ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com
Are You a Leader of Self or a Blind
Follower to Others?
The Tone at the Top which is depicted
by every action of leadership within an
organization, sets the tone by which all other
individual’s actions are measured, tolerated,
and expected.
Why do some cities that were once great,
wander aimlessly and waste away into a
state of mere existence? Why do once great
organizations cease to exist? Why do families
that seem to be strong, digress into a routine
of continual crisis? The answer is simple: lack
of tone leads to lack of quality performance.
This produces a cascade of endless, cancerous
outcomes.
Tone (standards of conduct if you will) is
instantly set and telegraphed by the actions,
behaviors, comments, vocal tones, word selection, defensiveness, posture, dress, acceptance,
non-acceptance, and emotional display of every individual within an organization.
Many times it is the compulsion to defend
what you know and have done, rather than
investing that same amount of time in
learning what you do not know. That sets
organizational tone!
Whether in politics, the military, business, or
family, the tone set by the titular figure head
sets the atmosphere of conduct, the culture
of expectation, and the environment for
efficiency or lack thereof. For many, a sense
of aimlessness seems to prevail, as leaders
continue to be void of self respect, decency, or
internal mettle. If a leader stands for nothing,
the masses will surely fall for everything!
It takes true leadership-of-self to set tone.
In many instances, the tone is never even set
because there is no real leader, merely mice
(among men/women) that have evolved
upward. Or worse, the tone is not set because
performance is impeded due to:
1. Individuals that wait to see what the
daily opinion polls indicate as the popular
path, regardless of whether or not it is the
necessary path – that is not leadership but
mere management.
2. Individuals that live a life prescribed to
them by others, squandering their own
greatness. As a result, they never blossom,
and fail to bless others with their inherent
abilities - that is not leadership but mere
management.
3. Many individuals rationalize away self
respect and decency. They lament that it
is not important whether their actions are
ethical. It only matters whether they are
legal; lack of tone is seen when someone
fixates on parching words, rather than
having legitimate sound tone - that is not
leadership but mere management.
4. Individuals that live in a bubble, emulating someone else’s life, instead of recognizing there is no longer a bubble (glass)
or ceiling, except that which is self-imposed - that is not leadership but mere
management.
5. Individuals that maintain a sense of
complacency by limiting solution tones in
their life and demanding that their misery
be shared by all - that is not leadership but
mere management.
6. Individuals that continue to live a life
defined by limits, instead of recognizing
that they could change their tone and live
a life of abundance - that is not leadership
but mere management.
There are seven deadly sins of leadership,
management, and even “followership” that
research has revealed set the tone for greatness
to be experienced and grown. First detailed
in 2000 in COACHING FOR IMPACT:
Generational Connectivity by my colleague
Dr. Jay Kent-Ferraro and myself, recent years
have only provided alarming mass examples
that these findings are more accurate today
than projected some many years ago!
Using these seven as Codes one can adhere to
each in setting a tone of excellence or ignore
and have them develop into a fatal sin to
survivability:
1. Competence… better to be thought
a fool, than to open one’s mouth and
remove all doubt. Feeling compelled to
dominate conversation and decision loops
when one has the weakest resume in the
room on a given topic is a sin ... We truly
have the blind leading the blind in far too
many instances. As a result, incompetency
is the rule of the day!
Antidote – Tone is set when one has a
self-desire to always be increasing their
MAGEE Your Code of Ethics
Sets the Tone at the Top & Reveals Everything
Jeff Magee, PhD, PDM, CSP, CMC, the “Thought
Leader’s Leader.” Jeff is the publisher of Performance
360 Magazine, Editor of Performance Execution and
Performance Driven Selling blogs, a former nationally
syndicated Radio Talk Show Host as well as a published author of several books including Performance
Execution, The Managerial Leadership Bible, The
Sales Training Handbook, and Your Trajectory Code.
He is also a columnist and highly sought motivationalleadership speaker. The recipient of the United States
Junior Chamber’s Ten Outstanding Young American’s (TOYA) Award, and the United States National
GUARD’s Total Victory Team Medal for civilian contribution to the Armed Services. He can be reached at
DrJeffSpeaks@aol.com.
www.ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com
Jeff Magee
ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com
competence and open to continued
education.
2. Accountability… do as I say and not as
I do … we have sown seeds of “excuseability,” and the tone says “you can’t hold
me accountable” … This is the “I will tell
my mommy-syndrome” and in adulthood
it is called, “I will sue!”
Antidote – Tone is set when one has
a willingness for self-accountability,
peer-accountability and organizationalaccountability feedback.
3. Integrity… is that inner mettle that
guides your actions when there is no one
around to observe … a personal Code of
Ethics … We see far too many double
standards defining integrity and it is as if
no one has internal self-respect, dignity, or
shame!
Antidote – Tone is set when one has a
moral, professional, and personal GPS
that is sound.
4. Professional Responsibility and Duty…
to do what is known to be right, regardless
of self-promotion, gain, or popularity
... We have created the society of the
maximum pay check for minimal effort,
and it has placed our society in a grave
position … Now nearly every business and
governmental agency is in fiscal paralysis!
Antidote – Tone is set when one has a
reputation of doing what is expected of
them and never wavering.
5. Respect for Rights and Personal
Dignity… the Golden Rule … As a world
of over political correctness abounds, the
tough love that many need has become
unfashionable. As a result, the tones of
civility have been deafened!
Antidote – Tone is set when one has the
ability to be civil among others, while not
allowing excuses to prevail for others that
would violate these seven tones.
6. Commitment to the Other Person…
knowing that when times get tough
people will stand by you, has seemingly
disappeared. Unfortunately, we have
constant reminders that when times
get tough, people abandon one another
immediately for the
survival-of-the-fittest
syndrome … No one
cares for the other
person, many say they do,
yet few offer a helping
hand. This says a lot
about someone’s tone!
Antidote – Tone is set when one has an
ability to do what they know to be correct,
moral, and fair, even in the face of the
absurd PC.
7. Social Responsibility… a mindset of
“this is not my back yard, so why should
I care?” has become systemic … Drive
around your neighborhood and see how
everyone treats one another, observe what
the ground looks like and how people
engage one another; The ground we live
and walk upon, can be thought of as the
tonal face of the planet. Yet it is dumped
upon regularly!
Antidote – Tone is set when one feels
comfortable with how others would treat
them.
It is no longer attractive for everyone to enjoy success. Performance impediment has
become a modern day sport. A dangerous
philosophy of sabotage is becoming more and
more prevalent, that in order to “win” someone else must “lose”. When a person changes
their tone, they instantly change their destination. Is it time to evaluate your tone? How
do others truly see you?
Your destination is your tone!