Choose Your Warriors Well or Hire Good People

Because I have been blessed in so many ways I have always believed in trying to give back to my community, country and the world so that others may be blessed as well. While each of us are limited in what we can do I have found that joining and actively participating in civic groups that have this as one of their primary purposes is a good way to expand my capacity to give back. One group I have belonged to in most places where I have lived is Rotary International. This organization believes strongly in assisting others, especially on a local and international level. For example, it is Rotary that was the driving force and supplier of $500,000,000 that has virtually eradicated polio from the face of the earth, with only a few small African countries still reporting cases of polio in 2007.

Like any club there are always a large number of jobs to do and what seems like a perpetual shortage of people with the time or willingness to help get them done. I am one of those with both the time and willingness so it was not surprising when I was asked to serve as a director of the board of our local club of about 130 members. In addition to regular board duties I am currently responsible for Programs and Fellowship. This is something that I enjoy doing even though it is one of the hardest and most time consuming jobs in a club. This is because Rotary meets every week which means that over the course of the year we need to have about fifty quality speakers/programs. In addition, the social activities that get club members and their families together for fellowship are often large events that require a good deal of planning and organization. Obviously, this job is too large for me to do alone and I need people who not only have the time and willingness but also the desire and fervor to do these things well.

Having served as a direct line leader for virtually my entire adult working life, from small self contained groups of a half dozen to a 20,000+ employee organization with a $1.2 billion dollar annual operating budget, I am fully cognizant of how important it is to surround yourself with good people and then to cultivate them to perform the job better than you yourself could do. The Leadership Teachings of Geronimo Teaching #60 deals with the importance of this leadership principle. It’s entitled Choose Your Warriors Well and reads as follow:

While Geronimo led many of his own raids and war parties, as the main war chieftain he was also responsible for selecting which warriors would serve as leaders of other raids or war parties. He chose well, for the warriors were very often successful. He was careful to select competent warriors, even if they were individuals he did not personally like.

Teaching

There is no more important task for a leader than selecting those who will lead various parts of the organization. A company will be successful with competent leaders, and it will fail with incompetent leaders. Wise leaders understand this and devote the time, energy, and effort necessary to assure the selection, employment and retention of competent leaders throughout the organization. Furthermore, wise leaders understand that this is a job they must personally do. It should not be left to others, and it should, especially, not be left to the people who will work for the leader.

I spend a lot of time and effort every year selecting those members of the Rotary club that I believe will be competent in helping do the jobs for which I have overall responsibility. All of these people are or were extremely successful in their careers so it is little wonder that they have done so well. However, success in one place does not necessarily transfer to success in another place, time and responsibility. My efforts have paid very good dividends since the objective and anecdotal reviews of the club members for the quality of programs and fellowship have never been higher.