The Stuff of Leadership
photo by Nik I Unsplash
Too often talk about leadership focuses only on a few of its most visible characteristics, and just stops there. In this piece, I want to share not only what I believe leadership looks like - but also what it is at its core - The Stuff of Leadership.
Leadership is often described, rather superficially by visible alpha personality traits. A deeper analysis hardly ever occurs.
I feel strongly about this subject as I have been on a career journey that enabled me to experience leadership and also to be near a diversity of incumbents for a period spanning over forty years.
To start with, I would like to point out two significant and quite common impediments in organisational settings that stifle leadership. These settings seem to be accepted just like the default settings that we often come across with tech. The first is the practice which seems like a wholesale delegation of people management.
Lilian Gilbreth, the pioneering American psychologist and engineer who has been referred to as the first lady of engineering and mother of modern management, made the connection between the psychological as well as the physiological needs of our people. Great leaders instinctively understand this and interact with their people more directly and with empathy.
Corporate imperatives that drive adherence to workplace rules, regulations, procedures and policies, create organisations that tend to be formulaic in approach when dealing with their so-called “most important asset” - by shifting responsibility exclusively to the company's HR function.
This delegation creates a massive disconnect between a leader and the wider team.
The second significant failure is the lack of a real and meaningful strategic direction. The famous New York Yankee player and coach Yogi Berra once said, in his well-known form of English expression (and in a distinctive Italo-Brooklyn accent, no doubt);
“You’ve got to be careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there.”
Yogi was not only a great sportsman and personality, but he understood life and people and was able to cut to the chase with surgical precision.
A true leader can develop a plan in concert with the team, articulate the vision, gain stakeholders and importantly develop a set of simple and incisive measurements that can track progress against the plan and at the same time link team performance to it.
So what is the stuff of leadership?
My construct of the intrinsic human qualities that make up a leader is based on my own experiences and observations as well as much study.
The intrinsic human qualities I have determined to be the difference between success and failure as a leader are our virtues.
By virtue, I refer to the positive traits that are deemed to be morally good and consequently valued as they promote collective and individual greatness.
The word virtue comes from the Latin word “virtus” and was used by the ancients to express high ethical ideals.
In the early nineties, three Canadian thought leaders formed what they called “The Virtues Project” to promote their contention that across all cultures and belief systems, there exists a common theme that represents these high ethical ideals.
The following is my construct of the high ethical ideals or virtues that in my opinion make a true leader:
Accountability, Courage,
Commitment, Creativity,
Confidence, Grace,
Determination, Unity,
Fairness, Decisiveness,
Excellence, Integrity,
Respect, Humility,
Passion and,
Wisdom.
Arising from this set of what I consider to be intrinsic in leaders we observe that successful leaders are:
- Team builders > lead by example > encourage individuality > establish boundaries > celebrate
- Endgame focused > plan & measure > preserve > motivate & inspire > eliminate barriers
- Intuitive > feel the situation > apply experiences > react with appropriate responses
- Direct communicators > real-time & from the heart > tell it as it is > can apologise
- Driven > do what it takes > take ownership > have a sense of urgency > have passion
- Positive > build morale > do not dwell on setbacks > think outside the box
- Creative > craft strategy > respond to market shifts > leverage technology
- Individuals > endearing & inspiring > have a personality
True leaders know this well and work continuously on self-improvement and bringing out the best in others. It is that simple.
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