Episode 855 - Leadership is Not a Foreign Language

0:04 Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving. This is the 7-Minute Leadership Podcast with your host, Paul Falavolito.

0:22 Hello, everyone, and welcome to the 7-Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode 855. Leadership is not... a foreign language. It's a common language. And I think sometimes we make leadership way more complicated than it needs to be. We create models for it. We create acronyms for it. We create leadership philosophies, org charts, competency models, training programs, certifications, and enough corporate jargon to make leadership sound like something you need a decoder ring to understand. You don't. Because leadership is one of the most universal things human beings do. I can walk into an ambulance station in Pennsylvania, a hotel in Las Vegas, a restaurant in Florida, a manufacturing plant in Ohio,

1:13 or an office building in New York, and within a very short period of time I can usually tell you something about the leadership. I don't need to understand every detail of the business. I don't need to know how to operate the machinery. I don't need to know how their computer system works. I don't even need to understand every job in the building because people are people, and leadership speaks human. I've spent nearly three decades working across EMS, emergency management, hospitality, and international instruction. Those environments look completely different on the surface. Uniforms are different. The terminology is different.

1:56 The risks are different. The customers are different. The daily operations are different. The leadership lessons travel remarkably well. Think about this. A paramedic wants to know that the person leading the organization understands what they're dealing with on the street. A hotel employee wants to know that the manager understands what they're dealing with when the lobby is packed. and customers are frustrated. A restaurant employee wants to know that the manager isn't going to disappear when the dining room gets slammed, and a corporate employee wants to know that the executive making decisions understands how those decisions affect the people doing the work. Different industries, same human need. They

2:44 want a leader who understands. They want a leader who listens. They want a leader whose words mean something. That's the common language. And once you understand this, something interesting happens. You start realizing that you can learn leadership lessons from almost anywhere. I've learned leadership lessons inside an ambulance, inside the cockpit, underwater teaching scuba diving, working in hospitality, and standing in command posts during emergency situations. And I've even learned them sitting across the table from employees having difficult conversations.

3:21 The scenery changes. Human behavior doesn't change nearly as much as we think it does. A scared employee is still scared. A frustrated employee is still frustrated. A new employee still wants to know whether they belong. A high performer still wants to know whether their work matters. Someone who made a mistake still wants to know what happens next. Someone who disagrees with you still wants to know whether you're going to hear them. And someone going through the worst day of their life still wants to know whether the person standing in front of them actually cares. That's leadership.

4:00 And you don't need to speak EMS to understand that. You don't need to speak hospitality, healthcare, corporate America. You need to speak human. This is also why I think some leaders struggle when they change industries. They convince themselves that everything they knew about leadership has suddenly changed. become irrelevant.

4:20 They walk into a new organization and think, well, I don't know this business yet. That's fair. Learn the business, the operation, how the organization makes money. Learn what your people actually do. Learn the terminology, the customers, and the risks. You absolutely need that. Your ability to connect with people came with you. Your integrity came with you. Your ability to communicate came with you. the ability to make decisions came with you, your ability to admit when you're wrong came with you, your willingness to hold people accountable came with you, your character came with you. Those things don't get checked at the door when you change industries. And that's why great leadership can travel. I've talked about leadership

5:10 on this podcast from hundreds of different angles over the years, everything from emotional intelligence and teamwork to accountability, culture, decision-making, trust, crisis leadership, coaching, business, aviation, and technology. Underneath all of those topics is the same foundation, human beings. That's the business every leader is actually in. You might sell software, run an ambulance service, manage a hotel, manufacture car parts, run a restaurant, might lead a hospital department, you might own a construction company. Your business has a product, service, mission, or customer. Your leadership has people. And people have an incredible ability to recognize leadership. They know when you're paying attention,

6:04 when you're pretending, when you're avoiding a conversation, when you're playing favorites, when you're protecting somebody who shouldn't be protected. They know when you're taking credit for their work, They also know when you've got their back, when you walk into the mess with them. They know when you remember their name. They know when you ask how they're doing actually, and you wait for the answer. They know when you keep a promise. They know when you make the difficult decision because it's the right decision. You don't need subtitles for any of that. People understand it immediately. That's why leadership is a common language. And here's something else I want you to think about. If leadership is universal, then

6:46 your classroom is much bigger than your industry. If you're in EMS, stop learning only from EMS leaders. Study hospitality. If you're in hospitality, study aviation. If you're in corporate leadership, study emergency management. If you're in healthcare, study companies known for exceptional customer service. Go outside of your world. Watch how other leaders communicate. Watch how other industries train people.

7:14 Watch how great organizations handle mistakes. Watch how they onboard employee, how they maintain standards, how they create an experience, and then ask yourself one of my favorite questions. What can I steal? Not literally. I'm talking about the idea. What can I take from this company that's completely different from my industry and adapt to my organization? Some of the best leadership ideas you'll ever find are probably being used right now in an industry you've never studied. That's one of the reasons my own leadership thinking pulls from so many different places. The cockpit, the ambulance, the dive site, and the command post. They all teach leadership differently. They also keep teaching the same lesson. People need clarity. People

8:03 need consistency. People need to trust the person making the decisions themselves. And people need to know that the person leading them understands there are actual human beings on the receiving end of those directions. So if you ever find yourself wondering whether a leadership lesson applies to your industry, strip away the industry. Take away the uniform, the job title, the building, the terminology, the product, and what's left. People, now ask the question again. Does trust matter here? Does communication matter here? Does accountability matter here? Does empathy matter here?

8:42 Does consistency matter here? Does character matter here? Of course it does, because leadership doesn't belong to an industry. It belongs to people. So the next time someone tells you, well, leadership is different in my industry, listen carefully. The operation may be different. The technical knowledge may be different. The stakes may be different. The people still want to be respected, heard, valued, challenged, supported, and led by someone they can trust. Leadership is not a foreign language you have to learn every time you walk into a new building. Leadership speaks human, and human is a language we all understand. This has been the 7-Minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.

9:36 For more Paul Falavelito podcasts, visit paulfalavelito.com.