On the day after Thanksgiving 2008, StoryCorps sponsored a National Day of Listening. Friends and families were encouraged to sit down with loved ones and tell their stories. “StoryCorps,” according to its website, “is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.”

For several years, StoryCorps has been running stories of everyday people on National Public Radio, and in the process has evoked memories of people coping and celebrating the challenges and joys that life presents.

While StoryCorps is focused on personal stories, it teaches us key lessons that leaders can practice.

One, listen to one another. StoryCorps invites relatives as well as close friends to venture into their special recording booths to tell their stories via personal interviews. Leaders need no booths or recording devices. They simply need time. And time is what few leaders have, but savvy ones realize that if they can carve out time for their people, dividends in the form of information and insight are valuable. Surveys and polls cannot share the up-close and personal views that individuals carry with them. Listening in can open the leader’s ears to what is happening as well as what is not happening.

Two, share your experience. StoryCorps interviewees become interpreters of unique experiences, such as coping with loss, raising a child, caring for an elderly person, or helping a neighbor. A bond between interviewer and interviewee is shared by radio listeners. The same can occur, but much more directly, when leaders sit down and converse with their people. Genuine leaders are those who can make their listeners feel as if they are the only people in the room. That creates a foundation of trust that is essential to getting things done right, especially in tough times.

There is a third lesson, as evidenced by the vast collection of stories gathered by StoryCorps: all of us have a story to tell. Leaders need to spread the stories of their people as a means of creating meaning as well as purpose to their organization. These stories come in all flavors. Celebrate the good things that employees do for customers. Most often this comes through in customer service people going the extra mile for their customers. But they also come in the stories of volunteerism. So many organizations encourage their people to participate in community service programs, even on company time. The best way to encourage such participation is to allow people to share their stories through the corporate website. Do it via podcast or simple videos, or simple newsletter items.

Stories, as StoryCorps reminds us, are acts of sharing that enables others to gain insight into your own personal experience. Leaders who spread stories are encouraging the practice of learning in ways that extend behind words to create experiences reinforce organizational culture and purpose.

Never let them see you sweat is an oft-quoted show business adage. The statement refers to making things look easy. Whether you are a comedian telling a funny story, a juggler tossing flaming swords, or an actor delivering a Shakespearean soliloquy you want the audience to be absorbed in the action not in what the performer is doing.

The opposite may be true, at least some of the time, for leaders. You want people to see you sweat, or more accurately put in the time or doing some heavy lifting. This demonstrates that you are with your folks, not above them. This is not an excuse to micromanage or do peoples’ jobs for them. It refers to being one with your team. In my new book, Lead By Example, 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results , I write about some of the ways leaders put their teams first:

Spread some confidence. People want to know the boss believes in them. So when people are doing a good job, it falls to the leader to acknowledge individual and team achievements. Such acknowledgements build confidence. At times, especially when times are tough, leaders need to lead the cheers and remind people of what they are capable of achieving.

Get out of the limelight. So often we consider leadership as a “me act.” In reality, leaders accomplish little by themselves. So rather than hog the credit for things gone right, shine the spotlight on those who have made good things happen.

Lighten up. Be real; sometimes work is work, even drudgery at times. Focusing on work is appropriate, but focusing attention on people who do the work may be more important when you want to accomplish ambitious goals that require long hours and close attention. When that happens, a savvy leaders will inject a change of pace. It could be as simple as springing for lunch, or as elaborate as staging an off-site retreat. Humor, too, works.

And while we’re addressing the revelation of character for a good cause, you also want to reveal something of yourself. You want people to see your heart; you want people to know that you care. This does not mean you must fraternize or socialize with your team, but it does mean you need to regard them as people. Some folks like it when you ask them how they are doing and how their family is.

Others want to keep their private lives just that – private. Leaders with heart are those that can discern the difference and act accordingly to the boundaries an individual employee sets. Regardless, you want to be present for your team, pitching in with the work, keeping in touch with individuals, and helping the team achieve its goals.

