There’s a surprising similarity between playing the
game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are
made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you
didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished
reading this, you’ll know the major connections and
feel compelled to find out more.
John Kenworthy 2/19/2008
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOLF AND LEADERSHIP
There’s a surprising similarity between playing the game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll know the major connections and feel compelled to find out more.
35% of registered golfers in the UK are senior managers, professionals or executives, according to Mintel. This rises to 43.3% of London Golfers. And 12.8% of all golfers in the UK are senior managers, executives or professionals - that’s about 1.8 million golfers are senior managers, executives and professionals in the UK alone! (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) 44% of senior managers executives and professionals in the UK have played, do play or would like to play golf. (Source: BMRB/Mintel) Add another 1.4 million managers (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) and you realise just how big a sport golf has become - and it id predominantly ABC1 who play the game, and still predominantly male - 83%!
In part, business leaders, particularly those with some marketing or sales role - deliberately play golf to network with prospects and clients. In part there’s certainly some social status about being a golf club member, and for sure, in part there the ‘coincidence’ of playing golf and being a business leader. What Mintel’s research doesn’t highlight though is that there’s more to it than that. The characteristics of those who play golf and those who are business leaders shows considerable similarities. Let’s take, for example, the desire to score well (even win) a round of golf. To be concerned about one’s personal performance and strive to improve it relates to a strong personal ‘Achievement Orientation’. I want to do well because I want to do well.
There are differences too, and important ones. On the golf course, the golfer is playing against the course. It is one of very few sports where the play of others has no effect on the golfer’s performance at all… unless he (and it is predominantly still ‘he’) allows it (the closest similar sport is downhill skiing). This is not the case for the majority of business leaders who’d personal performance can be impacted by the performance of others. So the golf course is the place where a player can assuredly adopt the attitude, it’s MY performance and only MY performance that matters and only their actions change the result. This suggests the desire for control - or Directiveness.
Some of the reasons golfers choose to play the game shows that 76% of them play for social reasons (Source: GMI/Mintel) - this demonstrates a desire, if not ability, in the competencies of influence and communication.
SO WHY USE GOLF TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP?
It seems that the game of golf attracts business leaders more than other groups - & perhaps the conclusions above suggest why. So it became increasingly obvious to our team that golf could be both an attractive idea for development within this group, and that the game of golf itself could be deliberately used to develop the competencies and behaviours associated with great leadership. Indeed, many of our clients confirm the attraction of golf for our senior management training programmes by requesting training to take place at golf clubs, so the team can play golf after the training course. Albeit, not everyone on the programmes did play golf, the senior managers and board members invariably did. Our research into using simulations has shown that given a truly safe environment to practice the tools and techniques of leadership and management, participants not only
John Kenworthy 3 learn more (23% greater learning) than using more traditional methods like case studies, they enjoy it more (17% greater) and demonstrate greater transfer of new behaviours to the workplace (26% greater transfer). Not only this, but studies in societies where females are considered disadvantaged in management showed a greater improvement in demonstrated management and leadership competencies after a simulation based programme than a traditional programme over their male counterparts - 16% greater improvement in demonstrated competencies. The key to the success of using simulations is that they provide a realistic, safe environment to practice the tools, techniques and behaviours of great leadership (Source: Kenworthy 2005)
IS GOLF A SAFE, REALISTIC ENVIRONMENT
The great thing about golf is that it is one of the very few activities that provides a genuinely level-playing field - through the well-established handicapping system. It may not be perfect, but it’s very close. This means that a scratch golfer competes fairly with a complete beginner. There are also rules within which the game must be played - these represent the constraints of doing business. There are established game rules that encourage pairs or foursomes to work together, and there are rules to foster individual competition - sometimes in business we want our leaders to be entrepreneurial and ‘go- getters’ - leading by example, at other times, we want them to be team leaders, or team players. Caddies, provide a perfect metaphor for coaches and mentors. The course itself provides a varied environment, shifting according to things beyond the control of the player, but observable by them. The hole provides a target, the course provides for a strategic plan to achieve the real goal. The points scored can directly relate to revenue or profit. The clubs and balls are resources - even the golf pro can be a consultant resource. The game of golf provides a fantastic platform to learn leadership - its safe and fair, it’s as realistic as you need it to be and it’s fun!
SO WHAT ABOUT THE NON-GOLFERS?
So what about the non-golfers? Why would they participate - and let’s face it, in an organisation you don’t want to alienate the non-golfers by forcing them to participate in something they wouldn’t normally… or would you? For our Leadership Golf Challenge programmes we always offer golfers and non-golfers technical lessons before the event. We arrange with our certified golf pro’s to put a special series of lessons for the new players - most often they perform better than those who’ve been playing for years because they don’t bring along so many bad habits. We’ve even designed a special programme exclusively for non-golfers - called ‘Hackers Days’ - which combine technical golf instruction with the Leadership Golf Challenge.
CAN YOU JUST PLAY GOLF TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP?
There’s certainly something about the game of golf that shares characteristics of great leadership, but whether it’s the playing golf that develops the person as a leader or that the leadership capability makes for a golfer is an unanswered question. Like any powerful training programme, leadership development needs a supporting, robust model of development. Unfortunately it’s not much use telling someone to BE Jack Welch, or even to tell someone what it is that Jack Welch does - that doesn’t make you a leader. Nor, can we simply seek to develop the 10 principles, 7 habits, 12 big things etc. of the best leaders in the world - leadership is personal - the first step in becoming a leader is to take charge of yourself and align your personal values to achieving what you want to achieve. If it were that simple then there wouldn’t be a leadership issue anywhere in the world today.
Effective leadership development (indeed for adults to learn anything effectively) needs the learner to go through three learning processes according to Bloom - cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning. That we need to develop knowledge about leadership, associate a feeling or emotion with the desire to learn the knowledge and physically put that knowledge into practice.
Most business leaders have some knowledge about what constitutes ‘good’ leadership - though few practice it all the time. They may have seen ‘good’ leadership exemplified by others in their past or present. They may have read a book on leadership - such as the 7 Habits. Where these most often fail to become new behaviours is twofold - Firstly, most examples of ‘good’ leadership are often carried out ‘naturally’ by the person demonstrating them - we often refer to them as ‘born leaders’. They are ‘good’ leaders, but they don’t consciously know what it is that they do - and therefore they are unable to share with others what they should or could do. Most books, on the other hand, tend to focus on one of two aspects - how to be a leader - here is Mr Great CEO and this is what he did, you must do the same. or they distil ‘best’ behaviours and provide a checklist for you to do ‘good’ leadership.
In the former situation, the ‘born leader’ is unable (or unwilling) to give you the requisite knowledge to learn. In the latter (books), they often fail to make an emotional connection to implement the knowledge (other than you’ve bought the book therefore you must want to learn), or they provide simplistic implementation checklists, do this, then this then this at work. If the new ‘habit’ doesn’t work first time, the book provides little or no guidance as to what you should do now. GAINMORE Advantage changes all that.
The GAINMORE™ Framework provides a synthesis of the tools, techniques, attitudes and attributes of ‘good’ leadership within a structured model supported with templates that enable you to physically learn the behaviours. We are using the game of golf as a metaphor and as an emotional learning hook, and golf provides a means for you to put your behaviours into physical practice for yourself first - i.e. self-leadership, then you can use the templates at work. All practised within a safe and realistic environment that is fun.
The GAINMORE™ Framework is developed from three major areas of thought leadership in the fields of management learning, psychology and leadership. It is a personal development model that provides the solid foundations on which the Leadership Golf Challenge is built. Build on this foundation the safe and realistic learning environment of a business simulation on the golf course and you have a leadership development programme that actually does what it says on the box.
There’s a surprising similarity between playing the
game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are
made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you
didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished
reading this, you’ll know the major connections and
feel compelled to find out more.
John Kenworthy 2/19/2008
THE CONNECTION BETWEEN GOLF AND LEADERSHIP
There’s a surprising similarity between playing the game of golf and leadership. Once the analogies are made clear to you, you’ll wonder perhaps why you didn’t see it before. By the time you’ve finished reading this, you’ll know the major connections and feel compelled to find out more.
35% of registered golfers in the UK are senior managers, professionals or executives, according to Mintel. This rises to 43.3% of London Golfers. And 12.8% of all golfers in the UK are senior managers, executives or professionals - that’s about 1.8 million golfers are senior managers, executives and professionals in the UK alone! (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) 44% of senior managers executives and professionals in the UK have played, do play or would like to play golf. (Source: BMRB/Mintel) Add another 1.4 million managers (Source: GB TGI, BMRB Quarter 4 2006/Mintel) and you realise just how big a sport golf has become - and it id predominantly ABC1 who play the game, and still predominantly male - 83%!
In part, business leaders, particularly those with some marketing or sales role - deliberately play golf to network with prospects and clients. In part there’s certainly some social status about being a golf club member, and for sure, in part there the ‘coincidence’ of playing golf and being a business leader. What Mintel’s research doesn’t highlight though is that there’s more to it than that. The characteristics of those who play golf and those who are business leaders shows considerable similarities. Let’s take, for example, the desire to score well (even win) a round of golf. To be concerned about one’s personal performance and strive to improve it relates to a strong personal ‘Achievement Orientation’. I want to do well because I want to do well.
There are differences too, and important ones. On the golf course, the golfer is playing against the course. It is one of very few sports where the play of others has no effect on the golfer’s performance at all… unless he (and it is predominantly still ‘he’) allows it (the closest similar sport is downhill skiing). This is not the case for the majority of business leaders who’d personal performance can be impacted by the performance of others. So the golf course is the place where a player can assuredly adopt the attitude, it’s MY performance and only MY performance that matters and only their actions change the result. This suggests the desire for control - or Directiveness.
Some of the reasons golfers choose to play the game shows that 76% of them play for social reasons (Source: GMI/Mintel) - this demonstrates a desire, if not ability, in the competencies of influence and communication.
SO WHY USE GOLF TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP?
It seems that the game of golf attracts business leaders more than other groups - & perhaps the conclusions above suggest why. So it became increasingly obvious to our team that golf could be both an attractive idea for development within this group, and that the game of golf itself could be deliberately used to develop the competencies and behaviours associated with great leadership. Indeed, many of our clients confirm the attraction of golf for our senior management training programmes by requesting training to take place at golf clubs, so the team can play golf after the training course. Albeit, not everyone on the programmes did play golf, the senior managers and board members invariably did. Our research into using simulations has shown that given a truly safe environment to practice the tools and techniques of leadership and management, participants not only
John Kenworthy 3 learn more (23% greater learning) than using more traditional methods like case studies, they enjoy it more (17% greater) and demonstrate greater transfer of new behaviours to the workplace (26% greater transfer). Not only this, but studies in societies where females are considered disadvantaged in management showed a greater improvement in demonstrated management and leadership competencies after a simulation based programme than a traditional programme over their male counterparts - 16% greater improvement in demonstrated competencies. The key to the success of using simulations is that they provide a realistic, safe environment to practice the tools, techniques and behaviours of great leadership (Source: Kenworthy 2005)
IS GOLF A SAFE, REALISTIC ENVIRONMENT
The great thing about golf is that it is one of the very few activities that provides a genuinely level-playing field - through the well-established handicapping system. It may not be perfect, but it’s very close. This means that a scratch golfer competes fairly with a complete beginner. There are also rules within which the game must be played - these represent the constraints of doing business. There are established game rules that encourage pairs or foursomes to work together, and there are rules to foster individual competition - sometimes in business we want our leaders to be entrepreneurial and ‘go- getters’ - leading by example, at other times, we want them to be team leaders, or team players. Caddies, provide a perfect metaphor for coaches and mentors. The course itself provides a varied environment, shifting according to things beyond the control of the player, but observable by them. The hole provides a target, the course provides for a strategic plan to achieve the real goal. The points scored can directly relate to revenue or profit. The clubs and balls are resources - even the golf pro can be a consultant resource. The game of golf provides a fantastic platform to learn leadership - its safe and fair, it’s as realistic as you need it to be and it’s fun!
SO WHAT ABOUT THE NON-GOLFERS?
So what about the non-golfers? Why would they participate - and let’s face it, in an organisation you don’t want to alienate the non-golfers by forcing them to participate in something they wouldn’t normally… or would you? For our Leadership Golf Challenge programmes we always offer golfers and non-golfers technical lessons before the event. We arrange with our certified golf pro’s to put a special series of lessons for the new players - most often they perform better than those who’ve been playing for years because they don’t bring along so many bad habits. We’ve even designed a special programme exclusively for non-golfers - called ‘Hackers Days’ - which combine technical golf instruction with the Leadership Golf Challenge.
