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What makes a leader and what is leadershp
1. John Maxwell frequently references this wisdom: “If you
think you're leading and no one is following you, then
you're only taking a walk.”
Michael Maccoby’s three word definition of a leader is
“someone people follow”. i
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2. Obviously, more is entailedii
than Maccoby’s short definition. That “more”
ranges from the six personal qualitiesiii
identified by Warren Bennis, the six
leadership passages identified by Ram Charaniv
, the six extras that build power
and organizational leadership identified by Rosabeth Moss Kanterv
, to
concerns about charactervi
. Though answers abound, here are two of my most
recent favorite definitions: “Leadership [is] creating the conditions in
organizational systems so that people can do their best workvii” and ”Leaders
define or clarify goals for a group, which can be as small as a seminar or as
large as a nation-state and mobilize the energies of members of the group to
pursue those goalsviii.” In addition, there are at least three imperatives for
becoming a great leader: “managing yourself, managing your network, and
managing your teamix.”
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3. Short definitions of leadership include “problem solving is the core of
leadership” and “the art of accomplishing more than the science of
management says is possiblex.” Obviously, more is also entailed. For example
John Kotter reminds us that leadership “is about coping with changexi”, about
“motivating and inspiring---keeping people moving in the right direction,
despite major obstacles to change…xii”; a leader must have vision (the ability
to see ahead and what is coming), a sense of direction (including where you
are and how much farther you need to go to successfully arrive at a specific
end destination or goal) and change management skills.
3
4. Leadership
“Leadership [is] creating the conditions in organizational systems so that
people can do their best work.”
”Leaders define or clarify goals for a group, which can be as small as a seminar
or as large as a nation-state and mobilize the energies of members of the
group to pursue those goals.”
“Problem solving is the core of leadership.”
“The art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is
possible.”
“Is about coping with change”, about “motivating and inspiring---keeping
people moving in the right direction, despite major obstacles to change.”
“Is…a matter not of ‘doing’ excellence but of ‘inspiring’ excellence in others.
”To lead is to Measurably Help Others Succeed”---Tom Peters, The Little Big
Things, 201.
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6. Learn everything you can,
from every source you can,
at the lowest cost you can.
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Learn from anywhere
and anyone you can
in order to produce
the required
performance.
7. “ You are on Pandora.”
“You can observe a lot
just by watching.”
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“Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
9. “Commitment unlocks the
doors of imagination, allows
vision, and gives us the ‘right
stuff’ to turn our dreams into
reality.” James Womack.
“If you don’t make a total
commitment to whatever you’re
doing, then you start looking to
bail out the first time the boat
starts leaking. It’s tough enough
getting that boat to shore with
everybody rowing, let alone
when a guy stands up and starts
putting his life jacket on.” – Lou
Holtz
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11. • A powerful image has
the ability to capture our
imaginations, inspire our
spirits, and energize us
to go beyond normal
limitations. Simply put,
such an image can be
transformative. An
example is Chief Petty
Officer Brasher (Men of
Honor).
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12. “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster
than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It
knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It
doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes
up, whether in Africa, or in public sector leadership, you better be
running.
To everything there is a time. To everything there is a season. There is a
time to start, and a time to stop. But in between those times, keep
moving.
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13. “1. Only hire top-notch, excellent people.”
“2. Put the right people in the right job.
Weed out the wrong people.”
“3. Tell the people what needs to be done.”
“4. Tell the people why it is needed.
“5. Leave the job up to the people you’ve
chosen to do it.”
“6. Train the people.”
“7. Listen to the people.”
“8. Remove frustration and barriers that
fetter the people.”
“9. Inspect progress.”
“10. Say “Thank you” publicly and
privately.”
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14. “People take their cues from the boss. The boss sets the tone and the standards. The boss
sets the example. Over time, the department, the office, the store, the workshop, the factory,
the company begin to do what the boss does.”
“If the boss is always late, punctuality becomes a minor obligation. If the boss is always in
meetings, everybody is always in meetings. If the boss calls on customers, customers become
important. If the boss blows off customer appointments, the sales force makes fewer sales
calls. If the boss is polite, rude people don’t last. If the boss accepts mediocrity, mediocrity is
what she gets. If the boss in innovative and inventive, the company looks for opportunities. If
the boss does everyone’s job, the employees will let him. If the boss gives everyone in the
organization a World Series ring, then everyone wants to win the World Series. If the boss
leads a charge, the good and able employees will be a step behind.”
“Great bosses understand this phenomenon. Great bosses position the organization to
succeed, not with policies, but with posture and presence. If the great boss wants a policy of
traveling on Sunday or practice before presentations, he or she travels on Sunday and
practices presentations. If the boss doesn’t want little snowstorms to make people late to the
office, he gets in early the day of the storm and makes the coffee . . . and serves coffee to the
stragglers as they arrive.”
“Some bosses lead purposefully, other innately. Whether intentional or not, the great boss
shapes the organization. Because the company does what the boss does, the boss better
perform, or the company won’t.”
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15. Don’t let the urgent crowd out the
important.
First law of holes: If you get in one,
stop digging. (Denis Healey)
If in doubt, don’t. If still in doubt,
do what’s right.
