On Clarity

As a leader, your job is to provide clarity by answering four questions:

• Where are you going?
• How will you get there?
• Why now?
• What's my part?

Your team needs these answers. The questions give focus, not just openness.

Don't get me wrong. I like being open. But being clear beats being open.

Open means you can see all the information. Clear means you know what matters most.

Niclas Sandin, CEO of BookBeat, is great at this. Every all-hands meeting he shows a simple slide. It has a timeline with company goals. And it shows where we are now.

He talks for 5-10 minutes about what we've done, what went wrong (he always takes the blame), and what's next.

The big thing? He tells each team how they can help. He makes it clear how we all help the company win. And he does this several times a week.

"That's a lot of work!" you might say. Yes, it is. And it's your job as a leader to do that work.

CEO or team lead, it doesn't matter. Your job is to answer the four questions to for your team.

The only thing that changes based on your role is how much detail you provide.

Keep it simple. Keep it clear. Do it often.

Your team will know where they're going. They'll know how to get there. They'll know why it matters now. And they'll know their part in it all.

That's how you lead with clear focus.