The most successful leaders I know understand and live byfundamental leadership principles with both discipline andfocus. They commit to continuous learning and strive to havetheir behaviors serve as a reflection of their values – setting thestandards and expectations for others in theirorganization.

Companies are once again focused on increasing the capacity oftheir people and investing in providing them with the tools andskills to learn and grow in their jobs and prepare for successionplanning.

As young professionals begin their careers and seasonedprofessionals strive to become more effective, provided below is asummary of many of the fundamental rules and principles that I haveshared to increase their capacity for success:

• Know how you add value to your credit union and yourmembers;
• Focus on developing yourself, but also your team – andacquiring the right talent to surround yourself with;
• Create a dashboard with your boss to know what you are going tobe held accountable for and what's important to them;
• Understand the burn rate of key resources – start meetings ontime and end them on time. Your actions as a leader createthe culture of your organization.
• Communicate relentlessly in lieu of increasing distractionsevery day;
• Spend time to make your communications crisp and clear – theonus is on you;
• Listening and sharing data in the right way increasesefficiency, learning from one another, and innovation;
• Establish communication standards; In healthcare, thereare 100,000 preventable deaths each year and 80% are due tobreakdowns in communication. Embedded in this arecommunication standards; view your communication with this kind ofintensity.
• Deliver and follow through on promises;
• Conduct your personal and professional life in a way that makesyou proud – everyone has a brand name that stays with you for yourcareer. Corporations spend billions of dollars building theirbrands, so make sure you focus on yours.
• Have muscle memory. Remember the people who helped youalong the way.
• Identify your values and beliefs. Build your team basedupon shared values that will create common bonds so people knowwhat you stand for; it will also increase your ability to challengeyour team based upon the right intellectual, not personal,issues. Mission, vision and values are not buzz words – whendeveloped correctly, these mean something and provide thefoundation for all strategic decision-making;
• Innovation comes through listening. One of our majorclients explained that our disciplined processes “provided themwith the time to hear and think.”
• Seek out the people who give you energy;
• Master the 10-minute meeting;
• Avoid toxic people or limit your exposure to them as much aspossible;
• Find ways to gain perspective. After working hard all dayand week, know how you relax, whether it's a glass of wine, dinnerwith a friend, a long bicycle ride or planting in yourgarden. Understand what gives you purpose and joy outsideyour job. We are all part of a human ecosystem.
• Assess yourself along the way. Know how you are doing, increaseyour self-awareness and make sure you live up to your ownstandards;
• Become an asset to your credit union by thinking clearly,acting effectively and communicating directly;
• Every day, know what the top six things are that you need toaccomplish and focus on them;
• Remove yourself from meetings and phone calls where you are notneeded;
• Create respectful standards of behavior and get agreement onthese standards;
• Articulate the purpose of your meetings in clear terms so thatobjectives can be achieved;
• Treat people with respect. You can tell how strong aculture is by this factor;
• Watch employee turnover numbers; understand what the datais showing you;
• Value feedback;
• Challenge yourself to do things differently – hold debriefmeetings to understand what you can do better next time and thendon't repeat mistakes;
• Encourage people to tell you the truth – one on one, not infront of 100 people; try to cultivate one or two people inyour life who will tell you the truth.

It takes work and commitment because we are all human to followthrough on these fundamentals – and we can make mistakes based onpressure and exhaustion. But I highly recommend stepping backto re-think and review what has taken you this far in your currentsuccess.

As the economy continues to be bumpy, we in the credit unionmovement have an opportunity to differentiate ourselves bycontinuing to focus on serving our members and strengthening ourteams' leadership capacity.

Stuart R. Levine is chairman/CEO of Stuart Levine &Associates. Contact him at (516) 465-0800 or stuartlevine.com.