Create True North - The First Rule of Leadership

On a compass, true north provides an absolute direction, a truth on which you can build and follow a map. A person knows which path to follow if they know true north.

The first rule of leadership is a leader must create true north for his/her followers. By creating true north, the leader provides direction for the followers, a direction that is true in bad weather, fog or full sun. This direction allows followers to make decisions with assurance, to stride forward with confidence without a need for the day to day presence, involvement and reassurance of the leader as the true north created by the leader is always there.

An example of a True North is the United States’ “All men are created equal.” It created the pride and principles that lead to the development of a democratic election process in Iraq (whether or not one was for the war) and, more recently, the meeting of Obama and the Dalai Lama in the face of and despite protest from China with whom he seeks closer economic ties. True North defines emotions and behaviors.

At IntraLinks, our True North is to create a secure place where our customers can connect and do business outside their firewall. For our developers, it means product leadership and an obsession with security. For our marketing and sales people, it means delivering the message to the world. For every team, for every team member, it is guidance. Our CEO, Andrew Damico, created a true north that is real every day for every person at IntraLinks. In a period of huge change and economic crises, our voluntary turnover was half of our peers. Our company met its product, financial, and market objectives. Our True North was the perpetual guidance that led us through a difficult economic market ahead of our peers.

For my HR team, our True North is to create a work environment where people can be exceptional, an environment in which they are given the opportunity to excel. That leads everyone on my team to adopt certain behaviors, from being a service to our employees to ensuring everyone is treated respectfully and to reaching out to new hires to ensure they have what they need to be successful. Our True North defines our behaviors every day.

There is a difference between true north and strategy. Strategy is made up of tactics. A good strategy is clearly headed true north. Strategy is assessed regularly to ensure the team continues to head true north.

How do you create true north for your followers? Determine what defines your team. Then build your objectives and metrics on that true north.

As your team members make decisions, use true north as the calibration to help them with those decisions. Let that true north become the guidance for your team.

The Five Rules of Leadership

1. Create true north; a direction that is fundamental and unchanging.
2. Be the emotional guide for the journey.
3. Manage to a dashboard.
4. Make sure the right people are taking the journey with you.
5. Create a cadence for evaluation.