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Leadership for Dummies! Since this is for “dummies”. It will intentionally be simply written. If this offends you, obviously you are not a Dummy and should not be reading this in the first place, you big dummy! I do not have the intelligence, academic training, vocabulary or experience to write on this topic. I can get by since I am a Dummy and have selected to write to a narrow niche of my peers. Who cares what we dummies think anyway? Q: Who should NOT read this? A: Non-Dummies – the intellectually elite, academics, perfect people, those who have never made a mistake or taken a risk, individuals comfortable in the safe harbor of a bureaucracy, and those who already know it all. If you’re within the shadow of an ivory tower you don’t need this. You know who you are! Q: Who should read this? A: Dummies – students who are more interested in learning than information, people who take risks, those who have in the past and will in the future fail – fall down (but who also will stand back up), entrepreneurs, and others living in the “trenches”. If you get more information from USA Today than the Wall Street Journal and if you’ve read more TV Guides than Economist Magazines, this one’s for you. You know who you are! Q: What is a leader? A: A leader is a person who sees a better day on the horizon, and has the will and the courage to move him/herself and anyone who will follow in that direction. A leader first defines reality (Max DePree) and than quantifies his / her Vision in terms of a future ideal and builds a plan to get there. A leader then (and this is where the wheat and the chaff are separated) implements the plan, and pursues the ideal – come hell or high water!
Dream-Catcher: The leader must have a Dream. (S)he must capture this dream and focus it through a lens of reality to establish a Vision. Organizational Architect: The leader must define the type of “vehicle” or infrastructure – the organization that is needed to achieve the Vision. This is the Mission. Most importantly of all, the leader must establish the foundation or chassis on which to build the future. This foundation is the values of the entity. These are the absolutes – the things we’ll always do and the things we’ll never do. Ambiguity has no place here! This is about purpose – not popularity! Security Guard: The leader must always protect and defend the Vision, Values, and Mission. If these are violated, all is loss. No leader can guarantee results – all should guarantee commitment to the core values of their system! Environmental Engineer: The leader must identify and remove the “toxins” from the workplace and the work environment. People both well intentioned and sinister both inside and outside of the organization will question, challenge, and often sabotage the leader’s efforts. The leader must not allow these efforts at sabotage to be successful. Leaders battle enemies within as well as outside. Coach: The leader is the coach. (S)he assembles a team, develops the skills and conditioning of the players, matches these talents to the roles needed in the organization, writes the game plan, scouts the competition, and monitors the process. The coach “kicks” butts when necessary and comforts with a pat on the butt when needed. Coaches are disciplined and committed to the plan created for their team. The right plan for the right opponent is critical. Adherence to the plan is required. Unless the team falls way behind and desperation requires it – you don’t deviate from the plan. Cheerleader: Competition is tough. It takes a toll on the players. The stands are filled with critics. Someone needs to scream support from the sidelines. Q: What unique talents / skills / qualities does a leader need? A: There are many: Integrity – Followers must be able to trust the leader. They must have confidence that the current reality, future ideal, values, and plan are more than words. These must be real and the leader must be dedicated to these. Vision – “Where there is no Vision, the people perish. (Proverbs)” Commitment – This is more than involvement. This is an attitude and actions that show the followers that you are in this for the long haul – to the end. Leaders commit. Others are only involved. Look at your next ham and eggs breakfast. The chicken was involved; the pig was committed. Decisive – Leaders make decisions – good ones and bad ones. They don’t brag about the good ones or quit after a bad one. They’re committed to the process and result. They don’t take polls. They question themselves during the planning process and prepare and implement contingency plans. They don’t vacillate in the execution of the plan. They execute not deliberate! The preceding comments were this writer’s perspective on the PROCESS (not personalities) of leadership. What follows is a retrospective on the PROCESS of leadership from leaders and “experts” on leadership. The One Absolute of Leadership: “…the absolute of leadership is followers.” Peter Drucker The First Role of Leadership: “The first role of the leader is to define reality. (Max DePree) Verification of Reality: “All the well meaning advice in the world won’t amount to a hill of beans if you’re not addressing the real problem. And we’ll never get to the problem if we’re so caught up in our own autobiography, our own paradigm, that we don’t take off our glasses long enough to see the world from another point of view.” Stephen Covey The Objective of Leadership: “The task of a leader is to get people from where they are to where they have not been.” Henry Kissinger The Functions of Leadership: The Management and Architecture of Change Change: Change is the transition from today through tomorrows. Change Management: Change Management is solving problems and capitalizing on opportunities during this transition. Change Architecture: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.” Peter Drucker The Challenge to Leadership: There is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful to success, than to step up as a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.” Niccolo Machiavelli The Risk in Failing to Lead: “Take change by the hand before change takes you by the throat.” Winston Churchill The Importance of Vision: “Where there is no Vision the people perish.” Proverbs “The single most important message in this book is very simple. People change what they do less because they are given an analysis that shifts their thinking than because they are shown a truth that influences their feelings.” From The Heart of Change – John P. Kotter / Dan S. Cohen – Harvard Business School © 2002 The Best Example of Vision: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth.” John F. Kennedy (5 / 25 / 1960) The Importance of Leadership: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke What Leadership is Not: “Consensus is the absence of leadership.” Margaret Thatcher Leadership The Process - A Bias for Action: “If you start to take Vienna – Take Vienna.” Napoleon Bonaparte “I can accept failure but I can’t accept not trying.” Michael Jordan “Don’t find fault – Find a remedy.” Henry Ford “The greatest risk is not taking one.” AIG (Annual Report) “There is no limit to what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.” John Wooden A man could do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he had done.” Anonymous “Nothing in this world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common that unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” Calvin Coolidge “Just do it!” Nike The Test of Leadership: “If the end brings me out right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” Abraham Lincoln “It is not the critic who counts, or how the strong man stumbled and fell, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; and if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that he’ll never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” Japanese Proverb A CLOSING THOUGHT: It should be noted that at the last meeting of Dinosaurs, they voted NOT TO CHANGE!
©Square One Consulting (September 2001) |