If you are working from you inbox,
you are working on other people’s
priorities.
If you expect people to be in on the
landing, included them on the
takeoff.
If you foul up, tell the boss and
correct it fast.
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16. If you’re coasting, you’re going
downhill.
Learn from those who have been
there.
Talent hits a target no one else can
hit. Genius hits a target no one else
can see.
The first consideration for a meeting
is whether to call one at all.
The last consideration for a meeting
is “What have we missed?”
What you see is what you get. What
you don’t see gets you.
When starting at the bottom, be
willing to learn from those at the
top.
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17. Vision (the ability to see
ahead and what is coming).
Change management
skills.
A sense of direction
(including where you are
and how much farther you
need to go to successfully
arrive at a specific end
destination or goal).
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18. Having a customer conversation in a focused context is not always easy. “In
the proverbial 10 words or less, here is the key to customer service: Ask
customers what they want, and give it to them.” However, “If Henry Ford had
asked his customers what they wanted, it would have been a faster horse.”
You have to ask the right questions in order to get something productive out
of the conversation.
But see also Luke Hohmann’s blog on Innovation, Software, and Customer
Understanding for some further insights. (“Innovation occurs from a deep
understanding of your customers — their problems, their needs, expressed or
unexpressed. Suppose that Henry had asked a customer “What do you want”
and the customer has answered “I want a faster horse”. I’m willing to bet that
Henry, one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time, would have explored this
a bit further, perhaps using the 5-Why’s approach to root cause analysis.
Henry: “Why do you want a faster horse?” Customer: “So I can get to the store
in less time.”Henry: “Why do you want to get to the store faster? ”Customer:
“So I can get more work done at the farm.”)
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24. “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do
everything; but still I can do something; and because I
cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the
something that I can do.”
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26. • A common reason that goals aren’t
accomplished is that they are not clearly
defined. If employees don’t understand
their company’s goals and its game plan,
these goals won’t be achieved. Plenty of
organizations fail for that very reason.
Football doesn’t make this mistake. Its
goals are always clearly defined. At the
end of the field it’s a goal line. Why do we
call it a goal line? Because eleven people
on the offensive team huddle for a single
purpose—to move the ball across it.
Everyone has a specific task to do—the
quarterback, the wide receiver, each
lineman, every player knows exactly what
his assignment is. Even the defensive team
has its goals too---to prevent the offensive
team from achieving its goal.”
~ Jim Tunney, national football league referee 26
27. “All employees are boss
watchers. The rank and
file will always take their
cues from the leader. It
is therefore doubly
important that the
leader live the values he
or she espouses.”
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28. “Make sure the team
is part of the process.
Help your business
team or family or
basketball team
understand not only
what’s going to
happen, but also the
whys and the hows.”
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29. “When management fails, it
reflects a lack of leadership. All
of you possess leadership
ability. But leadership rests not
only on outstanding ability. It
also rests on commitment,
loyalty, and price. It rests on
followers who are ready to
accept guidance. Leadership is
the ability to direct people and
—more important—to have
those people accept that
direction.”
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Notas do Editor
1. The Leaders We Need: And What Makes Us Follow http://centerforpublicleadership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=364&Itemid=241
ii. See for example The Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice , edited by Harvard Business School's Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, as well as, Barbara Kellerman, Bad Leadership . (“How is Saddam Hussein like Tony Blair? Or Kenneth Lay like Lou Gerstner? Answer: They are, or were, leaders. Many would argue that tyrants, corrupt CEOs, and other abusers of power and authority are not leaders at all—at least not as the word is currently used. But, according to Barbara Kellerman, this assumption is dangerously naive. A provocative departure from conventional thinking, Bad Leadership compels us to see leadership in its entirety. Kellerman argues that the dark side of leadership—from rigidity and callousness to corruption and cruelty—is not an aberration. Rather, bad leadership is as ubiquitous as it is insidious—and so must be more carefully examined and better understood…The book also illuminates the critical role of followers, revealing how they collaborate with, and sometimes even cause, bad leadership. Daring and counterintuitive, Bad Leadership makes clear that we need to face the dark side to become better leaders and followers ourselves.”) http://centerforpublicleadership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=364&Itemid=241 iii. Integrity, dedication, magnanimity, humility, openness, and creativity. Warren Bennis, On Becoming A Leade r. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/bennis_qualities.htm iv. The Leadership Pipeline: How To Build the Leadership-Powered Company, http://www.ram-charan.com/leadership_pipeline.htm v. Colleagueship, opening doors, extra resources, framing issues, strong commitment, external diplomacy. (“When Ann Moore was on her way to becoming CEO of Time Inc ., before women were found in top management ranks, she won loyalty by, among other things, spreading a perquisite of her magazine publisher job to peers and subordinates: preferred seats at the best sporting events in New York. Across the Atlantic, Maurice Levy was appointed CEO of Publicis while still a junior employee, in part because of his fervent commitment when the headquarters in Paris caught on fire , and he ran into the offices to rescue client files. High achievers don't turn into leaders, even if they seem to have the right skills, without the power that comes from going beyond the letter of the job and doing what I've come to call the Extras. “ http://blogs.hbr.org/kanter/2010/10/six-extras-that-build-power-an.html vi. Nannerl “Nan” Overholser Keohane, former President of Wellesley University, Duke University, Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and The Center for Human Values at Princeton University, and member of the Harvard Corporation quoted in “What It Takes To Lead”, Harvard Gazette, February 11, 2011. (“I’m nervous about this notion that character in an admirable sense is a building block of leadership. There are leaders who are quite effective who pursue horrific goals, including Adolf Hitler who was especially competent at mobilizing Germany in his early years as Fuhrer.”) vii. Monica Higgins, professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and former professor at Harvard Graduate School of Business, quoted in “What It Takes To Lead”, Harvard Gazette, February 11, 2011. viii. Nannerl “Nan” Overholser Keohane, former President of Wellesley University, Duke University, Laurance S. Rockefeller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and The Center for Human Values at Princeton University, and member of the Harvard Corporation quoted in “What It Takes To Lead”, Harvard Gazette, February 11, 2011. ix. Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader , co-written by Linda A. Hill, the Wallace Brett Donham Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and former executive Kent Lineback, quoted in Harvard Business School, Working Knowledge, January 17, 2011.