CAN YOU JUST PLAY GOLF TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP?
There’s certainly something about the game of golf that shares characteristics of great leadership, but whether it’s the playing golf that develops the person as a leader or that the leadership capability makes for a golfer is an unanswered question. Like any powerful training programme, leadership development needs a supporting, robust model of development. Unfortunately it’s not much use telling someone to BE Jack Welch, or even to tell someone what it is that Jack Welch does - that doesn’t make you a leader. Nor, can we simply seek to develop the 10 principles, 7 habits, 12 big things etc. of the best leaders in the world - leadership is personal - the first step in becoming a leader is to take charge of yourself and align your personal values to achieving what you want to achieve. If it were that simple then there wouldn’t be a leadership issue anywhere in the world today.
Effective leadership development (indeed for adults to learn anything effectively) needs the learner to go through three learning processes according to Bloom - cognitive, affective and psychomotor learning. That we need to develop knowledge about leadership, associate a feeling or emotion with the desire to learn the knowledge and physically put that knowledge into practice.
Most business leaders have some knowledge about what constitutes ‘good’ leadership - though few practice it all the time. They may have seen ‘good’ leadership exemplified by others in their past or present. They may have read a book on leadership - such as the 7 Habits. Where these most often fail to become new behaviours is twofold - Firstly, most examples of ‘good’ leadership are often carried out ‘naturally’ by the person demonstrating them - we often refer to them as ‘born leaders’. They are ‘good’ leaders, but they don’t consciously know what it is that they do - and therefore they are unable to share with others what they should or could do. Most books, on the other hand, tend to focus on one of two aspects - how to be a leader - here is Mr Great CEO and this is what he did, you must do the same. or they distil ‘best’ behaviours and provide a checklist for you to do ‘good’ leadership.
In the former situation, the ‘born leader’ is unable (or unwilling) to give you the requisite knowledge to learn. In the latter (books), they often fail to make an emotional connection to implement the knowledge (other than you’ve bought the book therefore you must want to learn), or they provide simplistic implementation checklists, do this, then this then this at work. If the new ‘habit’ doesn’t work first time, the book provides little or no guidance as to what you should do now. GAINMORE Advantage changes all that.
The GAINMORE™ Framework provides a synthesis of the tools, techniques, attitudes and attributes of ‘good’ leadership within a structured model supported with templates that enable you to physically learn the behaviours. We are using the game of golf as a metaphor and as an emotional learning hook, and golf provides a means for you to put your behaviours into physical practice for yourself first - i.e. self-leadership, then you can use the templates at work. All practised within a safe and realistic environment that is fun.
The GAINMORE™ Framework is developed from three major areas of thought leadership in the fields of management learning, psychology and leadership. It is a personal development model that provides the solid foundations on which the Leadership Golf Challenge is built. Build on this foundation the safe and realistic learning environment of a business simulation on the golf course and you have a leadership development programme that actually does what it says on the box.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Leadership of the Future
The last 20 years has seen an incredible increase in technology. Most of the principles of good leadership remain the same, regardless of how technology changes. However, technology presents new challenges for leaders.
Virtual Contact Leadership
One of the benefits of modern technology is the ability to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. While this is a benefit for businesses looking to expand, it presents unique challenges for leaders. Many leaders have a leadership skill set that relies heavily on their personality and “presence”. Many of these skills don’t translate well into electronic communication.
Leaders need to be aware of this and work to improve their skills in communicating and leading using modern tools. They can no longer rely on the power of their personality to give them an edge. One of the biggest areas leaders must develop is the ability to communicate well through the written word.
In the past, leaders were often able to rely on assistants for written communication. However, with the ubiquitous use of email, this is no longer an option. Leaders who cannot communicate well in writing will find themselves at a disadvantage.
Leaders preparing for the future should make a conscious effort in the following areas:
Developing strong writing skills.
Understanding different forms of electronic communication.
Understanding the culture of different forms of electronic communication.
Leading Outside the Organization
In the past, leaders generally led people who reported to them through the chain of command. As businesses become more focused on their core competencies, leaders are finding that many of the people they are leading are in other organizations. Leaders of the past who lead through position and title will find it difficult to lead in the future. Many of their old techniques will not work across organizations’ boundaries.
This shift will require that successful leaders of the future develop a greater degree of true leadership skill. The shortcuts used by many in authority will not work when trying to lead across organizational boundaries.
Leaders in future organizations will also require a better holistic understanding of the entire business ecosystem, not just their organization. Leaders who can successfully make this transition will be in high demand, not just by companies looking to hire their skills, but by organizations looking to partner with them for mutual benefit.
The Difficulty of Earning Leadership Trust
Some of the recent high-profile scandals in business will require some changes for leaders of the future as well. Subordinates are less likely to trust a leader because of position and title than they were 10 years ago. In the future, obtaining trust will require even more effort.
In the future, leaders must seek to actively measure the level of trust in their organization and take deliberate steps to improve the level of trust. Before making big changes leaders must gauge the level of trust in their organization to make sure they have built enough of a solid trust foundation to obtain successful buy-in.
While the core skills of leadership will remain the same over time, the leadership of the future will require a different emphasis on particular skills. By preparing for these changes ahead of time, leaders can ready themselves today for what organizations will need tomorrow.
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
future of leadership
Leadership in the future
the future of leadership
Future leadership
leadership future
future leadership challenges
leadership of the future
leadership for the future
future of leadership theory
leadership in future
Virtual Contact Leadership
One of the benefits of modern technology is the ability to communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. While this is a benefit for businesses looking to expand, it presents unique challenges for leaders. Many leaders have a leadership skill set that relies heavily on their personality and “presence”. Many of these skills don’t translate well into electronic communication.
Leaders need to be aware of this and work to improve their skills in communicating and leading using modern tools. They can no longer rely on the power of their personality to give them an edge. One of the biggest areas leaders must develop is the ability to communicate well through the written word.
In the past, leaders were often able to rely on assistants for written communication. However, with the ubiquitous use of email, this is no longer an option. Leaders who cannot communicate well in writing will find themselves at a disadvantage.
Leaders preparing for the future should make a conscious effort in the following areas:
Developing strong writing skills.
Understanding different forms of electronic communication.
Understanding the culture of different forms of electronic communication.
Leading Outside the Organization
In the past, leaders generally led people who reported to them through the chain of command. As businesses become more focused on their core competencies, leaders are finding that many of the people they are leading are in other organizations. Leaders of the past who lead through position and title will find it difficult to lead in the future. Many of their old techniques will not work across organizations’ boundaries.
This shift will require that successful leaders of the future develop a greater degree of true leadership skill. The shortcuts used by many in authority will not work when trying to lead across organizational boundaries.
Leaders in future organizations will also require a better holistic understanding of the entire business ecosystem, not just their organization. Leaders who can successfully make this transition will be in high demand, not just by companies looking to hire their skills, but by organizations looking to partner with them for mutual benefit.
The Difficulty of Earning Leadership Trust
Some of the recent high-profile scandals in business will require some changes for leaders of the future as well. Subordinates are less likely to trust a leader because of position and title than they were 10 years ago. In the future, obtaining trust will require even more effort.
In the future, leaders must seek to actively measure the level of trust in their organization and take deliberate steps to improve the level of trust. Before making big changes leaders must gauge the level of trust in their organization to make sure they have built enough of a solid trust foundation to obtain successful buy-in.
While the core skills of leadership will remain the same over time, the leadership of the future will require a different emphasis on particular skills. By preparing for these changes ahead of time, leaders can ready themselves today for what organizations will need tomorrow.
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
future of leadership
Leadership in the future
the future of leadership
Future leadership
leadership future
future leadership challenges
leadership of the future
leadership for the future
future of leadership theory
leadership in future
Definition Leadership - for the 21st Century
Check out my personal freedom and political blog The Freedom Bus
If you have typed into your chosen search engine "definition leadership" you probably already realise that no two leadership gurus seem to share a view on what defines leadership. The internet is full of definitions of leadership.
Definition Leadership: Tom Peters
One of the most influential business thinkers of the 21st century, Tom Peters is the management-guru's management-guru! His first book with (the relatively low-profile Robert Waterman) "In Search of Excellence" was a huge best seller and Peters has followed this book up with a series of outstatnding business and leadership books. From Peters' earlier work here are his 8 Attributes of Business Success. He goes on to explore what happens when things go wrong: here is his Reasons for Failure. Peters loves to startle and shock: his presentational style is infused with evangelical passion, he uses "cool" slang-like prose and his work is peppered with thought provoking paradoxes and lengthy lists of "crazy stuff". Peters defines today as "crazy times" that demand crazy thinking to not only win but to survive. His thoughts on leadership are typically passionate, controversial, inspiring and great fun. Leadership for Peters is "crucial to the revolution now under way - so crucial that we believe that the words "managing" and "management" should be discarded." Leadership for Peters is about discovering the passion, persistence and imagination to get results, to be able to find the Wow factor and to be able to think the weird thoughts necessary to learn and thrive in a disruptive age. Here then is my take on Definition Leadership: Tom Peters. For those of you considering becoming a business leader here are some Peters-style questions you may choose to ask yourself.
Definition Leadership: Peter Drucker
Regarded as the father of modern management, Peter Drucker only just makes it into my list of 21st century gurus as he died age 95 in 2005. Nevertheless his influence on management thinking is profound and his excellent management and leadership books textbooks will continue to be read and studied as true landmarks in managerial thinking for years to come. Drucker's style couldn't be more different from Tom Peters'. Leadership for Drucker is "mundane, unromantic and boring. Its essence is performance.". While this quote is unlikely to get your juices going with unbridled enthusiasm, you need to stick with Drucker and read more. Drucker goes on to define leadership as a means to an end and he details the foundations and requirements of effective leadership. Here is a short guide to Drucker: Definition Leadership: Peter Drucker. In contrast to Peters, Drucker surmises that to become an effective leader one has the same requirements as those of the effective manager.
Definition Leadership: Jack Welch
Jack Welch was the CEO and Chairman of General Electric for over 20 years. During that time he pioneered many critical business initiatives (such as downsizing and six sigma) that have become standard practice for big business in the 21st century. The results Welch achieved during his leadership at GE were spectacular: market value rose from $12 billion to a peak of $598 billion (stabilizing around the $400 billion mark) and earnings went from $1.5 billion to over $14 billion. Welch's leadership style was forthright and clear with tight guidelines for a leaner more productive organization. Since leaving GE in 2001, Welch has become a business guru - if you are interested in business leadership, Welch's ideas (he calls them "secrets"!) demand study. Take a look at these superb Jack Welch books describing the man and his leadership. No other business leadership guru has personally lead as successful a company (if you define success by standard financial measures) as Welch. This fact alone makes him a must read in my opinion. Here's my summary of Jack Welch's definition of leadership.
Definition Leadership: John Adair
The Worlds first professor in Leadership Studies (University of Surrey), British born John Adair is regarded as a leading authority on leadership and leadership development. All of my other 21st century leadership gurus are experts in a wider field (management, politics, business etc), Adair in contrast concentrates on the pure art and science of leadership. He has written over 30 books on the subject. These are in my opinion the ones that demand closest study. . Adair believes that leadership matters deeply, that good leadership is good leadership irrespective of whether its within a business, charity, sports team, political party or army regiment and he also believes that good leadership can be learnt and that everyone can improve their leadership ability. Adair's writing for me evokes feelings of military style leadership, and it was no surprise for me to learn that Adair was a Senior Lecturer and Leadership Training Advisor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (where Churchill went in 1893). I feel Adair's military / academic look at leadership is a valuable addition to our gurus list. Have a read of my look at John Adair's definition of leadership.
