Don't Surround Yourself With People Who Demand Too Little of You

I adopted this paraphrase of a Kenny Rogers song lyric a long time ago.  Not being a country music fan, I did not hear the song often, but it reached number 44 in the Billboard "Hot 100" in 1977, so it was far from never heard.  The song is "Sweet Music Man" and the actual phrase is "And you surround yourself with people who demand so little of you"

Anyway, the point is to have good people around you because they push you to be your best and that makes the whole organization stronger.  Be sure that your team members know that you want them to push you.  You need people to challenge you when they disagree with you and to challenge you to do even better.  In return, you need to challenge them to be constantly striving to do better and to be sure that they know you appreciate blunt, but honest, input.

You need bright people who are not "afraid" of you.  Mere "yes men" or women are not what you are looking for.  Nor do you want simple contrarians.  You need a team that works together and that expects (demands) good leadership.

Two of the most valuable staff members that I have ever had were not hesitant to speak up and "call" me if they thought I was wrong.  I relied on them for honest and frank opinions, given immediately.  I, in turn, thought things out better and more clearly before presenting them to these people because I knew they would have logical and well thought out responses.  (Both were bright and able to think through the issue quickly.)  Their tenure at Richway overlapped by only a year or two, but between them they covered a 25 year period.  My heartfelt thanks to both of them!



Links Below


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HhjQWgag8

http://www.musictory.com/music/Kenny+Rogers/Sweet+Music+Man


http://www.lyricsmania.com/sweet_music_man_lyrics_kenny_rogers.html