The Candidate sets the tone for their Campaign’s work ethic and motivation.

I’m a huge fan of the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. If you haven’t read it, you should. One of the central points of the book is how important it is that a leader take ownership over their entire sphere of responsibility.

As a candidate, you are a leader of your campaign and you’re seeking a much larger leadership role through elected office. Now is your time to demonstrate to those around you that you can lead well. If you can’t pass the leadership test on the campaign trail, why should I believe that you’ll suddenly transmogrify into an awesome leader upon winning the election?!

The first place to set the tone for your leadership within the campaign is by setting the pace and tone. You shouldn’t expect anyone on your team to be more focused, work more hours or invest more heavily in the campaign than you. If you want honesty and transparency to be key values within your future public administration, show yourself to be honest and transparent within your campaign and to your team.

And once you’re setting the pace for the team, don’t be a jackass and beat people over the head with how much harder you’re working than they are! Of course, you’re working more hours than anybody else. It’s YOUR campaign!! There are plenty of constructive ways to deal with team members who are slacking. Comparing their work to yours is one important way NOT to do that.

If you want to become great leader then practice by leading your small team well. Read Extreme Ownership and learn from men and women who you consider to be good leaders. You can start that process by taking ownership over your team’s work ethic and motivation. You set the tone and make the pace!

To find out more about what it takes to win a political campaign, go to MyCampaignCoach.com. You can also check out our interviews with Candidates, Elected Officials, Consultants and Campaign Staff on the How to Run for Office Podcast! On Facebook, you can find our campaign mastermind group by searching for the Elite Campaign Mastermind and our page under My Campaign Coach. If you want to help support our efforts, you can do that with financial support via Patreon.com/mycampaigncoach or by giving us a nice rating on iTunes!

I’m a huge fan of the book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin. If you haven’t read it, you should. One of the central points of the book is how important it is that a leader take ownership over their entire sphere of responsibility.

As a candidate, you are a leader of your campaign and you’re seeking a much larger leadership role through elected office. Now is your time to demonstrate to those around you that you can lead well. If you can’t pass the leadership test on the campaign trail, why should I believe that you’ll suddenly transmogrify into an awesome leader upon winning the election?!

The first place to set the tone for your leadership within the campaign is by setting the pace and tone. You shouldn’t expect anyone on your team to be more focused, work more hours or invest more heavily in the campaign than you. If you want honesty and transparency to be key values within your future public administration, show yourself to be honest and transparent within your campaign and to your team.

And once you’re setting the pace for the team, don’t be a jackass and beat people over the head with how much harder yo...