Definition Leadership: Rudolph Giuliani
I wanted to include a political-leadership guru in my list. More so than any other type of guru, political-gurus are bound to be controversial. Giuliani positioned himself as a leadership guru with the publication of his book "Leadership" (get a great online deal here on Leadership by Rudy Giuliani!)and the founding of his consultancy firm "Guiliani Partners" in 2002. Born in New York Guiliani was elected mayor of that great city in 1993 (he had been a lawyer prior to that). As mayor of the city he presided over significant changes: dramatically reduced crime figures, greater economic development, increased investement in education and a huge programme of generally cleaning up the city. If this had been his legacy he would be well remembered by many. However the events of September 11th 2001 brought Guiliani's name to a Worldwide audience like never before. We all watched as he lead New York through the aftermath of the terrible Trade Center attacks. His conduct during this period cemented his reputation for great leadership. For this reason I have included Rudolph Guiliani in my list: his leadership advice is a mix of home-spun common sense coupled with simple practical tasks and advice. Leadership doesn't have to be complicated and Guiliani's definition of leadership is all the better for its simplicity. Have a read of my look at Rudolph Giuliani's definition of leadership.
Leadership Definition: Peter Scholtes
Probably the least well known of my 21st century leadership gurus, Peter Scholtes, who won't thank me for even referring to him as a guru was always going to be on my shortlist. In my opinion Scholtes two books "The Leaders Handbook" and "The Team Handbook" are must reads for leaders in business Click here to see more about these outstanding Scholtes leadership books. Between 1987 and 1993 Scholtes shared the platform with W. Edwards Deming educating corporations about the "new" philosophy of the Quality movement. Scholtes take on leadership concentrates on "systems thinking" - his opinions on management by objectives, merit pay, performance appraisals, motivation and management buzzwords are still (sadly) controversial and "new". You must include Scholtes' "new" thinking in your study of leadership and your seeking of a leadership definition for the 21st century. Here is my page looking at Peter Scholtes' definition of leadership. And here is a page on Scholtes' leadership competencies for the new century.
If you have typed into your chosen search engine "definition leadership" you probably already realise that no two leadership gurus seem to share a view on what defines leadership. The internet is full of definitions of leadership.
Definition Leadership: Tom Peters
One of the most influential business thinkers of the 21st century, Tom Peters is the management-guru's management-guru! His first book with (the relatively low-profile Robert Waterman) "In Search of Excellence" was a huge best seller and Peters has followed this book up with a series of outstatnding business and leadership books. From Peters' earlier work here are his 8 Attributes of Business Success. He goes on to explore what happens when things go wrong: here is his Reasons for Failure. Peters loves to startle and shock: his presentational style is infused with evangelical passion, he uses "cool" slang-like prose and his work is peppered with thought provoking paradoxes and lengthy lists of "crazy stuff". Peters defines today as "crazy times" that demand crazy thinking to not only win but to survive. His thoughts on leadership are typically passionate, controversial, inspiring and great fun. Leadership for Peters is "crucial to the revolution now under way - so crucial that we believe that the words "managing" and "management" should be discarded." Leadership for Peters is about discovering the passion, persistence and imagination to get results, to be able to find the Wow factor and to be able to think the weird thoughts necessary to learn and thrive in a disruptive age. Here then is my take on Definition Leadership: Tom Peters. For those of you considering becoming a business leader here are some Peters-style questions you may choose to ask yourself.
Definition Leadership: Peter Drucker
Regarded as the father of modern management, Peter Drucker only just makes it into my list of 21st century gurus as he died age 95 in 2005. Nevertheless his influence on management thinking is profound and his excellent management and leadership books textbooks will continue to be read and studied as true landmarks in managerial thinking for years to come. Drucker's style couldn't be more different from Tom Peters'. Leadership for Drucker is "mundane, unromantic and boring. Its essence is performance.". While this quote is unlikely to get your juices going with unbridled enthusiasm, you need to stick with Drucker and read more. Drucker goes on to define leadership as a means to an end and he details the foundations and requirements of effective leadership. Here is a short guide to Drucker: Definition Leadership: Peter Drucker. In contrast to Peters, Drucker surmises that to become an effective leader one has the same requirements as those of the effective manager.
Definition Leadership: Jack Welch
Jack Welch was the CEO and Chairman of General Electric for over 20 years. During that time he pioneered many critical business initiatives (such as downsizing and six sigma) that have become standard practice for big business in the 21st century. The results Welch achieved during his leadership at GE were spectacular: market value rose from $12 billion to a peak of $598 billion (stabilizing around the $400 billion mark) and earnings went from $1.5 billion to over $14 billion. Welch's leadership style was forthright and clear with tight guidelines for a leaner more productive organization. Since leaving GE in 2001, Welch has become a business guru - if you are interested in business leadership, Welch's ideas (he calls them "secrets"!) demand study. Take a look at these superb Jack Welch books describing the man and his leadership. No other business leadership guru has personally lead as successful a company (if you define success by standard financial measures) as Welch. This fact alone makes him a must read in my opinion. Here's my summary of Jack Welch's definition of leadership.
Definition Leadership: John Adair
The Worlds first professor in Leadership Studies (University of Surrey), British born John Adair is regarded as a leading authority on leadership and leadership development. All of my other 21st century leadership gurus are experts in a wider field (management, politics, business etc), Adair in contrast concentrates on the pure art and science of leadership. He has written over 30 books on the subject. These are in my opinion the ones that demand closest study. . Adair believes that leadership matters deeply, that good leadership is good leadership irrespective of whether its within a business, charity, sports team, political party or army regiment and he also believes that good leadership can be learnt and that everyone can improve their leadership ability. Adair's writing for me evokes feelings of military style leadership, and it was no surprise for me to learn that Adair was a Senior Lecturer and Leadership Training Advisor at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (where Churchill went in 1893). I feel Adair's military / academic look at leadership is a valuable addition to our gurus list. Have a read of my look at John Adair's definition of leadership.
Definition Leadership: Rudolph Giuliani
I wanted to include a political-leadership guru in my list. More so than any other type of guru, political-gurus are bound to be controversial. Giuliani positioned himself as a leadership guru with the publication of his book "Leadership" (get a great online deal here on Leadership by Rudy Giuliani!)and the founding of his consultancy firm "Guiliani Partners" in 2002. Born in New York Guiliani was elected mayor of that great city in 1993 (he had been a lawyer prior to that). As mayor of the city he presided over significant changes: dramatically reduced crime figures, greater economic development, increased investement in education and a huge programme of generally cleaning up the city. If this had been his legacy he would be well remembered by many. However the events of September 11th 2001 brought Guiliani's name to a Worldwide audience like never before. We all watched as he lead New York through the aftermath of the terrible Trade Center attacks. His conduct during this period cemented his reputation for great leadership. For this reason I have included Rudolph Guiliani in my list: his leadership advice is a mix of home-spun common sense coupled with simple practical tasks and advice. Leadership doesn't have to be complicated and Guiliani's definition of leadership is all the better for its simplicity. Have a read of my look at Rudolph Giuliani's definition of leadership.
Leadership Definition: Peter Scholtes
Probably the least well known of my 21st century leadership gurus, Peter Scholtes, who won't thank me for even referring to him as a guru was always going to be on my shortlist. In my opinion Scholtes two books "The Leaders Handbook" and "The Team Handbook" are must reads for leaders in business Click here to see more about these outstanding Scholtes leadership books. Between 1987 and 1993 Scholtes shared the platform with W. Edwards Deming educating corporations about the "new" philosophy of the Quality movement. Scholtes take on leadership concentrates on "systems thinking" - his opinions on management by objectives, merit pay, performance appraisals, motivation and management buzzwords are still (sadly) controversial and "new". You must include Scholtes' "new" thinking in your study of leadership and your seeking of a leadership definition for the 21st century. Here is my page looking at Peter Scholtes' definition of leadership. And here is a page on Scholtes' leadership competencies for the new century.
Gurus and writers - management, behaviour, communications
john adair
ichak adizes
igor ansoff
richard bandler
chris argyris
chester barnard
christopher a bartlett
gary s becker
eric berne
ken blanchard
edward de bono
katharine cook briggs
isabel briggs myers
alfred chandler
clayton christensen
ronald coase
stephen covey
thomas davenport
david deida
w edwards deming
peter drucker
erik erikson
esther dyson
albert ellis
reg evans
henri fayol
david gershon and gail straub
sumantra ghoshal
george gilder
malcolm gladwell
daniel goleman
andrews grove
gary hamel
michael hammer
charles handy
paul hersey
frederick herzberg
john humble
elliott jaques
carl jung
joseph juran
rosabeth moss kanter
robert kaplan
david keirsey
kevin kelly
john maynard keynes
philip kotler
john kotter
theodore levitt
rensis likert
douglas mcgregor
james macgregor burns
james march
abraham maslow
elton w mayo
albert mehrabian
robert c merton
henry mintzberg
akio morita
sharon drew morgen
john naisbitt
keniche ohmae
richard pascale
don peppers
tom peters
jeffrey pfeffer
b joseph pine
michael e porter
c k prahalad
robert reich
anthony robbins
carl rogers
jim rohn
paul romer
edgar schein
myron s scholes
richard schonberger
e f schumacher
john seely brown
peter senge
alfred p sloan
adrian j slywotzky
joseph stiglitz
gail straub & david gershon
donald tapscott
frederick w taylor
david teece
alvin toffler
lester thurow
edward tufte
hal varian
victor vroom
robert waterman jr
tomas j watson jr
max weber
ken wilber
ichak adizes
igor ansoff
richard bandler
chris argyris
chester barnard
christopher a bartlett
gary s becker
eric berne
ken blanchard
edward de bono
katharine cook briggs
isabel briggs myers
alfred chandler
clayton christensen
ronald coase
stephen covey
thomas davenport
david deida
w edwards deming
peter drucker
erik erikson
esther dyson
albert ellis
reg evans
henri fayol
david gershon and gail straub
sumantra ghoshal
george gilder
malcolm gladwell
daniel goleman
andrews grove
gary hamel
michael hammer
charles handy
paul hersey
frederick herzberg
john humble
elliott jaques
carl jung
joseph juran
rosabeth moss kanter
robert kaplan
david keirsey
kevin kelly
john maynard keynes
philip kotler
john kotter
theodore levitt
rensis likert
douglas mcgregor
james macgregor burns
james march
abraham maslow
elton w mayo
albert mehrabian
robert c merton
henry mintzberg
akio morita
sharon drew morgen
john naisbitt
keniche ohmae
richard pascale
don peppers
tom peters
jeffrey pfeffer
b joseph pine
michael e porter
c k prahalad
robert reich
anthony robbins
carl rogers
jim rohn
paul romer
edgar schein
myron s scholes
richard schonberger
e f schumacher
john seely brown
peter senge
alfred p sloan
adrian j slywotzky
joseph stiglitz
gail straub & david gershon
donald tapscott
frederick w taylor
david teece
alvin toffler
lester thurow
edward tufte
hal varian
victor vroom
robert waterman jr
tomas j watson jr
max weber
ken wilber
Leadership behaviours and development of leadership style and skills
Leadership skills are based on leadership behaviour. Skills alone do not make leaders - style and behaviour do. If you are interested in leadership training and development - start with leadership behaviour.
The growing awareness and demand for idealist principles in leadership are increasing the emphasis (in terms of leadership characteristics) on business ethics, corporate responsibility, emotional maturity, personal integrity, and what is popularly now known as the 'triple bottom line' (abbreviated to TBL or 3BL, representing 'profit, people, planet').
For many people (staff, customers, suppliers, investors, commentators, visionaries, etc) these are becoming the most significant areas of attitude/behaviour/appreciation required in modern business and organisational leaders.
3BL (triple bottom line - profit, people, planet) also provides an excellent multi-dimensional framework for explaining, developing and assessing leadership potential and capability, and also links strongly with psychology aspects if for instance psychometrics (personality testing) features in leadership selection and development methods: each of us is more naturally inclined to one or the other (profit, people, planet) by virtue of our personality, which can be referenced to Jung, Myers Briggs, etc.
Much debate persists as to the validity of 'triple bottom line accounting', since standards and measures are some way from being clearly defined and agreed, but this does not reduce the relevance of the concept, nor the growing public awareness of it, which effectively and continuously re-shapes markets and therefore corporate behaviour. Accordingly leaders need to understand and respond to such huge attitudinal trends, whether they can be reliably accounted for or not at the moment.
Adaptability and vision - as might be demonstrated via project development scenarios or tasks - especially involving modern communications and knowledge technologies - are also critical for certain leadership roles, and provide unlimited scope for leadership development processes, methods and activities.
Cultural diversity is another topical and very relevant area requiring leadership involvement, if not mastery. Large organisations particularly must recognise that the market-place, in terms of staff, customers and suppliers, is truly global now, and leaders must be able to function and appreciate and adapt to all aspects of cultural diversification. A leaders who fails to relate culturally well and widely and openly inevitably condemns the entire organisation to adopt the same narrow focus and bias exhibited by the leader.
