When we look at the giants, it is usually in awe. But once in a while, we stare in wonder and shake our heads at the strange spectacle of their self destruction.
Ever since Motorola came up with the RAZR, nothing else came out that was even close to the success of that range. Wondered why. Now we know. Over at Engadget, Ryan has written this post “Motorola insider tells all about the fall of a technology icon” - which publishes a letter by the late Geoffrey Frost’s personal adviser at Motorola; until Frost’s death in 2005, Numair Faraz worked under the Motorola’s former CMO.
This here is yet another lesson in leadership. It is hard to lead when you do not really know where you are going, isn’t it?
I heard something interesting today, and would like to “muse” about the modern leader.
It seems that current corporate leadership thinking is moving right along with the concept of heroes in terms of its treatment of leaders. Remember the definition of a “hero”? The strong, silent type; riding into town, killing the bad guys and riding off into the sunset?
Well, the new hero would ride in, network with the people, and empower them to take positive action to eliminate or maybe mitigate the threat (not bad guys, threat) and then ride off into the sunset with a forwarding address in case they wanted to communicate.
It seems that the modern leader is no longer the commanding presence, but a collaborative one. Traits like
Collaboration
Influence
Flexibility
Inspiration
Now take precedence as opposed to the older, more hierarchical leadership roles. In my child’s mind, the leader shouts “Follow me!” and they follow. How does the modern leader to it?
Will the modern leader shout? “Follow me!” seems like its all about you. Shame on you. So, the modern leader, in a collaborative, flexible, inspirational kind of way, tells everyone to get in line, hold hands and “… let’s move forward together.”
Laura has listed 5 characteristics which she feels a leader ought to have over at her post: “Are you a work at home leader?”
I believe these are relevant for anyone who are looking at leadership behaviour or how a leader ought to be. But in the end, it is important to note that none of these 5 characteristics point at other people. A leader and leadership traits are based on what is inside you. In other words, who you are and what you are largely dictates how you behave. And how you behave will ultimately display your leadership (or lack of) to the people around you.
Thanks Laura, I am flattered that you read my posts!
Here is an interesting food-for-thought - for a leader to be a “good” leader, must the leader be a willing leader?
Think about all those anti-heroes. The unwilling saviour. The reluctant chieftain. The accidental leader. If a person has strong leadership traits, have the competencies of a leader, gets the respect and fellowship of the people; yet am unwilling to lead. Will this person be a good leader?
In the modern world, we see candidates fighting for votes, colleagues vying for promotion, volunteers squabbling for power; they want to be leaders. Will they, because of their burning desire to lead, make a better leader than someone more competent, but unwilling?
There is a very popular saying, and it goes like this: “It’s lonely at the top.”
To a very large extent, this is true. The scary part of this is, the higher up you go, the lonelier it gets. Can you imagine being at the top of a large organisation and being privy to all the information affecting millions of dollars? Who can you talk to about it? No one!
Yet, to be a successful leader, you need to be able to foster trust among your team members. You need to be able to build them up, and all the while, carrying your own burden which none can share. It would seem a burden too great to bear. But I would like to suggest that this might not be entirely true.
If you are able to share your vision, if you have managed to convey your values, led by example, grow your team, promote trust and share the power; if you have achieved all of these, you will never be truly alone. Your team can help you carry a large part of your load. You are no longer a company. You are not just a “boss”. You are the leader. Many people believe that team building is the answer.
At the end of all the team building, you will need to create a community spirit. Because only when you have a community, that the team, your company, can be really alive. Teams come and go as projects dictate. But a community is much larger than just a team. It encompasses all teams. It has room for many leaders. A community has followers who are leaders and leaders who are as much a member of the community as everyone else.
A community can go on functioning when “Mr Jones” goes on vacation. A community is immune to the “Smith family” leaving town for the summer. When you take a vacation, does your phone ring non-stop? Do you have to bring your laptop to the beach in case you miss an important email? Or do you have a team that is able to support you? A team that will allow you to be human and take your much needed time off?
At this point, it is no longer about me, them or “the team”. It’s not even about the project, or the results, or the efforts. At this point, it is about “us”.
Following are the previous nine articles in case you need the links:
Good leadership is a very subjective measure. Do you measure the results or do you measure the man? Can you ever get the real measure of a man in the first place, and are results all that they are cut out to be?
Whatever your yardstick, good leaders usually share similar characteristics and beliefs. One of those almost universal beliefs would surely be, that no leader can be considered successful without a successful team. A General with his entire army wiped out can hardly be considered a success, even if he is the last man standing. Hero, maybe, but a successful leader; that is debatable.
