Importance of Leadership

Chapter 1 The sizeableness of attractors D. Quinn Mills leading How to Lead, How to Live 2005 D. Quinn Mills. All Rights Reserved. lead How to Lead, How to Live hardly a(prenominal)er things ar to a greater extent than important to human activity than lead. Effective leading helps our nation through times of peril. It names a business ecesis triumphful. It enables a non-for-profit physical com mental attitude to fulfill its committal. The impressive drawing cardship of pargonnts enables children to grow strong and sanitary and become productive adults. The absence of leading is equ wholey dramatic in its effects.With show up drawship, memorial tablets move too slowly, stagnate, and lose their expressive style. Much of the literature about organizations stresses decision-making and implies that if decision-making is timely, complete, and correct, consequently things result go well. Yet a decision by itself changes nothing. after(prenominal) a decision is mad e, an organization faces the problem of implementationhow to get things through with(p) in a timely and effective way. Problems of implementation are in truth issues about how drawing cards influence behavior, change the course of events, and overcome resistance. lead is crucial in implementing decisions succeederfully.Each of us recognizes the importance of leadinghip when we voting for our policy-making leaders. We realize that it matters who is in office, so we participate in a contest, an election, to choose the best candidate. Investors recognize the importance of business leading when they phrase that a good leader can carry a success of a weak business formulate, plainly that a poor leader can ruin even the best plan. 10 The grandeur of leadership Who Will Gain from leading? Do you want to be a leader? Or, if youre already a leader, do you want to cleanse your leadership?Do you want to affect what other population doto help them follow through important goa ls? Do you want to point the way in your organization? Do you want to climb the promotion head for the hills to views of grittyer authority and greater pay? lead result look at these things possible. You should read this book if You are interested in leadership and how it affects you. You plan to lead an organization or are already in a leadership position. You are interested in developing yourself to meet the challenges you will con introductory in a leadership role. You wish to make a difference in the world through leadership. The Meaning of leadership What is leadership? It is a process by which one soulfulness influences the thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors of others. Leaders manipulate a counselling for the rest of us they help us interpret what lies ahead they help us visualize what we might achieve they aid us and inspire us. Without leadership a group of human beings chop-chop degenerates into argument and conflict, beca exercise we see things in dissimil ar ways and lean towarfared antithetical solutions. Leadership helps to point us in the same means and rein our private roads jointly. Leadership is the 11 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live bility to get other hoi polloi to do something significant that they might not otherwise do. Its energizing spate toward a goal. Without pursual, however, a leader isnt a leader, although followers may only come after a long wait. For example, during the thirties Winston Churchill urged his fellow Englishmen to face the coming threat from Hitlers Ger m whatever an(prenominal). precisely nearly Englishmen preferred to believe that Hitler could be appeasedso that a war could be avoided. They were engaged in wishful thinking about the future and vindication that the future would be dangerous. They resented Churchill for nsisting that they essential face the danger. They rejected his leadership. He had genuinely few followers. But finally reality intrudedGerm whatsoever went too far an d war began. At this point Churchill was acclaimed for his foresight, and became prime minister of the United Kingdom during the south World War. During this period almost all Englishmen genuine his leadership willingly. adjust leadership is sometimes hard to distinguish from false leadership, which is merely a form of pret end. Winston Churchill was a real and great leader. But at that place are in some(prenominal) case people who wish to appear to be leaders, unless arent very.They say that they are leading others they posture as if they are scope direction and inspiring others. Yet often they are merely pretending. in that respects an old saying that the way to become a leader is to find a parade and run to the see of it. We refer to a person leading a parade, but walking at the front isnt really leadership unless the person in front is actually choosing the direction If the person isnt choosing the direction, then being at the front of the line is merely a way to pret end to be a leader. 12 The Importance of Leadership Leadership can be utilise for good or ill.Hitler seemed to be a leader of the German people, but he restrain an evil direction. He had great leadership skills, but put in them to terrible enforces. Sometimes people in business use leadership skills to exploit others. Sometimes people in charitable organizations use leadership skills to benefit themselves rather than the people they are supposed to help. Leadership skills can be perverted to pursue bad ends. The Importance of ethical motive The danger that leadership will be perverted is why ethics are so important to good leadership. Ethics are the inner(a) compass that directs a person toward what is right and fair.Only if a person has an inner ethical compass can he or she be sure that leadership qualities will not turn to evil ends. instruction to lead with good objectives is the only purpose of this book. So let us say that those who do harm are not leaders at all we rec ognize that they may be influential and persuasive, but we will not think of them as leaders. With confidence that you, good readers of this book, will put leadership to noble ends, we go forward. The Work of the Leader Taking a leadership position means several things A leader essential have a peck of the future for the organization and its members. 