Kendall L. Stewart, M.D.

Leaders exist to produce exceptional results. This is a lot harder than it sounds. Leaders tend to avoid discomfort just like everyone else. But sustained, exceptional results always demand an ongoing investment of significant emotional energy that is uncomfortable. At the end of our careers, only half of us will have been above average. Everyone wants to achieve and sustain exceptional results, but few are willing to pay the price.
Most people do not show up to work burning with the passion to produce exceptional results. They want to do what they want to do. They don’t want to do what they don’t want to do. They want to be paid more for it. They want to be told how wonderful they are—particularly when they are not. They don’t want to be uncomfortable. They don’t want to change. They often do not know what to do. When they do, they often would rather not.
In the face of these daunting challenges, successful leaders follow an evidence-based process to achieve and sustain exceptional results. Some of the steps in that process follow:
 

1. Focus relentlessly on results. Don’t be afraid to be a fanatic. Start every meeting with a pointed discussion about those results that are falling short and why. Keep pressing until you have a credible action plan. Create an energizing discomfort by insisting on specific task lists, individual accountability and timelines.

2. Field the best-possible leadership teams throughout the organization. When we get a job—even a leadership position—we forget the playground reality that players are chosen for the team based on their ability to contribute to the team’s success. In spite of the pain involved, leaders are morally obligated to field the best-possible organizational team.

3. Extrude the net-negative people. All of us have positives and negatives and so long as our positives outweigh our negatives we can make a valuable contribution to our organizations. When we become net-negative though, we poison the atmosphere and distract those who are trying to focus on producing the results we want.
What steps do you take to get results?