Bear in mind that different leadership jobs (and chairman) require different types of leaders - Churchill was fine for war but not good for peacetime re-building. There's a big difference between short-term return on investment versus long-term change. Each warrants a different type of leadership style, and actually very few leaders are able to adapt from one to the other. (Again see the personality styles section: short-term results and profit require strong Jungian 'thinking' orientation, or frontal left brain dominance; whereas long-term vision and change require 'intuition' orientation, or frontal right brain dominance).
If it's not clear already, leadership is without doubt mostly about behaviour, especially towards others. People who strive for these things generally come to be regarded and respected as a leader by their people:
Integrity - the most important requirement; without it everything else is for nothing.
Having an effective appreciation and approach towards corporate responsibility, (Triple Bottom Line, Fair Trade, etc), so that the need to make profit is balanced with wider social and environmental responsibilities.
Being very grown-up - never getting emotionally negative with people - no shouting or ranting, even if you feel very upset or angry.
Leading by example - always be seen to be working harder and more determinedly than anyone else.
Helping alongside your people when they need it.
Fairness - treating everyone equally and on merit.
Being firm and clear in dealing with bad or unethical behaviour.
Listening to and really understanding people, and show them that you understand (this doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone - understanding is different to agreeing).
Always taking the responsibility and blame for your people's mistakes.
Always giving your people the credit for your successes.
Never self-promoting.
Backing-up and supporting your people.
Being decisive - even if the decision is to delegate or do nothing if appropriate - but be seen to be making fair and balanced decisions.
Asking for people's views, but remain neutral and objective.
Being honest but sensitive in the way that you give bad news or criticism.
Always doing what you say you will do - keeping your promises.
Working hard to become expert at what you do technically, and at understanding your people's technical abilities and challenges.
Encouraging your people to grow, to learn and to take on as much as they want to, at a pace they can handle.
Always accentuating the positive (say 'do it like this', not 'don't do it like that').
Smiling and encouraging others to be happy and enjoy themselves.
Relaxing - breaking down the barriers and the leadership awe - and giving your people and yourself time to get to know and respect each other.
Taking notes and keeping good records.
Planning and prioritising.
Managing your time well and helping others to do so too.
Involving your people in your thinking and especially in managing change.
Reading good books, and taking advice from good people, to help develop your own understanding of yourself, and particularly of other people's weaknesses (some of the best books for leadership are not about business at all - they are about people who triumph over adversity).
Achieve the company tasks and objectives, while maintaining your integrity, the trust of your people, are a balancing the corporate aims with the needs of the world beyond.
The growing awareness and demand for idealist principles in leadership are increasing the emphasis (in terms of leadership characteristics) on business ethics, corporate responsibility, emotional maturity, personal integrity, and what is popularly now known as the 'triple bottom line' (abbreviated to TBL or 3BL, representing 'profit, people, planet').
For many people (staff, customers, suppliers, investors, commentators, visionaries, etc) these are becoming the most significant areas of attitude/behaviour/appreciation required in modern business and organisational leaders.
3BL (triple bottom line - profit, people, planet) also provides an excellent multi-dimensional framework for explaining, developing and assessing leadership potential and capability, and also links strongly with psychology aspects if for instance psychometrics (personality testing) features in leadership selection and development methods: each of us is more naturally inclined to one or the other (profit, people, planet) by virtue of our personality, which can be referenced to Jung, Myers Briggs, etc.
Much debate persists as to the validity of 'triple bottom line accounting', since standards and measures are some way from being clearly defined and agreed, but this does not reduce the relevance of the concept, nor the growing public awareness of it, which effectively and continuously re-shapes markets and therefore corporate behaviour. Accordingly leaders need to understand and respond to such huge attitudinal trends, whether they can be reliably accounted for or not at the moment.
Adaptability and vision - as might be demonstrated via project development scenarios or tasks - especially involving modern communications and knowledge technologies - are also critical for certain leadership roles, and provide unlimited scope for leadership development processes, methods and activities.
Cultural diversity is another topical and very relevant area requiring leadership involvement, if not mastery. Large organisations particularly must recognise that the market-place, in terms of staff, customers and suppliers, is truly global now, and leaders must be able to function and appreciate and adapt to all aspects of cultural diversification. A leaders who fails to relate culturally well and widely and openly inevitably condemns the entire organisation to adopt the same narrow focus and bias exhibited by the leader.
Bear in mind that different leadership jobs (and chairman) require different types of leaders - Churchill was fine for war but not good for peacetime re-building. There's a big difference between short-term return on investment versus long-term change. Each warrants a different type of leadership style, and actually very few leaders are able to adapt from one to the other. (Again see the personality styles section: short-term results and profit require strong Jungian 'thinking' orientation, or frontal left brain dominance; whereas long-term vision and change require 'intuition' orientation, or frontal right brain dominance).
If it's not clear already, leadership is without doubt mostly about behaviour, especially towards others. People who strive for these things generally come to be regarded and respected as a leader by their people:
Integrity - the most important requirement; without it everything else is for nothing.
Having an effective appreciation and approach towards corporate responsibility, (Triple Bottom Line, Fair Trade, etc), so that the need to make profit is balanced with wider social and environmental responsibilities.
Being very grown-up - never getting emotionally negative with people - no shouting or ranting, even if you feel very upset or angry.
Leading by example - always be seen to be working harder and more determinedly than anyone else.
Helping alongside your people when they need it.
Fairness - treating everyone equally and on merit.
Being firm and clear in dealing with bad or unethical behaviour.
Listening to and really understanding people, and show them that you understand (this doesn't mean you have to agree with everyone - understanding is different to agreeing).
Always taking the responsibility and blame for your people's mistakes.
Always giving your people the credit for your successes.
Never self-promoting.
Backing-up and supporting your people.
Being decisive - even if the decision is to delegate or do nothing if appropriate - but be seen to be making fair and balanced decisions.
Asking for people's views, but remain neutral and objective.
Being honest but sensitive in the way that you give bad news or criticism.
Always doing what you say you will do - keeping your promises.
Working hard to become expert at what you do technically, and at understanding your people's technical abilities and challenges.
Encouraging your people to grow, to learn and to take on as much as they want to, at a pace they can handle.
Always accentuating the positive (say 'do it like this', not 'don't do it like that').
Smiling and encouraging others to be happy and enjoy themselves.
Relaxing - breaking down the barriers and the leadership awe - and giving your people and yourself time to get to know and respect each other.
Taking notes and keeping good records.
Planning and prioritising.
Managing your time well and helping others to do so too.
Involving your people in your thinking and especially in managing change.
Reading good books, and taking advice from good people, to help develop your own understanding of yourself, and particularly of other people's weaknesses (some of the best books for leadership are not about business at all - they are about people who triumph over adversity).
Achieve the company tasks and objectives, while maintaining your integrity, the trust of your people, are a balancing the corporate aims with the needs of the world beyond.
great leadership quotes
"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss.... The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads and the boss drives." (Theodore Roosevelt)
"The marksman hitteth the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go. The boatsman reacheth the landing partly by pulling, partly by letting go." (Egyptian proverb)
"No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself." (William Penn)
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." (President Harry S Truman)
"I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." (Woodrow Wilson)
"What should it profit a man if he would gain the whole world yet lose his soul." (The Holy Bible, Mark 8:36)
"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." (Harvey Mackay)
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to look after them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." (John Steinbeck)
"I keep six honest serving-men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who." (Rudyard Kipling, from 'Just So Stories', 1902.)
"A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself." (Didacus Stella, circa AD60 - and, as a matter of interest, abridged on the edge of an English £2 coin)
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." (Samuel Johnson 1709-84)
"The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes - any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes." (William Bolitho, from 'Twelve against the Gods')
"Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed . . . . . It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." (WE Henley, 1849-1903, from 'Invictus')
"Everybody can get angry - that's easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way - that's hard." (Aristotle)
"Management means helping people to get the best out of themselves, not organising things." (Lauren Appley)
"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt.)
"Behind an able man there are always other able men." (Chinese Proverb.)
"I praise loudly. I blame softly." (Catherine the Great, 1729-1796.)
"Experto Credite." ("Trust one who has proved it." Virgil, 2,000 years ago.)
"The marksman hitteth the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go. The boatsman reacheth the landing partly by pulling, partly by letting go." (Egyptian proverb)
"No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself." (William Penn)
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." (President Harry S Truman)
"I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." (Woodrow Wilson)
"What should it profit a man if he would gain the whole world yet lose his soul." (The Holy Bible, Mark 8:36)
"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." (Harvey Mackay)
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to look after them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." (John Steinbeck)
"I keep six honest serving-men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who." (Rudyard Kipling, from 'Just So Stories', 1902.)
"A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself." (Didacus Stella, circa AD60 - and, as a matter of interest, abridged on the edge of an English £2 coin)
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." (Samuel Johnson 1709-84)
"The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes - any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes." (William Bolitho, from 'Twelve against the Gods')
"Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed . . . . . It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." (WE Henley, 1849-1903, from 'Invictus')
"Everybody can get angry - that's easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way - that's hard." (Aristotle)
"Management means helping people to get the best out of themselves, not organising things." (Lauren Appley)
"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt.)
"Behind an able man there are always other able men." (Chinese Proverb.)
"I praise loudly. I blame softly." (Catherine the Great, 1729-1796.)
"Experto Credite." ("Trust one who has proved it." Virgil, 2,000 years ago.)
Leadership Quotes
This collection of leadership quotes is a great source of inspiration. If there is a great leadership quote we missed, please add it in the comments below.
Leadership quotations can be a powerful part of your personal leadership development plan. Taking a few quotes from people you admire and spending some time, deeply thinking about the quotes, can help you better understand the mindset behind the leader. Over the course of a year, you can cover a number of leadership quotes and develop a much better understanding of the person behind the quote and how their perspective applies to your leadership style.
When nothing is sure, everything is possible.
~Margaret Drabble
This leadership quote speaks to the possibilities that exist when you and your team don’t have a bunch of preconceived ideas. Everyone is limited by what they are sure is possible. Without those barriers, the glass ceiling goes away.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
~T. Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson’s leadership quote is a strong reminder about when to be flexible and when to stand strong. To often people are rigid on their style and flexible on their principles–the exact opposite of what he recommends.
And when we think we lead, we are most led.
~Lord Byron
Leadership is a give an take process as this leadership quote points out.
The only real training for leadership is leadership.
~Antony Jay
If you want to lead you have to practice leading as this leadership quote points out. Classroom experience isn’t nearly as valuable as actually leading people and learning from your mistakes.
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
~Henry Kissinger
Kissinger knew that it was no great feat to get people to do something they had done before. Real leadership skill is getting them to do something they haven’t ever done or aren’t even sure is possible.
People are more easily led than driven.
~David Harold Fink
This leadership quote is an excellent reminder that leading is different than forcing people to do what you say.
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.
~Marian Anderson
This leadership quote reminds us to see things from the perspective of the people whose lives we impact–a very important lesson for leaders in any position.
The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
~Eric Hoffer
This leadership quote is an excellent way of explaining the proper balance for a leader between being realistic and being inspiring.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote by Emerson reminds us to push into new areas and take people where no one has yet been.
The very essence of leadership is its purpose. And the purpose of leadership is to accomplish a task. That is what leadership does–and what it does is more important than what it is or how it works.
~Colonel Dandridge M. Malone
The colonel’s leadership quote shows that leadership needs to be focused on what it accomplishes instead of just being leadership for leadership’s sake.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
~Abraham Lincoln
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
~Proverbs 29:18
Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead.
~Ross Perot
Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure.
~Admiral Arleigh A. Burke
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
~Sandra Carey
Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.
~Lester R. Bittel
I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don’t think that’s quite it; it’s more like jazz. There is more improvisation.
~Warren Bennis
A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless … someone’s got to make a wake up call.
~Warren Bennis
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.
~Max DePree
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.
~Theodore Roosevelt
The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.
~Henry Miller
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
~John Kenneth Galbraith
The best example of leadership is leadership by example.
~Jerry McClain
Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing.
~Mary D. Poole
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
~Ray Kroc
To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone.
~Harry Truman
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams
The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on.
~Walter Lippman
Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.