If a leader’s success is measured by his team’s success, then it is clear that all leaders should ensure that everyone experiences success. No glory seeker would ever be successful over the long term, exceptions aside. A leader must be able to attribute successes to each team member. In any endeavour, there will be milestones; and each milestone can be measured for success. Celebrate these successes. No matter how small an accomplishment, it cannot be too small to be ignored. No task is unworthy. A leader who knows how to draw out the best in his team usually knows how to show appreciation for their efforts.
Yet, a good leader also knows that showing appreciation is not limited to successes. There will be many stumbles along the path to success. Yet, each stumble, no matter how painful, still works towards bringing the team that one tiny bit closer to its objectives. Here lies the distinction between a good leader and a truly great leader. Balance the struggles of the team with its triumphs, reward the heart. Allowing even the weakest member to experience appreciation might do nothing for the “bottom line”, but the overall impact on the team is tremendous.
Everyone knows to show appreciation in the light of success. But for the good leaders, showing appreciation is both a skill and an art. A tool and a reward. It is both a carrot and the stick. Beware the trap of favoritism.
Following are the previous eight articles in case you need the links:
If you are running a small business, it is difficult to achieve a strong international presence. This is simply because the world is so much larger than your budget.
But, business blogging has grown in importance and significance over the years. Pop over and read the “8 Benefits of Blogging for Home Business“. But the benefits of a business blog is not just for home businesses. Any business will be able to experience these benefits.
Blogging can be a lot of fun. It is a free form of expression that can help you share your ideas, likes and dislikes. It “humanizes” your business. It also allows you to share your vision and objectives in a non threatening manner. It also allows you to gather feedback. Also, blogging opens your business to a lot of networking opportunities and even casual visitors might turn out to be valuable clients.
This is the eighth part of a 10-part series on good leadership.
A team is only as strong as its weakest member? If this is true, then winning teams will have all the top players. Fortunately for many of us, this is not true. A team is as strong as its ability to harness the power of ALL its members.
In our previous segment, we spoke about cooperation among team members, and also about the supreme importance of building trust. Why is this important? The answer is simply this - if you don’t trust someone, you are not going to share your power with him or her. This is really fundamental to our human psyche.
There are teams which succeed very well under the leadership of a very strong individual. However, such teams will find it difficult to sustain its high performance. With only one or two person bearing the load of leadership, it will not be long before exhaustion sets in. Exhaustion in terms of creativity, dynamism, clarity of vision, taking risks and in the other myriad areas which require excellence in the team.
A good leader understands the power of sharing power. When you assign decision making authority to another team member, it does not reduce your power. Instead, it increases the overall decision making power of the team. Good leaders recognise this truth. Weak leaders fear this truth. Good decision making can be done by anyone with the appropriate training and the right information. The “best decision” is a fallacy propagated by weak and fearful leaders who want to hoard the power and paint the illusion that they are the only ones capable of coming to the “best decision”.
There is a consequence of sharing power that leaders must know. The ones to whom you have shared your powers to, will actually have a chance to grow and develop. They will grow and become more powerful. They will be strengthened. On top of that, if you add good guidance and proper processes to aid them, they themselves can become acknowledged leaders in their own right. Good leaders strive to achieve this. Weak leaders secretly dread the day a “subordinate” is able to match their own skills and knowledge.
While there are many courses and workshops or seminars that teach leadership, the fact is; the single best way to train to become a leader is to actually have the opportunity to be a leader. By sharing power, a good leader not only strengthens the group’s effectiveness, he also strengthens the individual.
What do we want to achieve as a leader? If simply leading an effective group is sufficient, you probably could do just as well reading only up to Part 7 - Promote Cooperation and Trust in your Team ; however, if you want to achieve excellence as a leader, this is probably one of the most important aspects. In the long run, leaders are remembered for their achievements. But great leaders are remembered for their inspiration.
To catch up, here are the links to the previous posts:
Leaders have a problem - is the team really following you? Just because everyone seems to be moving in the same direction does not mean that everyone is on the same team! The Chinese has a very nice saying for this “Same bed, different dreams”
Of course, that saying originally pointed at broken marriages, but think of it in the context of your team. While not as tightly knit as a marriage, a team is nonetheless comprised of many individuals with their objectives and efforts intertwined.
As a leader, you need to build a high level of cooperation. The team must learn to work together. Most people are aware of this. Traditionally, when you work together, you do your work, and I do mine. You do your work well, and I do mine to perfection. Job well done. You, as a leader, do you think that everyone is working together in this scenario?
