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McGinn's Laws
I have used these laws since I was teaching strategic management and organizational behavior. My students asked me to write them up, and since that time I have shared them with many colleagues and clients. I do not pretend that these are "natural Laws" or "immutable laws" or anything of the sort. They are only my observations of the challenges that leaders face and effective ways of managing them. I hope you will find them interesting and useful as many others have.
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- It’s all about human beings being human.
- People work very hard to preserve their images of themselves.
- Most people forget most of what they hear, almost right away.
- The best leaders lead from their hearts, minds, and souls.
- Learn from the lessons of your own experience.
- Do the right thing.
- There is no right way. Your job is to choose the option whose negative consequences you are best able to live with at the time.
- If everyone is doing it, either it is the wrong thing, or it is too late.
- Thinking is a competitive advantage, because so few people do it.
- Show complex ideas with pictures; think multi-dimensionally.
- Spend time on what is important, not just what is urgent.
- Power is a lot more than mere authority, and empowerment is
a lot more than just delegation.
- Listening depends on respect for the ideas and feelings of others.
- Treat others the way they would like to be treated
not the way you would like to be treated. (Platinum Rule.)
- Beware of what you incent/reward; you may get it.
- Build on strengths – yours and others’.
- If you are not the bus driver, then drive from the back of the bus.
- Seek out people different from you.
- Effective groups use the assets of the members –
neither too much nor too little.
- A bad decision made by a group is a bad decision, even if everyone likes it.
And a good decision is not a good decision, if no one accepts it.
- All group members share responsibility for the success of the group.
- If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. If you can’t manage it, you can’t improve it.
But … not everything that counts can be counted.
- You are your primary management tool. Take good care of yourself.
- The shortest distance between two people is not always a straight line.
- Life is not all about work; even work is not all about work.
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