My Inc. post today, “The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity,” begins

The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity

In a leader’s relationships, the 20/80 rule counts, not the 80/20 rule.

Leadership means people watch you–not to what you want to say or do, or mean to, but what you actually say and do.

Attention to detail counts.

Not sometimes, but always. What Vince Lombardi said about winning applies to leadership:

Leading is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t lead once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Leading is a habit. Unfortunately, so is failing to lead.

You can learn attention to detail. I would say you have to, to lead authentically.

Notice that attention to detail works the opposite of the 80/20 rule. It says to focus on the last few percent, so I call it the 20/80 rule, or the 10/90 rule.

I’m not saying to drop the 80/20 rule. I’m saying it applies in some situations. The 20/80 rule applies in others. Allow me to illustrate…

How to learn attention to detail

I assign the students in my leadership courses and most clients an exercise I learned from my mentor, Marshall Goldsmith, called “No, but, however.”

It takes seconds to learn but is insidiously difficult for many to practice. You can do the same exercise that he assigns to his Fortune 10 clients. Here’s the whole exercise:

For one week, avoid begin responses with the words “No,” “But,” or “However.”

Read the rest at The 20/80 Rule, Leadership, and Integrity.