I don’t know if it is the recession with its relentless doses of bad news, but lately my wife and I have taken to watching occasional episodes of The Andy Griffith Show on the TV Land network. Watching the Andy and Barney with Opie and Aunt Bee takes me back to my childhood but also re-opens a window on an imaginary world where problems were simple and could be solved with patience, understanding, trust, and most of all love. Imaginary or not, Mayberry is a good place to visit when the rest of the world seems so foreboding.

The glue of the show is its star, Andy Griffith who modeled aspects of the series on his North Carolina roots. Small town life was depicted as quirky but gentle, problematic but solvable, and fun and especially caring. As Sheriff Andy Taylor, a widower with a young son, Griffith imbued the role with aspects of leadership character worthy of emulation.

Andy as lawman. Andy provided citizens of Mayberry protection from the outside world. He foiled bank robbers and bootleggers and even cow thieves. But when he wasn’t searching for lawbreakers he was serving as an example of how to uphold the law with an even hand, a cool temperament and a sense of humor. Leaders with power need to use it with discretion. Often you can accomplish more by demonstrating control rather than exerting it. That is, project authority and maintain sense of control by remaining cool and calm in the face of adversity.

Andy as friend. Andy was always someone friends could count on. He served as the voice of reason when citizenry got into trouble with each other. For example, Barney was the inveterate striver. Aunt Bee was the overly attentive caregiver. Floyd the barber was an inveterate gossip. Gomer was the honest but clueless gas station attendant. All found a welcome sounding board in Andy but few if any ever spared him their advice. Leaders must be patient and listen. They should always be open to feedback, even when they don’t want to hear it.

Andy as teacher. As Mayberry’s sheriff, Andy supervised his sole subordinate, Deputy Barney Fife. In show terms, Barney was comic relief but Andy always regarded his less than capable deputy as someone whom he could educate, much as he did to most citizens of Mayberry a time or two. Leaders who teach are those who have mastery over their subject and they show concern for others by a willingness to share such knowledge and experience with others.

Andy at leisure. Andy took work seriously but not himself. He loved to fish and take out erstwhile girlfriend Helen. He also played the guitar and sang. Work life balance was important to Andy and accounted for his healthy outlook. He had perspective. Good advice for any leader with a high pressure job; competing interests will all ask for time but unless the leader makes some time for himself he risks excessive fatigue and burnout.

Andy as father. Perhaps this what Andy did best, be a father to his young son, Opie. Though Andy was helpless in the kitchen, he was peerless when it came to letting “young ‘uns” discover how the world worked (at least in Mayberry) for themselves. Management is the process of enabling others to succeed; part of that enablement involves coaching: counseling, cajoling and challenging.

Andy was not perfect. His tolerance for Barney’s foibles would not pass muster on a real police force. He was old fashioned when it came to women’s rights though he did evolve after going out with Helen. And his easy-going nature sometimes got the better of him when outsiders sought advantage over him. Still he did his best to be a good example for his town and his family.

Mayberry is a fantasy of course. Filmed in the Sixties, the show avoided the race issues that were roiling the South and the nation. Only the light side of Southern life – hospitality, neighborliness, and good cheer – was portrayed.

For me, Sheriff Andy Taylor illuminates shades of leadership from which anyone in a leadership position can enjoy as well as learn from. Andy Taylor may not be real but his lessons are.

From below the mountaintop was totally shrouded in low, gray cloud. Not a good sign since this was the day that we were taking our participants to the mountaintop for an exercise in inspiration. How inspired would folks be if they could see no more than a few feet in front of themselves?

The sense of dread only increased as we proceeded up the mountain by gondola, watching each of the cars slip quietly into grayness and disappear. Inside the gondola little was visible other than the cable towing us skyward.

But, as if by some divine spirit, all became clear; our little gondolas were bathed in sunlight. We had broken through the clouds and all around us the pine, the moss and the early spring snow became crystal clear. The air was fresh and crisp. What was gray and foreboding moments ago became fresh and invigorating.

