JUST DO IT: More than an Athletic Prescription

At a recent talk at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Nike vice president and CFO Don W. Blair compared establishing one's ability to lead in a new situation to riding a horse.

"To be effective, a leader must learn how to ride that particular horse and the horse must learn how to be ridden by that particular rider," Blair said. "If one tries to go too far too fast, it's easy to get thrown off. One has to build relationships by understanding what people are trying to accomplish and moving that agenda forward."

Blair did this himself when he joined Nike from PepsiCo about six years ago. According to a report in Knowledge@Wharton, the business school's e-zine, his first task upon being hired was to "do nothing for six months" so he could get acclimated to his new environment.

"Leadership is situational," he said. "What works in one company doesn't necessarily work in another."

Although Blair was at Wharton to discuss Nike's corporate leadership style, he also shared his own take on the topic. Here's a sampling of his advice to other leaders.

Concentrate on outcomes and don't get lost in the process. "In a large organization, it's easy to be working in an area that is urgent but not important," he said. "Don't get stuck on process and lose focus on the big issues."

Maintain objectivity. "One has to be willing, always, to have the objectivity to see and say that 'the emperor has no clothes,' " Blair said.

Learn from past experience. "Take time for explicit self-education," he said. "Make mistakes, codify them and learn."

Read the complete article.

"This article is used by permission from Dr. John C. Maxwell's free monthly e-newsletter 'Leadership Wired' available at www.MaximumImpact.com."