Back to basics, Billy: once in a while, it pays to park all new concepts, and remember the essence of what we do as we try to be leaders.

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: Editorial

NOT LONG AGO I GOT AN E-MAIL LETTER FROM A HIGH school kid who for some reason had to read one of my editorials as part of an assignment for his English class. He wrote a nice letter thanking me for my part in helping with his research on how business and management work. He ended by saying that it all seemed pretty complicated: leading other people and all. He said he wasn't sure he could remember all the stuff required to be a good leader and manager when, after college, he expected to go into business.

Well Billy, it's not that hard. As a matter of fact it's easy to spell out; the hard part comes in putting it into practice. I'll do the easy part and leave the hard part to you.

The problem: How do you get people to do what you want them to do--so that they want to do it?

The answer: Make your project important to your people. Here is where it gets a little harder. The basic truth is that we (or almost anyone) will take up a cause, project or problem if we see it as being in our best interest to do so. The trick to being a good leader is to somehow get people to make your problem into their problem.

So, Billy, as I see it, this is the formula: GET TO KNOW EVERY MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM, INDIVIDUALLY. This takes some work. You can't expect to get to know someone well enough to know how to interest them in your project, without really getting to know him or her as a person. Your aim is to find out what goals they have for themselves. If you're really good at this, they will probably find out as much about you as you find out about them.

SINCERELY HELP YOUR TEAM MEMBERS ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS. This means through assignments, education, counsel...