A metaphor for our troubled times or bad cliché? Perhaps a bit of both! But every time I return from a teaching venture at Banff Centre nestled in the Canadian Rockies, I am rejuvenated. It is not simply the mountain location; it is the opportunity to work with so many bright executives who put themselves through a leadership development exercises in a quest that is both reflective as well as participatory.

The outcome of a successful leadership course is not what happens in the classroom; it is what happens outside of it. Taking what you have learned from others, coupled with a deeper understanding of one’s own abilities, and putting it to work for your team is critical. Again, it requires courage to put aside old habits in favor of new ones that will help your team grow. Like a climber learning a new technique, it takes time for the body to adjust. Same for leaders. Change does not occur overnight; it may take time. What matters is the commitment to the process.

Attending a leadership course does not make you a leader; it creates an opportunity for you to gain insight into yourself so that you can decide if you want to lead or not. Just as you can lead an animal to water, but cannot make it drink, you can teach leadership but it is up to the individual to make the decision for herself.
Coming down the mountain the spirits of the participants were in contrast to the descending motion of the gondola. Since the cloud layer had burned away, the valley below was crystal clear.

Such clarity is essential for leaders. Few of us live on top of the mountain; we live in the proverbial valley where daily people seek ways to make it through their work days which are at times overcast and gloomy. It then falls to leaders to remind people that their visions and goals, like mountains shrouded in clouds, can be fulfilled if they are willing to take the journey upward. The sun is shining somewhere if you look for it.

To the victor belong the spoils. While that may have worked when the Visigoths sacked Rome in the fifth century AD, it does not work so well in corporate America. All too often we see talented executives leave their companies when they do not achieve the top slot. That’s too bad because very often these executives were critical to the running of their companies. But for many being number two is not an option; their ego is too big.

One person who has put aside ego in favor of service to a cause larger than herself is Hillary Clinton. No one hungered for the presidency more than Mrs. Clinton and she took Barack Obama to the wire during the Democratic primaries of 2008. But once the election was over, she put aside her disappointment and agreed to serve in the Obama Administration as Secretary of State. While I am not privy to behind the scenes dealing, in public Hillary Clinton has shown herself to be an exemplary subordinate and in that she can teach all those who do not become CEO how to serve as excellent executives in their own right. Here’s what Secretary Clinton has done so far.

Carry the flag. Mrs. Clinton has travelled in the globe meeting with allies as well as adversaries in an attempt to restore confidence in American foreign policy. Talk is cheap, yes, but as a former First Lady, she is known to many heads of state and carries a certain aura that generates respect. The fact that someone of her stature would take the role indicates the importance that the new Administration places on diplomacy. Her tackling of the piracy issue is an example of her willingness to tackle tough issues and demonstrate resolve in the face of adversity.

Instill pride. Morale inside the State Department was quite low when Mrs. Clinton took office. Immediately she set about restoring pride in the service by holding town hall style meetings in Foggy Bottom. More importantly, she has worked to integrate diplomacy into foreign policy. Stability in Afghanistan will depend mightily on winning over the populace not through force of arms but through civilian collaboration to rebuild the infrastructure.

Maintain focus. The biggest headlines since January have been about the economic meltdown. As a Senator or candidate, Mrs. Clinton would have voiced her ideas. Not so as Secretary of State. She speaks in public only about matters of State and in doing so she demonstrates how to keep the focus on her job and the work of her people. So far she is not garnering big headlines but abroad she is re-enkindling faith in American foreign policy, which ultimately is necessary for global economy recovery.

Part of Mrs. Clinton’s success so far goes to her boss, the President. He has shown her deference and respect. Repeatedly he paid her homage as one who taught him to become a better candidate. And now that she’s heading State, he gives her the latitude she needs to run policy in accordance with Administration aims. She has a seat at the big table and her voice is heard.

There is no shame in not being number one. And for many executives staying on at companies where they have made their careers can be a good thing. They have the knowledge and expertise to make things run. Some may need to move on, and often they do make good CEOs. Jim McNerney (ex-GE) is doing a good job for Boeing and Alan Mulally (ex-Boeing) is keeping Ford alive and competitive. But for those who want to stick around awhile longer the lessons of Hillary Clinton may be instructive.