The leader’s focus is what counts for everything

The distinguishing habit of leaders who achieve what they promise is their sense of responsibility for others’ performance. They never take the easy and popular path, which is to blame the failure to achieve results on those who don’t perform. Your role is to make sure everyone delivers what’s been promised.

After 10 years of leading the UAE to a series of incredible achievements, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, put together a team to oversee the progress towards achieving National Agenda Indicators. You may be wondering why he would do this, when despite a globally slowing economic environment, the UAE’s economy doubled in size and diversified from oil dependency with nonoil exports growing over five-fold.

Today 77 per cent of economic activity is from non-petroleum sectors. Additionally, the UAE rose to become the world’s 16th (from 32nd) most competitive country.

So, why did the prime minister put this team together? And why is he going to personally lead it?

Shaikh Mohammad is modelling for us another of Dubai’s leadership habits: “Keep the focus — where you look, your people will go.”

He recently received a report detailing the current progress towards the UAE National Agenda – Vision 2021. It stands at 62 per cent. An average leader would take comfort in the progress to date. A great leader focuses on the remaining 38 per cent.

There are only five years until 2021 and 38 per cent of the work is left to do for the UAE to accomplish what it promised. Knowing that where the leader looks, the people will go, there is no choice but to intensify the focus on the goal. Great leaders are intolerant of moving deadlines and decreasing targets.

The mere mention of this makes them squirm from irritation.

Shaikh Mohammad said, “There is no room for procrastination, no time for delay. History is a witness to all of us. We have promised our people to accomplish what is best and we shall fulfil our promise. I will lead this effort and the teams behind it personally.”

Marathon equivalent

Keeping the focus is one of Dubai’s 12 leadership habits as detailed in my book Leadership Dubai Style .Inmy research, I asked a champion equestrian endurance racer, who is also a leading Emirati businessman, “What have you learned about leading from riding?”

An equestrian endurance race is the equivalent of a marathon, except instead of running, you ride. It is a gruelling 160-kilometre race over natural terrain — you could say a cross-county “trail” — that lasts upward of 10 hours, depending on how good a rider you are. Sometimes it starts before dawn and ends after sunset.

The races take place in every conceivable climate and terrain — from hot, wind-blown deserts to freezing-cold forests and mountains.

In explaining what he’s learned about leading from his racing days, he told me: “Where you look, your horse will go.” Horses sense even the slightest movement, so an expert jockey must maintain complete focus for hours on end.

“You can’t be distracted,” says this champion. “You have to concentrate.” In other words, no letting up on the reins. Hours into these physically challenging races, it is tempting for even the most seasoned rider to be distracted by what is happening around him. Distractions along the race can detract from crossing the finish line first. If you want to win, you have to stay 100 per cent focused on your destination. There’s no time to enjoy the scenery if you want to win. The work of the leader is to stay focused on the course, even if he or she has been “on the back of the horse” for an interminably long time.

In business, as in a horse race, where you look, so will your employees. When their focus shifts, execution problems emerge. Like the rider who shifts his focus for a fraction of a second and cedes his victory as a result, when you get distracted, you put you and your team’s goals at risk.

Where you look, your people will go. It’s that simple: you are the GPS. Keep your eye on the target and be responsible for delivering what’s been promised.