x. Orin Harari, The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell” at 13 and at 163. xi. What Leaders Really Do, Harvard Business Review of Leadership, at 40. xii. Id. At 41
The Boston Consulting Group stated this proposition this way: “There is power in numbers. The members of a broader team will provide complementary skills and multiply the manpower and brainpower available to tackle critical issues.”
You never know when that so called esoteric or arcane bit of knowledge will be transformative, leading you to ask an “I wonder”, or “Why not” type question and to see a way “how to”. In the same vein but in a very different venue, Arthur ‘Dooley’ Wilson, otherwise known as the piano playing singer “Sam” in the 1942 film “Casablanca” had it right, the fundamental things do apply as time goes by. Sam’s singing observation that the fundamental things apply could also be translated into the way Stephen Covey expressed the idea in First Things First: “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” In real life, Wilson was a drummer and a singer who led his own band in London and Paris in the 1920’s. In the film Wilson pretends to play the piano which was actually played by an off-screen African-American pianist whose hand movements Wilson imitated on-screen. This exemplifies another lesson: learn from anywhere and anyone you can in order to produce the required performance.
Commitments are not just things you make. They are things you live. Daily. How your life reflects or falls short of your commitments is a story sometimes of triumph, sometimes of tragedy, sometimes of struggle and success, sometimes of failure and frustration. But it’s a story that you write every day. And a very deep part of that story is this belief: If you keep pressing on, trusting in the Lord and standing on the promises, that we are transformed by our journey, and spiritually become “water-walkers” crossing over to the better side. I found that commitment was also the subject of a recent message In Charles Stanley’s God’s Way, Day by Day. Dr. Stanley writes: “A commitment is a pledge, a statement of sure promise. The value of any commitment is based upon two things: 1) The ability of the promise maker to fulfill the promise. 2) The integrity of the promise maker. Though Dr. Stanley does not usually sounding a bit like Corbin on Contracts, in this instance he did and it reminded me of lessons from contracts and life. And lest someone think Dr. Stanley has become a lawyer, the reference for his words today is Deuteronomy 7:9: “The Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations, with those who love Him.” Dr. Stanley observes: “God certainly qualifies as One who will stand behind His commitments on both accounts. He has all the wisdom, power, and ability necessary to fulfill His promises to us. He also has proven integrity—God has always done what He has said He would do.” Stand on His promises.
For example, in the film Men of Honor, Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), has his leg partially amputated, and wearing his prosthesis is faced with the challenge of having to take 12 steps wearing a diving suit weighing 290 pounds. Despite the impossible odds and the enormity of the challenge, Master Chief Petty Officer Brasher, with Master Diver Billy Sunday (Robert DeNiro) providing verbal support —“The Navy diver is not a fighting man. He is a salvage expert. If it’s lost underwater, he finds it. If it’s sunk, he brings it up; if it’s in the way, he moves it— pushes the principle of perseverance and practices the discipline of determination to complete the twelve steps, triumphantly salvaging his career. This is the type of vision you need in your business to meet the challenge of changing times.
I first read this impressive quote in the chapter by Ken Chennault (CEO and Chairman of American Express) in the excellent book Take A Lesson: Today’s Black Achievers and How They Made It.
The quote by Edward Everett Hale is found in John C. Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You, at 170.
As Michael Jordan observed, “There is no ‘I’ in team but there is in ‘win’. So “we’ should find the best practical solution to “our” challenges in a strategic alliance.
The source for this is: Russell Rules: 11 Lessons on Leadership From the Twentieth Century's Greatest Winner. “ Establish your business culture around your team. A business culture in its simplest form is nothing more than the environment in which decisions are made. All business cultures, all families, succeed or fail on the basis of the decisions they make. So the concept of team ego is a factor in getting individuals to see success not in terms of individual performance, but rather in getting more fulfillment from the group’s success.”
From What It Takes To Be #1: Vince Lombardi on Leadership, at 31.