~Albert Schweitzer
Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Harold R. McAlindon
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
~Stephen R. Covey
This is a nice explanation of the contrast between management and leadership. For more perspective on management see our list of management quotes.
A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.
~David R. Gergen
Leadership is action, not position.
~Donald H. McGannon
He that cannot obey cannot command.
~Benjamin Franklin
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The led must not be compelled; they must be able to choose their own leader.
~Albert Einstein
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.
~Harold S. Geneen
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
~John Maxwell
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
~Warren Bennis
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.
~Theodore Hesburgh
A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
~Rosalynn Carter
Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.
~Rosabeth Moss Kantor
Good leaders must first become good servants.
~Robert Greenleaf
Humans are ambitious and rational and proud. And we don’t fall in line with people who don’t respect us and who we don’t believe have our best interests at heart. We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst.
~Rachel Maddow
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
~Mohandas K. Gandhi
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.
~Kenneth Blanchard
Most important, leaders can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts.
~John Gardner
Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.
~Edwin H. Friedman
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
~Theodore Roosevelt
A leader is a dealer in hope.
~Napoleon Bonaparte
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
~Peter F. Drucker
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
~John F. Kennedy
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
~Steve Jobs
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
leadership quotes
quotes on leadership
leadership quote
quotes about leadership
LEADERSHIP QOUTES
quotes leadership
leadership quotations
quotes for leadership
leader quotes
quotes of leadership
Leadership quotations can be a powerful part of your personal leadership development plan. Taking a few quotes from people you admire and spending some time, deeply thinking about the quotes, can help you better understand the mindset behind the leader. Over the course of a year, you can cover a number of leadership quotes and develop a much better understanding of the person behind the quote and how their perspective applies to your leadership style.
When nothing is sure, everything is possible.
~Margaret Drabble
This leadership quote speaks to the possibilities that exist when you and your team don’t have a bunch of preconceived ideas. Everyone is limited by what they are sure is possible. Without those barriers, the glass ceiling goes away.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
~T. Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson’s leadership quote is a strong reminder about when to be flexible and when to stand strong. To often people are rigid on their style and flexible on their principles–the exact opposite of what he recommends.
And when we think we lead, we are most led.
~Lord Byron
Leadership is a give an take process as this leadership quote points out.
The only real training for leadership is leadership.
~Antony Jay
If you want to lead you have to practice leading as this leadership quote points out. Classroom experience isn’t nearly as valuable as actually leading people and learning from your mistakes.
The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.
~Henry Kissinger
Kissinger knew that it was no great feat to get people to do something they had done before. Real leadership skill is getting them to do something they haven’t ever done or aren’t even sure is possible.
People are more easily led than driven.
~David Harold Fink
This leadership quote is an excellent reminder that leading is different than forcing people to do what you say.
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.
~Marian Anderson
This leadership quote reminds us to see things from the perspective of the people whose lives we impact–a very important lesson for leaders in any position.
The leader has to be practical and a realist, yet must talk the language of the visionary and the idealist.
~Eric Hoffer
This leadership quote is an excellent way of explaining the proper balance for a leader between being realistic and being inspiring.
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
This quote by Emerson reminds us to push into new areas and take people where no one has yet been.
The very essence of leadership is its purpose. And the purpose of leadership is to accomplish a task. That is what leadership does–and what it does is more important than what it is or how it works.
~Colonel Dandridge M. Malone
The colonel’s leadership quote shows that leadership needs to be focused on what it accomplishes instead of just being leadership for leadership’s sake.
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
~Abraham Lincoln
Where there is no vision, the people perish.
~Proverbs 29:18
Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead.
~Ross Perot
Leadership is understanding people and involving them to help you do a job. That takes all of the good characteristics, like integrity, dedication of purpose, selflessness, knowledge, skill, implacability, as well as determination not to accept failure.
~Admiral Arleigh A. Burke
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
~Sandra Carey
Good plans shape good decisions. That’s why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true.
~Lester R. Bittel
I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don’t think that’s quite it; it’s more like jazz. There is more improvisation.
~Warren Bennis
A new leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless … someone’s got to make a wake up call.
~Warren Bennis
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you.
~Max DePree
People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. . . The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads, and the boss drives.
~Theodore Roosevelt
The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.
~Henry Miller
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.
~John Kenneth Galbraith
The best example of leadership is leadership by example.
~Jerry McClain
Leadership should be more participative than directive, more enabling than performing.
~Mary D. Poole
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
~Ray Kroc
To be able to lead others, a man must be willing to go forward alone.
~Harry Truman
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams
The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men, the conviction and the will to carry on.
~Walter Lippman
Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.
~Albert Schweitzer
Leadership: The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
~Harold R. McAlindon
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
~Stephen R. Covey
This is a nice explanation of the contrast between management and leadership. For more perspective on management see our list of management quotes.
A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.
~David R. Gergen
Leadership is action, not position.
~Donald H. McGannon
He that cannot obey cannot command.
~Benjamin Franklin
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
The led must not be compelled; they must be able to choose their own leader.
~Albert Einstein
Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions.
~Harold S. Geneen
Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.
~John Maxwell
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
~John Quincy Adams
The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
~Warren Bennis
The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.
~Theodore Hesburgh
A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.
~Rosalynn Carter
Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.
~Rosabeth Moss Kantor
Good leaders must first become good servants.
~Robert Greenleaf
Humans are ambitious and rational and proud. And we don’t fall in line with people who don’t respect us and who we don’t believe have our best interests at heart. We are willing to follow leaders, but only to the extent that we believe they call on our best, not our worst.
~Rachel Maddow
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
~Mohandas K. Gandhi
The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority.
~Kenneth Blanchard
Most important, leaders can conceive and articulate goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations and unite them in pursuit of objectives worthy of their best efforts.
~John Gardner
Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.
~Edwin H. Friedman
The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
~Theodore Roosevelt
A leader is a dealer in hope.
~Napoleon Bonaparte
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
~Peter F. Drucker
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
~John F. Kennedy
A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of getting along with people, of getting things done.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.
~Steve Jobs
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
leadership quotes
quotes on leadership
leadership quote
quotes about leadership
LEADERSHIP QOUTES
quotes leadership
leadership quotations
quotes for leadership
leader quotes
quotes of leadership
Five Most Important Leadership Traits
Some sit and pontificate about whether leaders are made or born. The true leader ignores such arguments and instead concentrates on developing the leadership qualities necessary for success. In this article, we are going to discuss five leadership traits or leadership qualities that people look for in a leader. If you are able to increase your skill in displaying these five quality characteristics, you will make it easier for people to want to follow you. The less time you have to spend on getting others to follow you, the more time you have to spend refining exactly where you want to go and how to get there.
The five leadership traits/leadership qualities are:
Honest
Forward-Looking
Competent
Inspiring
Intelligent
These five qualities come from Kouzes and Posner’s research into leadership that was done for the book The Leadership Challenge.
Your skill at exhibiting these five leadership qualities is strongly correlated with people’s desire to follow your lead. Exhibiting these traits will inspire confidence in your leadership. Not exhibiting these traits or exhibiting the opposite of these traits will decrease your leadership influence with those around you.
It is important to exhibit, model and display these traits. Simply possessing each trait is not enough; you have to display it in a way that people notice. People want to see that you actively demonstrate these leadership qualities and will not just assume that you have them. It isn’t enough to just be neutral. For example, just because you are not dishonest will not cause people to recognize that you are honest. Just avoiding displays of incompetence won’t inspire the same confidence as truly displaying competence.
The focus of each of these five traits needs to be on what people see you do–not just the things they don’t see you do. Being honest isn’t a matter of not lying–it is taking the extra effort to display honesty.
Honesty as a Leadership Quality
People want to follow an honest leader. Years ago, many employees started out by assuming that their leadership was honest simply because the authority of their position. With modern scandals, this is no longer true.
When you start a leadership position, you need to assume that people will think you are a little dishonest. In order to be seen as an honest individual, you will have to go out of your way to display honesty. People will not assume you are honest simply because you have never been caught lying.
One of the most frequent places where leaders miss an opportunity to display honesty is in handling mistakes. Much of a leader’s job is to try new things and refine the ideas that don’t work. However, many leaders want to avoid failure to the extent that they don’t admit when something did not work.
There was a medium size organization that was attempting to move to a less centralized structure. Instead of one location serving an entire city, they wanted to put smaller offices throughout the entire metro area. At the same time, they were planning an expansion for headquarters to accommodate more customers at the main site. The smaller remote offices was heralded as a way to reach more customers at a lower cost and cover more demographic areas.
After spending a considerable amount of money on a satellite location, it became clear that the cost structure would not support a separate smaller office. As the construction completed on the expanded headquarters building, the smaller office was closed. This was good decision making. The smaller offices seemed like a good idea, but when the advantages didn’t materialize (due to poor management or incorrect assumptions) it made sense to abandon the model. This was a chance for the leadership to display honesty with the employees, be candid about why things didn’t work out as expected, learn from the mistakes an move on.
Unfortunately in this situation the leadership told employees that they had planned on closing the satellite location all along and it was just a temporary measure until construction was completed on the larger headquarters building. While this wasn’t necessarily true, it didn’t quite cross over into the area of lying. Within a few months the situation was mostly forgotten and everyone moved on. Few of the employees felt that leadership was being dishonest. However, they had passed up a marvelous opportunity to display the trait of honesty in admitting a mistake.
Opportunities to display honesty on a large scale may not happen every day. As a leader, showing people that you are honest even when it means admitting to a mistake, displays a key trait that people are looking for in their leaders. By demonstrating honesty with yourself, with your organization and with outside organizations, you will increase your leadership influence. People will trust someone who actively displays honesty–not just as an honest individual, but as someone who is worth following.
Forward-Looking as a Leadership Trait
The whole point of leadership is figuring out where to go from where you are now. While you may know where you want to go, people won’t see that unless you actively communicate it with them. Remember, these traits aren’t just things you need to have, they are things you need to actively display to those around you.
When people do not consider their leader forward-looking, that leader is usually suffering from one of two possible problems:
The leader doesn’t have a forward-looking vision.
The leader is unwilling or scared to share the vision with others.
When a leader doesn’t have a vision for the future, it usually because they are spending so much time on today, that they haven’t really thought about tomorrow. On a very simplistic level this can be solved simply by setting aside some time for planning, strategizing and thinking about the future.
Many times when a leader has no time to think and plan for the future, it is because they are doing a poor job of leading in the present. They have created an organization and systems that rely too much on the leader for input at every stage.
Some leaders have a clear vision, but don’t wish to share it with others. Most of the time they are concerned that they will lose credibility if they share a vision of the future that doesn’t come about. This is a legitimate concern. However, people need to know that a leader has a strong vision for the future and a strong plan for going forward. Leaders run into trouble sharing their vision of the future when they start making promises to individuals. This goes back to the trait of honesty. If a leader tells someone that “next year I’m going to make you manager of your own division”, that may be a promise they can’t keep. The leader is probably basing this promotion on the organization meeting financial goals, but the individual will only hear the personal promise.
An organization I was working with was floundering. It seemed like everyone had a different idea about what they were trying to achieve. Each department head was headed in a different direction and there was very little synergy as small fiefdoms and internal politics took their toll.
Eventually a consulting firm was called in to help fix the problem. They analyzed the situation, talked to customers, talked to employees and set up a meeting with the CEO. They were going to ask him about his vision for the future. The employees were excited that finally there would be a report stating the direction for the organization.
After the meeting, the consultants came out shaking their heads. The employees asked how the important question had gone to which the consultants replied, “we asked him, but you aren’t going to like the answer”. The CEO had told the consultant that, while he had a vision and plan for the future, he wasn’t going to share it with anyone because he didn’t want there to be any disappointment if the goals were not reached.
Leaders can communicate their goals and vision for the future without making promises that they may not be able to keep. If a leader needs to make a promise to an individual, it should be tied to certain measurable objectives being met. The CEO in the example didn’t realize how much damage he was doing by not demonstrating the trait of being forward-looking by communicating his vision with the organization.
The CEO was forward-looking. He had a plan and a vision and he spent a lot of time thinking about where the organization was headed. However, his fear of communicating these things to the rest of the organization hampered his leadership potential.
Competency as a Leadership Quality
People want to follow someone who is competent. This doesn’t mean a leader needs to be the foremost expert on every area of the entire organization, but they need to be able to demonstrate competency.