I would like to introduce another aspect to “working together” which is often ignored. When you are working together, you need to not only perform your tasks and execute your plans, but you should also keep an eye out for your team mates. See and call out if they make mistakes, extend a helping hand if they seem to have too full a plate; really, work TOGETHER. There is no better illustration of this than a team of climbers scaling a 100 feet rock wall. Sure, there is a leader. Of course each climber needs to be skilled and competent. Yet, at the core of it all, they make it up as a team. Can you do it solo? Most certainly, but then, you would not be much of a leader if no one can follow!
Cooperation, no matter how difficult it might appear to be, with varied personalities and conflicting objectives, is still easier to achieve than trust. The leader, to be a good leader, must understand this. One of the surest sign of good leadership is when team members trust you. But the sign of excellent leadership is when team members trust you AND each other. When you build a network of trust within the team, the entire team is all the stronger because of that.
As more support and cooperation comes into play, as more trust is built, a once mediocre team can soar to heights of excellence that would baffle more competent competitors. It is not how good you are, but how good the team is. Team performance rests a lot on good leadership. If nothing else, promote cooperation and trust in your team; it is more than half the way towards becoming a good leader.
In our next installment, we will be looking at how leaders can Share Power.
To catch up, here are the links to the previous posts:
Sometimes, it is better to follow than to lead. You see, when you are walking behind, it is the person in front who has to watch out for the pot-holes, push aside the obstacles, watch out that we are all going in the right direction and keep everyone cheerfully trudging along!
In this sixth of my ten-part Leadership series, we shall explore the risks a leader needs to take.
Out there in front, you are the one who decides where to plant your next step. Every step forward is a decision. Each decision entails some kind of trade-off. That is where the risks start to appear.
No one likes risk. However, a leader has no choice but to forge ahead. What then is the best way to approach this? A prudent leaders always weighs his risks. To take too large a risk, could result in devastation. To take too small a risk, and it will be forever and a day to reach that lofty vision.
While the vision looms large and distant, clear objectives and milestones are the life-blood of leaders. Move towards them steadily, seeking small wins as affirmation and encouragement for the team. Risks need to be planned as a part of your roadmap to success.
This approach is also good as the mistakes made would tend not to be as devastating as attempting to clear the mountain in a single day. Mistakes made are lessons learnt. But to be able to benefit from the lessons, you have to be sure your army is not totally decimated! Clear objectives, achievable milestones, small wins, bearable mistakes - these will bring the team inexorably forward towards the ultimate vision that the leader has.
To not take any risk is the best approach. One that most businesses would love. Unfortunately, if you never stepped off the sidewalk, you will never get across the street. It is the role of the leader to take risks. You, as the leader, have the priviledge of sharing your vision, and achieving your dreams. At the same time, you also have the dubious honor of bearing the risks.
A good leader constantly moves ahead. A weak leader is frozen by the myriads of issues at hand.
In our next installment, we will be looking at fostering cooperation and trust.
To catch up, here are the links to the previous posts:
When we grow up and enter the workforce, we heaved a sigh of relieve; no more exams! If we only knew better.
The world today moves at a break-neck pace. It is not just machinery that experience obsolescence in today’s business world. You, with all your fancy degrees and impressive diplomas can become obsolete too. It’s a fast flowing river of change in the working world. To remain at the same place, we have to paddle like mad.
If this is true for the masses, how much more true this will be for the leader. Antiquated leadership skills like “You, slave! Fetch!” no longer applies. In come the new-fangled concepts like EQ, colored hats and oh, so many more. The worse thing is, this is only the tip of the iceberg.
As a leader, you not only have to keep abreast of personal and professional development, you also need to know what your people are doing. Recall the famous words “… and my boss has no idea how to do what I do…”?
While the leader need not be an expert in everything, the leader does need to be at least aware of what and why-of’s. You cannot expect to be able to make credible decisions without appropriate background knowledge. Your IQ can only get you so far, then you have to employ your EQ and mind your P’s and Q’s and leverage your network of contacts, experience and know-how to help you make the right decisions.
The most important thing about learning is the growth that you will experience as you learn. This growth will accrue to your team, not just yourself. That is why as a leader, it is so important for you to learn and grow. Otherwise, unconsciously, you are can actually stymie the growth of everyone of your team members.
A leader must be innovative and not shun change. You must be open to learning new skills, assimilate new knowledge; seek change instead of fighting them. Only when you are prepared to take steps forward, that the others can follow. Only when they follow, can you lead.
In our next installment, we will be looking at why leaders need to Take Risks.
To catch up, here are the links to the previous posts:
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