The Cornerstones of Leadership

Building Influence Through Character, Trust, Competence, and Communication

In July 1961, Vince Lombardi led his first training session as head coach of the Green Bay Packers. The team had ended the previous season in disappointment, squandering a lead to lose the NFL Championship to the Philadelphia Eagles. Standing before his players, Lombardi held a familiar object in his hand. “Gentlemen,” he began, “this is a football.”

Lombardi then focused on teaching, coaching, and training the Packers by emphasizing the fundamentals. He was meticulous about breaking the game down into its simplest components and mastering the basics—elements many others overlooked. With a winning mindset, relentless effort, and unwavering follow-up, the Packers transformed under his leadership. Months later, they dominated the New York Giants 37-0 to claim the NFL Championship.

Experts are those who can master the basics. They find a way to do the simple things correctly over and over again with an eye towards perfection. It is true for kinetic skills like football and, as we talk about often here on the RF FACTOR, Crime Gun Intelligence just as it is for non-kinetic skills like leadership.

The fundamentals are the foundation we build our organization and performance around and upon. In leadership, the fundamentals are character, trust, competence, and communication. No matter your position within an organization, mastering these essentials enables you to positively influence others, fostering collaboration to achieve both individual and organizational goals.

Character

Character is the foundation of leadership. Everything in leadership stems from character. Character is who we are at our core. It encompasses courage (physical, moral, intellectual), integrity, humility, wisdom, temperance, and selflessness.

How do we build and grow in character as leaders? Do the hard things with a feeling towards others. Tell the truth – to power, peers, and constituents. Take care of your people. Read and become a lifelong learner. Acknowledge and learn to control your emotions. Live a life of service.

Trust

Leadership is a relationship. Relationships are built upon trust. As leaders, we must place trust in our teammates—those above, below, and alongside us. Building trust is a slow process. I love this saying about trust: “Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.” Many of us have experienced personal or professional relationships where trust was broken. Often, the damage is irreparable, and we choose to walk away rather than stay.

Trust is deeply intertwined with faith—we trust institutions and people because we believe in who they are and what they represent. As leaders, we can cultivate faith and trust within our teams by demonstrating honesty, selflessness, vulnerability, and courage. Trust is earned not just through words but through consistent actions that prove we are worthy of it. Additionally, we strengthen trust by extending it to others and having faith in their abilities and intentions.

Competence

Competence is knowing your job and the jobs of others. As a first line leader, you should know the job of everyone working for you. You may not be the best at each or every job or skill, but you should know them all well enough to demonstrate, coach, or provide guidance to your folks.

As a manager, you should know how your subordinate teams contribute to the whole of the organization and show that knowledge to the leaders you develop. As an executive, you should focus on strategic planning, moving your organization into the future while also keeping the organization’s core values at the forefront of the daily grind.

The world is evolving technologically and culturally at an unprecedented pace. A key aspect of a leader’s competence is recognizing and accepting that they won’t always have all the answers. It’s okay to respond to a question with, “I don’t know.” However, it shouldn’t stop there. Leaders should commit to finding the answer or assigning someone to do so, ensuring the knowledge is shared for everyone’s benefit. Lifelong learning is essential for leaders as it fosters curiosity. Curiosity drives learning and learning builds competence.

Communication

Everything a leader does—or chooses not to do, write, or say—serves as a form of communication. If you hold a formal leadership role, your team observes details like when you arrive and leave work, who you have lunch with, and who you don’t. As a leader, you are constantly sending messages, whether intentionally or not. The conduct and performance you enforce, accept, or tolerate good and bad, is a communication to the organization, your partners, your stake holders and the public.

Your messaging either builds or detracts from your perceived character, trust and competence. Leaders must also listen to their teams. Listen to what your teams are telling and not telling you. Be open to ideas from others, especially juniors or those closest to the source of a problem or challenge. As leaders we must make certain our messages are sent, received and understood the way we mean them. Good communication flows up and down the chain of command.

Conclusion

Character, trust, competence, and communication are the cornerstones of effective leadership. Without them, a leader’s ability to influence is significantly weakened, leading to diminished performance for both the leader and their team or organization.

Leaders of character foster relationships built on trust at all levels of the organization. They commit to continuous growth, enhancing their competence at every stage of their leadership journey. Lastly, they embrace constant communication, actively listening and delivering clear messages both within and beyond the organization.

For further inspiration listen to Vince Lombardi in his own words at:

NFL Films Presents: Vince Lombardi's Inspirational Speech

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year from all of us at the RF FACTOR!