For a leader to demonstrate that they are competent, it isn’t enough to just avoid displaying incompetency. Some people will assume you are competent because of your leadership position, but most will have to see demonstrations before deciding that you are competent.
When people under your leadership look at some action you have taken and think, “that just goes to show why he is the one in charge”, you are demonstrating competency. If these moments are infrequent, it is likely that some demonstrations of competency will help boost your leadership influence.
Like the other traits, it isn’t enough for a leader to be competent. They must demonstrate competency in a way that people notice. This can be a delicate balance. There is a danger of drawing too much attention to yourself in a way that makes the leader seem arrogant. Another potential danger is that of minimizing others contributions and appearing to take credit for the work of others.
As a leader, one of the safest ways to “toot you own horn without blowing it”, is to celebrate and bring attention to team achievements. In this way you indirectly point out your competency as a leader. For example: “Last year I set a goal of reaching $12 million in sales and, thanks to everyone’s hard word, as of today, we have reached $13.5 million.”
Inspiration as a Leadership Trait
People want to be inspired. In fact, there is a whole class of people who will follow an inspiring leader–even when the leader has no other qualities. If you have developed the other traits in this article, being inspiring is usually just a matter of communicating clearly and with passion. Being inspiring means telling people how your organization is going to change the world.
A great example of inspiration is when Steve Jobs stole the CEO from Pepsi by asking him, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?” Being inspiring means showing people the big picture and helping them see beyond a narrow focus and understand how their part fits into the big picture.
One technique to develop your ability to inspire is telling stories. Stories can be examples from your customers, fictitious examples from your customers, or even historical fables and myths. Stories can help you vividly illustrate what you are trying to communicate. Stories that communicate on an emotional level help communicate deeper than words and leave an imprint much stronger than anything you can achieve through a simple stating of the facts.
Learning to be inspiring is not easy–particularly for individuals lacking in charisma. It can be learned. Take note of people who inspire you and analyze the way they communicate. Look for ways to passionately express your vision. While there will always be room for improvement, a small investment in effort and awareness will give you a significant improvement in this leadership trait.
Intelligence as a Leadership Trait
Intelligence is something that can be difficult to develop. The road toward becoming more intelligent is difficult, long and can’t be completed without investing considerable time. Developing intelligence is a lifestyle choice. Your college graduation was the beginning of your education, not the end. In fact, much of what is taught in college functions merely as a foundational language for lifelong educational experiences.
To develop intelligence you need to commit to continual learning–both formally and informally. With modern advances in distance, education it is easy to take a class or two each year from well respected professors in the evening at your computer.
Informally, you can develop a great deal of intelligence in any field simply by investing a reasonable amount of time to reading on a daily basis. The fact is that most people won’t make a regular investment in their education. Spending 30 minutes of focused reading every day will give you 182 hours of study time each year.
For the most part, people will notice if you are intelligent by observing your behavior and attitude. Trying to display your intelligence is likely to be counterproductive. One of the greatest signs of someone who is truly intelligent is humility. The greater your education, the greater your understanding of how little we really understand.
You can demonstrate your intelligence by gently leading people toward understanding–even when you know the answer. Your focus needs to be on helping others learn–not demonstrating how smart you are. Arrogance will put you in a position where people are secretly hopeful that you’ll make a mistake and appear foolish.
As unintuitive as it may seem, one of the best ways to exhibit intelligence is by asking questions. Learning from the people you lead by asking intelligent thoughtful questions will do more to enhance your intelligence credibility than just about anything. Of course this means you need to be capable of asking intelligent questions.
Everyone considers themselves intelligent. If you ask them to explain parts of their area of expertise and spend the time to really understand (as demonstrated by asking questions), their opinion of your intelligence will go up. After all, you now know more about what makes them so intelligent, so you must be smart as well. Your ability to demonstrate respect for the intellect of others will probably do more to influence the perception of your intellect than your actual intelligence.
Summary of the Five Leadership Qualities
By consciously making an effort to exhibit these traits, people will be more likely to follow you. These are the most important traits that people look for in their leaders. By exhibiting them on a regular basis, you will be able to grow your influence to its potential as a leader.
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
leadership qualities
leadership traits
leadership
leadership characteristics
QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP
traits of a leader
characteristics of a leader
traits of leadership
leadership quality
leader qualities
The five leadership traits/leadership qualities are:
Honest
Forward-Looking
Competent
Inspiring
Intelligent
These five qualities come from Kouzes and Posner’s research into leadership that was done for the book The Leadership Challenge.
Your skill at exhibiting these five leadership qualities is strongly correlated with people’s desire to follow your lead. Exhibiting these traits will inspire confidence in your leadership. Not exhibiting these traits or exhibiting the opposite of these traits will decrease your leadership influence with those around you.
It is important to exhibit, model and display these traits. Simply possessing each trait is not enough; you have to display it in a way that people notice. People want to see that you actively demonstrate these leadership qualities and will not just assume that you have them. It isn’t enough to just be neutral. For example, just because you are not dishonest will not cause people to recognize that you are honest. Just avoiding displays of incompetence won’t inspire the same confidence as truly displaying competence.
The focus of each of these five traits needs to be on what people see you do–not just the things they don’t see you do. Being honest isn’t a matter of not lying–it is taking the extra effort to display honesty.
Honesty as a Leadership Quality
People want to follow an honest leader. Years ago, many employees started out by assuming that their leadership was honest simply because the authority of their position. With modern scandals, this is no longer true.
When you start a leadership position, you need to assume that people will think you are a little dishonest. In order to be seen as an honest individual, you will have to go out of your way to display honesty. People will not assume you are honest simply because you have never been caught lying.
One of the most frequent places where leaders miss an opportunity to display honesty is in handling mistakes. Much of a leader’s job is to try new things and refine the ideas that don’t work. However, many leaders want to avoid failure to the extent that they don’t admit when something did not work.
There was a medium size organization that was attempting to move to a less centralized structure. Instead of one location serving an entire city, they wanted to put smaller offices throughout the entire metro area. At the same time, they were planning an expansion for headquarters to accommodate more customers at the main site. The smaller remote offices was heralded as a way to reach more customers at a lower cost and cover more demographic areas.
After spending a considerable amount of money on a satellite location, it became clear that the cost structure would not support a separate smaller office. As the construction completed on the expanded headquarters building, the smaller office was closed. This was good decision making. The smaller offices seemed like a good idea, but when the advantages didn’t materialize (due to poor management or incorrect assumptions) it made sense to abandon the model. This was a chance for the leadership to display honesty with the employees, be candid about why things didn’t work out as expected, learn from the mistakes an move on.
Unfortunately in this situation the leadership told employees that they had planned on closing the satellite location all along and it was just a temporary measure until construction was completed on the larger headquarters building. While this wasn’t necessarily true, it didn’t quite cross over into the area of lying. Within a few months the situation was mostly forgotten and everyone moved on. Few of the employees felt that leadership was being dishonest. However, they had passed up a marvelous opportunity to display the trait of honesty in admitting a mistake.
Opportunities to display honesty on a large scale may not happen every day. As a leader, showing people that you are honest even when it means admitting to a mistake, displays a key trait that people are looking for in their leaders. By demonstrating honesty with yourself, with your organization and with outside organizations, you will increase your leadership influence. People will trust someone who actively displays honesty–not just as an honest individual, but as someone who is worth following.
Forward-Looking as a Leadership Trait
The whole point of leadership is figuring out where to go from where you are now. While you may know where you want to go, people won’t see that unless you actively communicate it with them. Remember, these traits aren’t just things you need to have, they are things you need to actively display to those around you.
When people do not consider their leader forward-looking, that leader is usually suffering from one of two possible problems:
The leader doesn’t have a forward-looking vision.
The leader is unwilling or scared to share the vision with others.
When a leader doesn’t have a vision for the future, it usually because they are spending so much time on today, that they haven’t really thought about tomorrow. On a very simplistic level this can be solved simply by setting aside some time for planning, strategizing and thinking about the future.
Many times when a leader has no time to think and plan for the future, it is because they are doing a poor job of leading in the present. They have created an organization and systems that rely too much on the leader for input at every stage.
Some leaders have a clear vision, but don’t wish to share it with others. Most of the time they are concerned that they will lose credibility if they share a vision of the future that doesn’t come about. This is a legitimate concern. However, people need to know that a leader has a strong vision for the future and a strong plan for going forward. Leaders run into trouble sharing their vision of the future when they start making promises to individuals. This goes back to the trait of honesty. If a leader tells someone that “next year I’m going to make you manager of your own division”, that may be a promise they can’t keep. The leader is probably basing this promotion on the organization meeting financial goals, but the individual will only hear the personal promise.
An organization I was working with was floundering. It seemed like everyone had a different idea about what they were trying to achieve. Each department head was headed in a different direction and there was very little synergy as small fiefdoms and internal politics took their toll.
Eventually a consulting firm was called in to help fix the problem. They analyzed the situation, talked to customers, talked to employees and set up a meeting with the CEO. They were going to ask him about his vision for the future. The employees were excited that finally there would be a report stating the direction for the organization.
After the meeting, the consultants came out shaking their heads. The employees asked how the important question had gone to which the consultants replied, “we asked him, but you aren’t going to like the answer”. The CEO had told the consultant that, while he had a vision and plan for the future, he wasn’t going to share it with anyone because he didn’t want there to be any disappointment if the goals were not reached.
Leaders can communicate their goals and vision for the future without making promises that they may not be able to keep. If a leader needs to make a promise to an individual, it should be tied to certain measurable objectives being met. The CEO in the example didn’t realize how much damage he was doing by not demonstrating the trait of being forward-looking by communicating his vision with the organization.
The CEO was forward-looking. He had a plan and a vision and he spent a lot of time thinking about where the organization was headed. However, his fear of communicating these things to the rest of the organization hampered his leadership potential.
Competency as a Leadership Quality
People want to follow someone who is competent. This doesn’t mean a leader needs to be the foremost expert on every area of the entire organization, but they need to be able to demonstrate competency.
For a leader to demonstrate that they are competent, it isn’t enough to just avoid displaying incompetency. Some people will assume you are competent because of your leadership position, but most will have to see demonstrations before deciding that you are competent.
When people under your leadership look at some action you have taken and think, “that just goes to show why he is the one in charge”, you are demonstrating competency. If these moments are infrequent, it is likely that some demonstrations of competency will help boost your leadership influence.
Like the other traits, it isn’t enough for a leader to be competent. They must demonstrate competency in a way that people notice. This can be a delicate balance. There is a danger of drawing too much attention to yourself in a way that makes the leader seem arrogant. Another potential danger is that of minimizing others contributions and appearing to take credit for the work of others.
As a leader, one of the safest ways to “toot you own horn without blowing it”, is to celebrate and bring attention to team achievements. In this way you indirectly point out your competency as a leader. For example: “Last year I set a goal of reaching $12 million in sales and, thanks to everyone’s hard word, as of today, we have reached $13.5 million.”
Inspiration as a Leadership Trait
People want to be inspired. In fact, there is a whole class of people who will follow an inspiring leader–even when the leader has no other qualities. If you have developed the other traits in this article, being inspiring is usually just a matter of communicating clearly and with passion. Being inspiring means telling people how your organization is going to change the world.
A great example of inspiration is when Steve Jobs stole the CEO from Pepsi by asking him, “Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?” Being inspiring means showing people the big picture and helping them see beyond a narrow focus and understand how their part fits into the big picture.
One technique to develop your ability to inspire is telling stories. Stories can be examples from your customers, fictitious examples from your customers, or even historical fables and myths. Stories can help you vividly illustrate what you are trying to communicate. Stories that communicate on an emotional level help communicate deeper than words and leave an imprint much stronger than anything you can achieve through a simple stating of the facts.
Learning to be inspiring is not easy–particularly for individuals lacking in charisma. It can be learned. Take note of people who inspire you and analyze the way they communicate. Look for ways to passionately express your vision. While there will always be room for improvement, a small investment in effort and awareness will give you a significant improvement in this leadership trait.
Intelligence as a Leadership Trait
Intelligence is something that can be difficult to develop. The road toward becoming more intelligent is difficult, long and can’t be completed without investing considerable time. Developing intelligence is a lifestyle choice. Your college graduation was the beginning of your education, not the end. In fact, much of what is taught in college functions merely as a foundational language for lifelong educational experiences.