3 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live administrator SUMMARY 1-1 TAKING A LEADERSHIP commit Taking a leadership position means Having a batch about what can be accomplished. Making a trueness to the mission and to the people you lead. Taking right for the accomplishment of the mission and the welfare of those you lead. expect risk of loss and failure. Accepting recognition for success. A leader must be able to express his or her vision clearly and in a compelling manner so that others are engaged by it. (See Executive compend 1-1. A leader has to make a commitment to his or her vision, to the organization, and to the membe rs of the organization. A leader cant be perpetrate one day and uninterested the next. People will judge a leader by his or her commitment, and will commit themselves no to a greater extent than the leader does. A leader assumes a considerable amount of accountability not just for the mission that he or she urges others to accept, nor just for the organization he or she heads, but for his or her followers, their lives and efforts, as well. 14 The Importance of Leadership A leader assumes risk.If thither is no risk, little leadership is required. If the effort is easy and certain to succeed, anyone can, and probably will, lead it. But where the effort entails a risk of failure, then many people will squint before the challenge and leadership is necessary to get people to make the commitment and the effort to succeed. In most organizations, one associates high levels of leadership with high levels of authority. The chief executive of a follow usually plays more of a leadership rol e than people at lower levels of the hierarchy in the firm. It is the same in notfor-profits and government agencies.The higher on the subscriber line ladder a person is, the more she is expected to exhibit leadership. In the military, however, the opposite tastes true, and for a very good reason. In the military the great leadership challenge is to get other people to risk their lives in combat. Generally, the higher one goes in the chain of command, the less exposure he has to the battlefield, and the less exposure to men and women who are in combat. The officers who have responsibility for commanding soldiers in combat have the greatest leadership challenge, for they must get others to risk their lives.Michael Jordans brother is an army sergeant major(ip) leading a deployment in Iraq in which he is responsible for more than 2,000 soldiers. Offered an opport building blocky to leave his assignment in combat, he chose to stay with his unit in harms way. In so doing, he accepted one of the militarys most significant leadership challenges. 15 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live The first responsibility in a position of leadership is to have a vision. (See Executive Summary 1-2. ) The visionary leader must create his or her concept of what the organization can accomplish.A business leader may be leading a few people in a department or an entire company a military leader a small squad or an entire army. The vision may be smaller when the group of people is small and untold broader when the group of people is large, but it must be forward-looking and fire in either case. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-2 fantastic LEADERSHIP Visionary leadership requires Creating a vision, a mission, and a strategy. communication the vision/mission/strategy and get buy-in. motivate action. Helping an organization grow, evolve, and adapt to changing circumstances. The leader must also provide a missionwhat needfully to be fag outeand a strategy, a path, for how to accomplish the mission and achieve the vision, a way for the group to get in that location. But having an exciting vision, an exciting mission, and a careful strategy is not sufficient. A leader must clearly communicate them. Only if people taste the vision can they commit to it, and buy-in is crucial to motivating action. Finally, a vision cannot be rigid and unchanging it must adapt 16 The Importance of Leadership to changing circumstances, growing and evolving. Otherwise it becomes outdated and obsolete, and loses its power to impel and motivate people.Leaders versus Administrators and Managers Leadership is not the same thing as being in a position of authority. It is possible to be a boss in a company without being a leader. A boss can be more of an administrator than a leader. Conversely, an administrator can be effective in his job without being a leader. The administrator is a bureaucrat whether in government or in businessa person who keeps careful records and sees that things are b egettere agree to the rules. On the other hand, a leader can be effective without being an administratorleaving rules, regulations, and their enforcement to others.Administration is not as exciting a drop deadic as leadership, but it is almost as important. The success of organizations depends to a great degree on how well they are administered. A double-decker is often thought to be primarily an administrator. But a jitney is not an administrator management requires a special set of skills of its own. And being a manager is different from being a leader, as we shall see below. So there are three roles administrator, manager, and leader. A manager has the broadest role, and a good manager has much of an administrator and a leader in him or her.A manager needs to set direction and inspire others to get work done (leadership functions) and he or she needs to keep records and see that rules are followed (administrative functions). 17 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live The manager is a necessary combination of leader and administrator. (See D. Quinn Mills, Principles of Management, Waltham, MA MindEdge Press, 2005. ) But leadership is the most important of the three roles. Administrators What does an administrator do? (See Executive Summary 13. ) An administrator applies rules and regulations generally developed by top executives of an organization. In the government, the backbone rules and regulations are often issued by legislative authorities like the U. S. Congress). He or she keeps records and fills out forms necessary to take administrative steps (like getting employees paid or reimbursing an employee for travel expenses). EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-3 ELEMENTS OF ADMINISTRATION The elements of memorial tablet are Making rules and regulations Making decisions that apply and interpret rules and regulations Keeping records plectrum out forms 18 The Importance of Leadership Managers What does a manager do? See Executive Summary 1-4. ) He or she makes plans and creates budgets that set forrader in great detail how something will be accomplished and how much money and other resources (e. g. , people, office space) are necessary to accomplish those plans and budgets. He decides who is