Forty-Seven Principles Leaders Use To Reach High Levels of Success

Shu Hattori, former management consultant with McKinsey and Company consulting, put together a book that focuses on principles her learned while working with them.  He shares ideas for ways to self-improve, communicate with and influence teams, increase productivity and performance, and focus energy towards career.

Below are Hattori’s 47 Principles from The McKinsey Edge book (available on Amazon):

1. Focus on what really matters
2. Start with the hard stuff in the morning
3. Catch small signals and make a difference
4. Have a 30-second answer to everything
5. Frontload your project
6. Create the right end output image
7. Smile when you are under stress
8. Go beyond your self-perceived limit
9. Always imagine the worst-case scenario
10. Start following up
11. Push back with less emotion
12. Be flexible on the perception of your passion
13. Find your role models
14. Know what gives you the most energy in your day
15. Go jogging to smell the flowers
16. Create a commitment plan
17. Always memorize the first 3 sentences of a presentation
18. Communicate using fewer words
19. Pause 3 seconds before answering difficult questions
20. Question more and talk less
21. Turn no into yes
22. Do not show half-baked output
23. Instantly find a connection in the room
24. Be a giver, not a receiver
25. Find the best intent in people
26. Learn team members’ defining moments and personal sides
27. Think of everyone as a helpful individual, not a “resource”
28. Go out for a meal with interesting people every week
29. Consciously gauge your people
30. Assign team members meaningful tasks
31. Create followership through deliberate on-the-job coaching
32. Deliver feedback using positive criticism
33. Please your assistants and support staff
34. Always prepare an agenda before meetings
35. Create “4 boxes” to dos
36. Focus on outcomes not activities
37. Know your meeting modes in advance
38. Proactively manage e-mail communication using the 5d rules
39. Speak up as early as possible
40. Create a minimalist presentation tool kit
41. Create an easy-to-use template for updates
42. Give away knowledge and tools unsparingly
43. Get rid of your physical barriers
44. Ask the second order questions
45. Learn to write fewer notes
46. Prepare to renew your life
47. Create your own “profile” as a leader