To develop intelligence you need to commit to continual learning–both formally and informally. With modern advances in distance, education it is easy to take a class or two each year from well respected professors in the evening at your computer.
Informally, you can develop a great deal of intelligence in any field simply by investing a reasonable amount of time to reading on a daily basis. The fact is that most people won’t make a regular investment in their education. Spending 30 minutes of focused reading every day will give you 182 hours of study time each year.
For the most part, people will notice if you are intelligent by observing your behavior and attitude. Trying to display your intelligence is likely to be counterproductive. One of the greatest signs of someone who is truly intelligent is humility. The greater your education, the greater your understanding of how little we really understand.
You can demonstrate your intelligence by gently leading people toward understanding–even when you know the answer. Your focus needs to be on helping others learn–not demonstrating how smart you are. Arrogance will put you in a position where people are secretly hopeful that you’ll make a mistake and appear foolish.
As unintuitive as it may seem, one of the best ways to exhibit intelligence is by asking questions. Learning from the people you lead by asking intelligent thoughtful questions will do more to enhance your intelligence credibility than just about anything. Of course this means you need to be capable of asking intelligent questions.
Everyone considers themselves intelligent. If you ask them to explain parts of their area of expertise and spend the time to really understand (as demonstrated by asking questions), their opinion of your intelligence will go up. After all, you now know more about what makes them so intelligent, so you must be smart as well. Your ability to demonstrate respect for the intellect of others will probably do more to influence the perception of your intellect than your actual intelligence.
Summary of the Five Leadership Qualities
By consciously making an effort to exhibit these traits, people will be more likely to follow you. These are the most important traits that people look for in their leaders. By exhibiting them on a regular basis, you will be able to grow your influence to its potential as a leader.
by MARK.SHEAD
Terms referencing this article:
leadership qualities
leadership traits
leadership
leadership characteristics
QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP
traits of a leader
characteristics of a leader
traits of leadership
leadership quality
leader qualities
Concepts of Leadership
I used to think that running an organization was equivalent to conducting a symphony orchestra. But I don't think that's quite it; it's more like jazz. There is more improvisation. — Warren Bennis
Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience (Jago, 1982). This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your workers into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are acquired through continual work and study. Good leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills; they are NOT resting on their laurels.
Definition of Leadership
The meaning of a message is the change which it produces in the image. — Kenneth Boulding in The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society
Before we get started, lets define leadership. Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. This definition is similar to Northouse's (2007, p3) definition — Leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.
Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership knowledge and skills. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, 1982). However, we know that we have traits that can influence our actions. This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart below (Northouse, 2007, p5):
While leadership is learned, the skills and knowledge processed by the leader can be influenced by his or hers attributes or traits, such as beliefs, values, ethics, and character. Knowledge and skills contribute directly to the process of leadership, while the other attributes give the leader certain characteristics that make him or her unique.
Skills, knowledge, and attributes make the Leader, which is one of the:
Four Factors of Leadership
There are four major factors in leadership (U.S. Army, 1983):
Leader
You must have an honest understanding of who you are, what you know, and what you can do. Also, note that it is the followers, not the leader or someone else who determines if the leader is successful. If they do not trust or lack confidence in their leader, then they will be uninspired. To be successful you have to convince your followers, not yourself or your superiors, that you are worthy of being followed.
Followers
Different people require different styles of leadership. For example, a new hire requires more supervision than an experienced employee. A person who lacks motivation requires a different approach than one with a high degree of motivation. You must know your people! The fundamental starting point is having a good understanding of human nature, such as needs, emotions, and motivation. You must come to know your employees' be, know, and do attributes.
Communication
You lead through two-way communication. Much of it is nonverbal. For instance, when you “set the example,” that communicates to your people that you would not ask them to perform anything that you would not be willing to do. What and how you communicate either builds or harms the relationship between you and your employees.
Situation
All situations are different. What you do in one situation will not always work in another. You must use your judgment to decide the best course of action and the leadership style needed for each situation. For example, you may need to confront an employee for inappropriate behavior, but if the confrontation is too late or too early, too harsh or too weak, then the results may prove ineffective.
Also note that the situation normally has a greater effect on a leader's action than his or her traits. This is because while traits may have an impressive stability over a period of time, they have little consistency across situations (Mischel, 1968). This is why a number of leadership scholars think the Process Theory of Leadership is a more accurate than the Trait Theory of Leadership.
Various forces will affect these four factors. Examples of forces are your relationship with your seniors, the skill of your followers, the informal leaders within your organization, and how your organization is organized.
Boss or Leader?
Although your position as a manager, supervisor, lead, etc. gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization (called Assigned Leadership), this power does not make you a leader, it simply makes you the boss (Rowe, 2007). Leadership differs in that it makes the followers want to achieve high goals (called Emergent Leadership), rather than simply bossing people around (Rowe, 2007). Thus you get Assigned Leadership by your position and you display Emergent Leadership by influencing people to do great things.
Bass' Theory of Leadership
Bass' theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people. These theories are:
Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory.
A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory.
People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based.
Total Leadership
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
When a person is deciding if she respects you as a leader, she does not think about your attributes, rather, she observes what you do so that she can know who you really are. She uses this observation to tell if you are an honorable and trusted leader or a self-serving person who misuses authority to look good and get promoted. Self-serving leaders are not as effective because their employees only obey them, not follow them. They succeed in many areas because they present a good image to their seniors at the expense of their workers.
Be Know Do
The basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to your organization. In your employees' eyes, your leadership is everything you do that effects the organization's objectives and their well-being. Respected leaders concentrate on (U.S. Army, 1983):
what they are [be] (such as beliefs and character)
what they know (such as job, tasks, and human nature)
what they do (such as implementing, motivating, and providing direction).
What makes a person want to follow a leader? People want to be guided by those they respect and who have a clear sense of direction. To gain respect, they must be ethical. A sense of direction is achieved by conveying a strong vision of the future.
The Two Most Important Keys to Effective Leadership
According to a study by the Hay Group, a global management consultancy, there are 75 key components of employee satisfaction (Lamb, McKee, 2004). They found that:
Trust and confidence in top leadership was the single most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction in an organization.
Effective communication by leadership in three critical areas was the key to winning organizational trust and confidence:
Helping employees understand the company's overall business strategy.
Helping employees understand how they contribute to achieving key business objectives.
Sharing information with employees on both how the company is doing and how an employee's own division is doing — relative to strategic business objectives.
So in a nutshell — you must be trustworthy and you have to be able to communicate a vision of where the organization needs to go. The next section, Principles of Leadership, ties in closely with this key concept.
Principles of Leadership
To help you be, know, and do, follow these eleven principles of leadership (U.S. Army, 1983). The later chapters in this Leadership guide expand on these principles and provide tools for implementing them:
Know yourself and seek self-improvement - In order to know yourself, you have to understand your be, know, and do, attributes. Seeking self-improvement means continually strengthening your attributes. This can be accomplished through self-study, formal classes, reflection, and interacting with others.
Be technically proficient - As a leader, you must know your job and have a solid familiarity with your employees' tasks.
Seek responsibility and take responsibility for your actions - Search for ways to guide your organization to new heights. And when things go wrong, they always do sooner or later — do not blame others. Analyze the situation, take corrective action, and move on to the next challenge.
Make sound and timely decisions - Use good problem solving, decision making, and planning tools.
Set the example - Be a good role model for your employees. They must not only hear what they are expected to do, but also see. We must become the change we want to see - Mahatma Gandhi
Know your people and look out for their well-being - Know human nature and the importance of sincerely caring for your workers.
Keep your workers informed - Know how to communicate with not only them, but also seniors and other key people.
Develop a sense of responsibility in your workers - Help to develop good character traits that will help them carry out their professional responsibilities.
Ensure that tasks are understood, supervised, and accomplished - Communication is the key to this responsibility.
Train as a team - Although many so called leaders call their organization, department, section, etc. a team; they are not really teams...they are just a group of people doing their jobs.
Use the full capabilities of your organization - By developing a team spirit, you will be able to employ your organization, department, section, etc. to its fullest capabilities.
Attributes of Leadership
If you are a leader who can be trusted, then those around you will grow to respect you. To be such a leader, there is a Leadership Framework to guide you:
BE KNOW DO
BE a professional. Examples: Be loyal to the organization, perform selfless service, take personal responsibility.
BE a professional who possess good character traits. Examples: Honesty, competence, candor, commitment, integrity, courage, straightforwardness, imagination.
KNOW the four factors of leadership — follower, leader, communication, situation.
KNOW yourself. Examples: strengths and weakness of your character, knowledge, and skills.
KNOW human nature. Examples: Human needs, emotions, and how people respond to stress.
KNOW your job. Examples: be proficient and be able to train others in their tasks.
KNOW your organization. Examples: where to go for help, its climate and culture, who the unofficial leaders are.
DO provide direction. Examples: goal setting, problem solving, decision making, planning.
DO implement. Examples: communicating, coordinating, supervising, evaluating.
DO motivate. Examples: develop morale and esprit de corps in the organization, train, coach, counsel.
Environment
Every organization has a particular work environment, which dictates to a considerable degree how its leaders respond to problems and opportunities. This is brought about by its heritage of past leaders and its present leaders.
Goals, Values, and Concepts
Leaders exert influence on the environment via three types of actions:
The goals and performance standards they establish.
The values they establish for the organization.
The business and people concepts they establish.
Successful organizations have leaders who set high standards and goals across the entire spectrum, such as strategies, market leadership, plans, meetings and presentations, productivity, quality, and reliability.
Values reflect the concern the organization has for its employees, customers, investors, vendors, and surrounding community. These values define the manner in how business will be conducted.
Concepts define what products or services the organization will offer and the methods and processes for conducting business.
These goals, values, and concepts make up the organization's personality or how the organization is observed by both outsiders and insiders. This personality defines the roles, relationships, rewards, and rites that take place.
Roles ad Relationships
Roles are the positions that are defined by a set of expectations about behavior of any job incumbent. Each role has a set of tasks and responsibilities that may or may not be spelled out. Roles have a powerful effect on behavior for several reasons, to include money being paid for the performance of the role, there is prestige attached to a role, and a sense of accomplishment or challenge.
Relationships are determined by a role's tasks. While some tasks are performed alone, most are carried out in relationship with others. The tasks will determine who the role-holder is required to interact with, how often, and towards what end. Also, normally the greater the interaction, the greater the liking. This in turn leads to more frequent interaction. In human behavior, its hard to like someone whom we have no contact with, and we tend to seek out those we like. People tend to do what they are rewarded for, and friendship is a powerful reward. Many tasks and behaviors that are associated with a role are brought about by these relationships. That is, new task and behaviors are expected of the present role-holder because a strong relationship was developed in the past, either by that role-holder or a prior role-holder.
Culture and Climate
There are two distinct forces that dictate how to act within an organization: culture and climate.
Each organization has its own distinctive culture. It is a combination of the founders, past leadership, current leadership, crises, events, history, and size (Newstrom, Davis, 1993). This results in rites: the routines, rituals, and the “way we do things.” These rites impact individual behavior on what it takes to be in good standing (the norm) and directs the appropriate behavior for each circumstance.
The climate is the feel of the organization, the individual and shared perceptions and attitudes of the organization's members (Ivancevich, Konopaske, Matteson, 2007). While the culture is the deeply rooted nature of the organization that is a result of long-held formal and informal systems, rules, traditions, and customs; climate is a short-term phenomenon created by the current leadership. Climate represents the beliefs about the “feel of the organization” by its members. This individual perception of the “feel of the organization” comes from what the people believe about the activities that occur in the organization. These activities influence both individual and team motivation and satisfaction, such as:
How well does the leader clarify the priorities and goals of the organization? What is expected of us?
What is the system of recognition, rewards, and punishments in the organization?
How competent are the leaders?
Are leaders free to make decisions?
What will happen if I make a mistake?
Organizational climate is directly related to the leadership and management style of the leader, based on the values, attributes, skills, and actions, as well as the priorities of the leader. Compare this to “ethical climate” — the feel of the organization about the activities that have ethical content or those aspects of the work environment that constitute ethical behavior. The ethical climate is the feel about whether we do things right; or the feel of whether we behave the way we ought to behave. The behavior (character) of the leader is the most important factor that impacts the climate.
