Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere is busy changing the landscape of Plano. From the successful completion of Legacy West and the opening of Toyota’s new North American Headquarters to the Mayor’s Internship program and the annual Peanut Butter Drive, Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere is making a difference.
Here, Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere shares the secret to his success as a leader. “These are the lessons I’ve learned in leadership, they’re what I call the 5L’s of leadership,” he says.
5L’s of Leadership by Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere
Leaders Listen
“In order to be an effective leader you have to be able to listen to your team. The ones that have their boots on the ground, the ones that are in there everyday doing the work—you have to understand what their perspective is.
Of course, as the leader, you have to ultimately make the decision.
But don’t sit in a corner and say, ‘Do this, do that’. You collaborate, you say, ‘Team, whats going on? Give me your feedback.’ Then you listen to the feedback and make the final decision based on what you hear.”
Leaders Learn
“Being a leader, by definition, is taking action and that means you’re going to make mistakes. And when you make mistakes you must learn from them and use them to course-correct.”
Leaders Lead by Example
“If there’s a pile of rocks to be picked up, you don’t say, ‘You pick up the big one. You pick up the medium one. You pick up the small one.’ You roll up your sleeves and you start picking up the rocks, and people will come and join you. That’s how you lead—you led by example.
Nobody should work harder than you, nobody should be in the office before you, noone should leave after you.”
Leaders Let Go and Trust Others
“This is the hardest one. Once you’ve listened; once you’ve learned; once you’ve led by example; you let go and trust. Trust in your faith; you trust in your team; you trust in destiny; you trust in your abilities; you trust in the process.
You empower the people that work with you to get the job done. Often the hardest part for leaders is letting go, by nature we’re A-type and we like to have a tight grip on everything that’s going on, but if you really truly want to lead, you let go and by doing that you don’t foster followers, you build more leaders.”
Leaders Leave
“The fifth one is the most important, when you’ve done all that and you’re on top of the world because you’ve done everything right—leaders leave. You leave and you let you team take the credit because they deserve it.”
Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere spoke on the 5L’s of Leadership during a session of Leadership Plano. Leadership Plano is a one year course ran by the Plano Chamber of Commerce which is dedicated to educating, developing, and empowering current and future leaders of the Plano community and motivating them to serve civic, charitable, and business organizations. Click here to find out more about Leadership Plano.
Click here to read all about Plano Mayor Harry LaRosiliere’s vision for the City of Plano.
