— To follow is a bullet of wisdom on leadership. It comes from Tom’s rifle, named Shot, who has seen it all. You’ll get the drift by clicking Blog in the menu above. —
TO BLUE A RIFLE’S BARREL is to create an outer, micro shield against rust. Essentially one prevents iron oxide by forming black oxide. Well, that’s a simplistic description. We rifles like to be blue. We are then black and cool-looking while protected from rust.
But blue leaders are not cool. No one wants a moody boss, or a bad-mood boss. Yikes! We have no mottos like, follow me and feel bad. Nope. We’d rather fail and feel good than succeed and feel bad. Ask employees what they want in a boss, and positive attitude shows up every time. Employees also don’t want a happy-go-lucky, “Howdy Doody” leader that never plans, thinks, strategizes, or knows what to do. Thus, they want one that prepares (like having a blued barrel). See if you can “pick up” on this analogy: As a leader, you have to blue (to overcome potential problems), but not be blue (to enjoy energetic followers).