On the other hand, culture is a long-term, complex phenomenon. Culture represents the shared expectations and self-image of the organization. The mature values that create tradition or the “way we do things here.” Things are done differently in every organization. The collective vision and common folklore that define the institution are a reflection of culture. Individual leaders, cannot easily create or change culture because culture is a part of the organization. Culture influences the characteristics of the climate by its effect on the actions and thought processes of the leader. But, everything you do as a leader will affect the climate of the organization.
For information on culture, see Long-Term Short-Term Orientation
The Process of Great Leadership
The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders:
Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most.
Inspire a shared vision - Next, share your vision in words that can be understood by your followers.
Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem.
Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do, a leader shows that it can be done.
Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' hearts, while keeping the pains within your own.
Next Steps
Go to the next chapter: Leadership Models
Return to the main Leadership Site
Perform a Leadership Activity:
Leadership Self-Assessment Survey (short version)
Leadership Self-Assessment Survey (long version)
Culture and Climate
References
Bass, Bernard (1990). From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18, (3), Winter, 1990, 19-31.
Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., Matteson, M. (2007). Organizational Behavior and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Jago, A. G. (1982). Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science, 28(3), 315-336.
Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. (1987). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Lamb, L. F., McKee, K. B. (2004). Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Routledge.
Mischel, W. 1968. Personality and Assessment . New York: Wiley.
Newstrom, J. & Davis, K. (1993). Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at Work. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Northouse, G. (2007). Leadership theory and practice. (3rd ed.) Thousand Oak, London, New Delhe, Sage Publications, Inc.
Rowe, W. G. (2007). Cases in Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Stogdill, R. M.(1989). Stogdill's Handbook of Leadership: A Survey of Theory and Research. Bass, B. (ed.) New York: Free Press.
U.S. Army. (October 1983). Military Leadership (FM 22-100). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Leadership Today
Peter F Drucker once said “Leaders grow, they are not made”
Leadership today has become a very multi meaning term. Professionals from various disciplines have defined ‘Leadership’ in different ways. Paradigm shifts in the cultures of organisations and the consistent parallel and horizontal development of companies have raised the need to look at leadership in a new angle.
A strong company is the one that has leaders spread all across the company, not just at the top. The business world today needs both good leaders and good managers. However, because of the rapid change occurring in the industry today, a company needs far more leaders, not more managers.
Time after time again, businesses put the wrong person in charge. Unintentionally, they reward a "don't rock the boat" mentality. Conformity and status quo are the first steps leading down the staircase of a business disaster. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.
As correctly quoted by Ray Croc “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves”. Effective leadership arises out of groups, organisations and communities that have built trust, and learned to collaborate and make decisions and solve problems constructively.
Let’s view a few examples. The Tata Group one of India's oldest, largest and most respected business conglomerates started in the 1870s & having businesses spread over seven business sectors, comprise of 91 companies with operations in six continents. It employs some 220,000 people and collectively has a shareholder base of over two million world over. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the group remained cohesive, congenial, and mercifully alive—a fact that speaks not just to luck but to an unparalleled feat in leadership, a ‘Leadership of Trust’ as they love to address themselves. This ‘leadership of trust’, the years they call a ‘Century of Trust’, was set on five core values: integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and responsibility. These values, which have been part of the Group's beliefs and convictions from its earliest days, continue to guide and drive the business decisions of Tata companies even today.
True leadership is about taking people to a place they wouldn't go to by themselves. Good leaders don't merely supervise; they create a sense of purpose and direction for those they lead.
Organizations can only build great leaders in an environment that nurtures and supports that development. If they don’t have such an environment, they need to change their culture to create one. But organizations cannot change their culture without good leadership.
This was the catch-22 facing the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, otherwise known as TACOM, when Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson assumed command there in October 2001. TACOM has 14,000 employees, primarily civilians, at 78 locations worldwide, which made it comparable to a midsize international corporation. Gen. Thompson set out to create that nurturing, supportive culture within TACOM. “We also knew many important elements of leadership,” he says. Thompson (with advice and assistance from Tampa, Fla.-based performance management firm Achieve Global) is building on that foundation, and creating a place where leaders can grow. The three simple principles he learnt during his undergraduate days helped him nurture and grow leadership at TACOM. These were 1) Do what’s right — legally and morally — every day. 2) Do the best you can at all times. 3) Treat others as you would have them treat you. He feels that if one can define one’s own leadership vision, and communicate it daily through actions and speech to one’s colleagues, that’s how one shall demonstrate his commitment to leadership development.”
Leaders need to "be present" and being literally; physically present is the fundamental meaning of that term. We're always surprised at how many leaders we encounter who spend most their time in their offices or on "executive row."
They seldom show themselves to those they lead. It has been over twenty years that the groundbreaking book ‘In Search of Excellence’ pointed out the virtues of "Management by Walking Around." Mayor Giuliani certainly demonstrated the wisdom of that practice.
But being present means more than just physical presence, important as that is. It means being present in the moment - focused totally and completely on what is happening right here and right now. It means, when you're with people, giving them your full attention, so that they will feel recognized and motivated. When you're not present to the people you lead, it weakens their willingness to commit.
Being present also means being flexible, able to deal spontaneously with rapid change. Think of being present as a focused but flexible dance with the world in which the leader can instantly change step or tempo as the music changes.
A crucial aspect of this kind of leadership became crystal clear when on September 11, 2001, as all of us watched the unfolding tragedy on television. It was comforting to see Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York on the scene. His simple presence and concern gave the much sought after reassurance to the country. In contrast, everyone wondered about the President. Was he all right? Where was he? His absence left a void. Though for no fault of his own, President Bush was missing for most of the terrible day. Believing with good reason that the President was in danger, the Secret Service put him on Air Force One to take him out of harm's way. Unfortunately, the effect was to remove him from public view when the country desperately needed his visible presence.
Good leadership is also instrumental in avoiding employee burnout and reducing staff turnover. James Bradley lately pointed out that “Burnout is no longer the acknowledged domain of the highly pressured lawyer or doctor, but a condition that can hit anyone at any time in their career if they are faced with high productivity expectations in a hostile and unsupportive environment”. The key then, is a business philosophy that values its people and invests to nourish and support development through professional training, coaching and mentoring. Problems only arise when this is not set in place as a positive encouraging mechanism, but instead is used as a whip by ill-equipped management. It needs to inspire people, raise morale and restore a sense of purpose and self-worth, naturally leading to best performance.
As Natalie Calvert, MD, Calcom Group points out “Positivity and optimism in the workplace encourage tolerance and balanced judgement, and inspirational leadership enables access to those positive qualities that build our self-respect and contentment - the ultimate preventative medicine for burnout”.
Thus, the ‘leader today’ requires to stick to certain must do’s in order to be effective, successful and sustaining in this ever changing corporate governance. These essentials can be listed as:-
01. Being there.
02. Always remember, Communication is the key.
03. Instilling optimism while staying grounded to reality.
04. Tell the hard truths.
05. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.
06. Master conflict. Deal with anger in small doses and engage dissidents.
07. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.
08. Reinforce the team message constantly.
09. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
10. Have the courage to take big risks, and more.
11. Foster a spirit of tenacious creativity. Never give up—there’s always another move.
Author: Prof. Susen Varghese
Leadership today has become a very multi meaning term. Professionals from various disciplines have defined ‘Leadership’ in different ways. Paradigm shifts in the cultures of organisations and the consistent parallel and horizontal development of companies have raised the need to look at leadership in a new angle.
A strong company is the one that has leaders spread all across the company, not just at the top. The business world today needs both good leaders and good managers. However, because of the rapid change occurring in the industry today, a company needs far more leaders, not more managers.
Time after time again, businesses put the wrong person in charge. Unintentionally, they reward a "don't rock the boat" mentality. Conformity and status quo are the first steps leading down the staircase of a business disaster. Good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.
As correctly quoted by Ray Croc “The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves”. Effective leadership arises out of groups, organisations and communities that have built trust, and learned to collaborate and make decisions and solve problems constructively.
Let’s view a few examples. The Tata Group one of India's oldest, largest and most respected business conglomerates started in the 1870s & having businesses spread over seven business sectors, comprise of 91 companies with operations in six continents. It employs some 220,000 people and collectively has a shareholder base of over two million world over. Despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the group remained cohesive, congenial, and mercifully alive—a fact that speaks not just to luck but to an unparalleled feat in leadership, a ‘Leadership of Trust’ as they love to address themselves. This ‘leadership of trust’, the years they call a ‘Century of Trust’, was set on five core values: integrity, understanding, excellence, unity and responsibility. These values, which have been part of the Group's beliefs and convictions from its earliest days, continue to guide and drive the business decisions of Tata companies even today.
True leadership is about taking people to a place they wouldn't go to by themselves. Good leaders don't merely supervise; they create a sense of purpose and direction for those they lead.
Organizations can only build great leaders in an environment that nurtures and supports that development. If they don’t have such an environment, they need to change their culture to create one. But organizations cannot change their culture without good leadership.
This was the catch-22 facing the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, otherwise known as TACOM, when Maj. Gen. Ross Thompson assumed command there in October 2001. TACOM has 14,000 employees, primarily civilians, at 78 locations worldwide, which made it comparable to a midsize international corporation. Gen. Thompson set out to create that nurturing, supportive culture within TACOM. “We also knew many important elements of leadership,” he says. Thompson (with advice and assistance from Tampa, Fla.-based performance management firm Achieve Global) is building on that foundation, and creating a place where leaders can grow. The three simple principles he learnt during his undergraduate days helped him nurture and grow leadership at TACOM. These were 1) Do what’s right — legally and morally — every day. 2) Do the best you can at all times. 3) Treat others as you would have them treat you. He feels that if one can define one’s own leadership vision, and communicate it daily through actions and speech to one’s colleagues, that’s how one shall demonstrate his commitment to leadership development.”
Leaders need to "be present" and being literally; physically present is the fundamental meaning of that term. We're always surprised at how many leaders we encounter who spend most their time in their offices or on "executive row."
They seldom show themselves to those they lead. It has been over twenty years that the groundbreaking book ‘In Search of Excellence’ pointed out the virtues of "Management by Walking Around." Mayor Giuliani certainly demonstrated the wisdom of that practice.
But being present means more than just physical presence, important as that is. It means being present in the moment - focused totally and completely on what is happening right here and right now. It means, when you're with people, giving them your full attention, so that they will feel recognized and motivated. When you're not present to the people you lead, it weakens their willingness to commit.
Being present also means being flexible, able to deal spontaneously with rapid change. Think of being present as a focused but flexible dance with the world in which the leader can instantly change step or tempo as the music changes.
A crucial aspect of this kind of leadership became crystal clear when on September 11, 2001, as all of us watched the unfolding tragedy on television. It was comforting to see Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York on the scene. His simple presence and concern gave the much sought after reassurance to the country. In contrast, everyone wondered about the President. Was he all right? Where was he? His absence left a void. Though for no fault of his own, President Bush was missing for most of the terrible day. Believing with good reason that the President was in danger, the Secret Service put him on Air Force One to take him out of harm's way. Unfortunately, the effect was to remove him from public view when the country desperately needed his visible presence.
Good leadership is also instrumental in avoiding employee burnout and reducing staff turnover. James Bradley lately pointed out that “Burnout is no longer the acknowledged domain of the highly pressured lawyer or doctor, but a condition that can hit anyone at any time in their career if they are faced with high productivity expectations in a hostile and unsupportive environment”. The key then, is a business philosophy that values its people and invests to nourish and support development through professional training, coaching and mentoring. Problems only arise when this is not set in place as a positive encouraging mechanism, but instead is used as a whip by ill-equipped management. It needs to inspire people, raise morale and restore a sense of purpose and self-worth, naturally leading to best performance.
As Natalie Calvert, MD, Calcom Group points out “Positivity and optimism in the workplace encourage tolerance and balanced judgement, and inspirational leadership enables access to those positive qualities that build our self-respect and contentment - the ultimate preventative medicine for burnout”.
Thus, the ‘leader today’ requires to stick to certain must do’s in order to be effective, successful and sustaining in this ever changing corporate governance. These essentials can be listed as:-
01. Being there.
02. Always remember, Communication is the key.
03. Instilling optimism while staying grounded to reality.
04. Tell the hard truths.
05. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect.
06. Master conflict. Deal with anger in small doses and engage dissidents.
07. Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt.
08. Reinforce the team message constantly.
09. Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about.
10. Have the courage to take big risks, and more.
11. Foster a spirit of tenacious creativity. Never give up—there’s always another move.
Author: Prof. Susen Varghese
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