criticism you have received, and talk about it next time you have a chance.If you disagree with the other party's criticism, you can express your meaning in a tactful way, or try to accept part of the criticism while putting forward different opinions. (6) The goodwill of critics should be affirmed.Except for a very few people who provoke and slander out of malice, the vast majority of critics criticize with a kind and helpful attitude, because critics do so at the risk of offending others. Moral courage should be affirmed.Because of this, when one accepts criticism, one should express sincere gratitude to the critic for his kindness.Only in this way can the emotional communication between the two parties be strengthened, and the understanding and friendly exchanges between the two parties will be enhanced.Any thought and practice of brooding over critics, or even looking for opportunities to retaliate is not advisable. A wise leader will ask himself before blaming his subordinates, do I also have a share of this responsibility?This is called blaming others first.Only such a leader can convince his subordinates. At work, some people like to slander others or repel dissidents arbitrarily. It is really difficult to manage such talents, but as a leader, you can't just ignore them. This is what happened to a trading company.The female employee reported to Section Chief Dong: "Section Chief Dong, every time I pour tea for Section Chief Zhang, he doesn't even look at it, doesn't say a word, his expression is very indifferent, can I ask the section chief to tell him , Women should be treated kindly.” There are many indifferent and self-centered employees in the company, but after careful consideration, the people who make these complaints are really standard self-centered characters! Regarding the female employee's complaint, Section Chief Zhang said: "She put down the teacup with a stern face, and with a bang, the tea spilled out, but she didn't wipe it. The official document was wet and ignored. Like this, how can the boss treat it kindly?" she?" After hearing his explanation, Section Chief Dong said to him: "I know, I will ask her to be more polite at work, but I want to make an agreement with you first, and next time she brings you tea, please tell me first." Thank you." Then, he said to the female staff member: "When you bring tea in the future, you should first say hello and say, 'Head, the tea is here.' or 'Chief, please drink tea.' Otherwise, the other party Maybe I didn’t notice you.” After this explanation, the situation improved the next day, and both parties later said to the section chief: “Thank you! The other party corrected it soon.” Section chief Dong replied with a smile : "I'm not blaming the other party, I just want him (her) to say hello." This passage has the meaning of asking them to reflect on each other. Wang Mingxin is a working-class employee with poor moral character. Not only is he not serious in his work, but he often asks for leave with excuses. One day he received a letter from his manager saying: "I have always treated you with a peaceful attitude, and dealt with everything with a tolerant attitude. Facts have proved that my approach is wrong! If I don't remind you of what you have done, it will not only be detrimental to the company, but also to yourself It's also harmful. Your attitude today is simply deceiving yourself and lacking consideration for life. "It is true that there are troubles and sorrows hidden in everyone's heart, but you dare not face them squarely, escaping from reality blindly, and willing to degenerate. This kind of loose attitude can be done occasionally, but life is not so simple. Loosen up, and before long you'll find you've been abandoned by yourself, your friends, and society. If you're not happy with the job, it's okay if you don't want to, but don't lament your misfortune, blame others, or society No matter what the environment is, don't have the mentality of relying on others. "There are always many unsatisfactory times in a person's life. There is no need to blame others. Life is lonely. You have to keep in mind that in this world, everything is unreliable except yourself." "Even if I don't say these words, I believe you will understand them, but if I don't say them, I will always feel sorry, so I wrote this letter to you. You may have a lot of things to say in your heart. If you If you want, you can tell me the troubles in your heart, and you are welcome to come to me anytime. "I'll give you 10 days. During this period, if you can change your ways, the company still welcomes you very much. If after 10 days, you still haven't answered me, and you still live a life of self-deception, you don't have to go back to the company. Yes. You can go where you want and do what you want to do. I am here to hear from you." After reading the letter, he realized that there are people in this world who care about him so much, and couldn't help crying.Since then, his attitude has changed a lot, and he is completely different from before. As a superior, you must first know how to spur yourself. Only by blaming others in the same way as yourself can it be effective.