going to be assigned to the necessary tasks and how they will fit into the organization. She supervises the actions people take, ensuring that they are doing the right things, that no money is being misappropriated or wasted (we call this controlling), and when problems arise she helps to resolve them.Finally, by cartel these tasks into a coherent whole, the manager makes the organization operate efficiently. Running an organization effectively requires administration, management, and leadership. Leadership is ordinarily in shorter supply than administrative or managerial competence. Leadership is more important and more demanding for most people. less people are able or willing to be leaders, so it tends to be a higher calling than administration or man agement. in that location is a large literature discussing the differences between leaders and managers.There is also an important distinction to make between leaders and administrators. In general, a leader takes a broader view and points an organization toward necessary, even critical, change. The core of the criticism in the literature is that organizations of all sorts (corporations, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations) tend to be over-managed (and/or over-administrated) and under-led. Because of over-management and overadministration, organizations are slow to make necessary changes and achieve less than what they could.This is a substantial criticism that points to the importance of leadership. 19 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1-4 ELEMENTS OF MANAGEMENT The elements of management are Planning and budgeting Setting direction Organizing and staffing Aligning the efforts of many people Controlling Decision-making and problem solv ing Motivating and inspiring people The Nature of Leadership True leadership is special, subtle, and complex. withal often we confuse things like personal style and a position of authority with leadership. Leadership is not primarily a particular spirit trait.A trait closely linked to leadership is charisma, but many people who have charisma (for example, movie actors and sports figures) are not leaders. Leadership is not primarily a set of important objectives. It involves getting things done. 20 The Importance of Leadership Leadership is not primarily a ceremonial position. There have been great leaders who did not hold high positionsfor example, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jeanne dArcand there are people who hold high positions who are not leaders at all, but administrators who dont want to rock the boat. Leadership is not primarily a set of behaviors.Many leadership manuals suggest that what defines leadership is things such as delegating and providing inspiration and visi on but people who are not leaders can do these things, and some effective leaders dont do them all. Many discussions of leadership confuse any and all of the above personality, important objectives, titular position, specific behaviorswith leadership. (See John P. Kotter, What Leaders really Do, Boston Harvard Business School Press, 1999. ) But leadership is more than any of the above characteristics. Its a process by which one influences the thoughts and behaviors of others in a substantial way.It may involve charisma, important objectives, a formal position, and a particular set of behaviors, but it is not limited to any of them. Effective leaders are often very complex people. create verbally about Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England during the English civil wars of the seventeenth century, a foremost historian marveled at the complexity of his personality. There was no mavin Cromwell, he wrote, that is, a clear-cut individualInstead, there was a numerosity of Cro mwells, each linked to the other by his enormous vitalityFirstly, there was the very human, simple and compassionate man, a visionary and a romantic.Secondly, there was a violent, boisterous and irascible bully. Thirdly, there was the resolute and iron-willed generalFourthly, the astute politician, the man of expedients who had no guiding principles. 21 Leadership How to Lead, How to Live And lastly, there wasthe Cromwellwho, as the interpreter of Gods will, was capable of committing any atrocity. (J. F. C. Fuller, A Military History of the Western World, Volume 2, New York Funk & Wagnalls, 1955, p. 110. Because leaders can be so complex, we must be careful in our generalizations about leaders and their personalities. But not all leaders are such complex personalities, which is good for most of us who aspire to leadership. Examples of Leadership Leadership in Business In the 1980s Harley-Davidson was almost knocked out of business by competition from other firms. To survive, it ne eded to change dramatically. ample Teerlink, the companys leader, was able to save the firm financially, but with the blackmail off, the challenge of continuing to improve seemed even more daunting.Could Teerlink get his managers and employees to make the significant, and to many of them inconvenient, changes necessary? He did it by building a different company, one driven from the bottom up by employees rather than from the top down by managers. Its a story of successes and failures, advances and setbacks, dead ends and breakthroughs, ending in a much stronger company than before. (Read the inspiring story in Rich Teerlink and Lee Ozley, More Than a Motorcycle The Leadership go at Harley-Davidson, Boston Harvard Business School Press, 2000. 22 The Importance of Leadership Leadership in Government When Charles O. Rossotti became commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1997, the way of life had the largest customer baseand the lowest approval ratingof any institutio n in America. Mired in scandal, caught in a political maelstrom, and beset by profound management and technology problems, the IRS was widely discharged as a hopelessly flawed and dysfunctional organization. Rossotti the first bourgeois to head the IRStransformed the much-maligned agency.In the glare of intense public scrutiny, he effected dramatic changes in the way the IRS did businesswhile the agency continued to collect $2 trillion in revenue. Through het congressional hearings, encounters with Washington bigwigs, frank exchanges with taxpayers and employees, and risky turnaround strategies, Rossotti demonstrated leadership against daunting odds. (Read this enlightening story in Charles O. Rossotti, Many Unhappy Returns peerless Mans Quest to Turn Around the Most Unpopular Organization in America, Boston Harvard Business School Press, 2005. ) 23