While leadership is easy to explain, leadership is not so easy to practise. Leadership is about behaviour first, skills second. Good leaders are followed chiefly because people trust and respect them, rather than the skills they possess. Leadership is different to management. Management relies more on planning, organisational and communications skills. Leadership relies on management skills too, but more so on qualities such as integrity, honesty, humility, courage, commitment, sincerity, passion, confidence, positivity, wisdom, determination, compassion and sensitivity. Some people are born more naturally to leadership than others. Most people don't seek to be a leader. Those who want to be a leader can develop leadership ability.
Leadership can be performed with different styles. Some leaders have one style, which is right for certain situations and wrong for others. Some leaders can adapt and use different leadership styles for given situations.
Today ethical leadership is more important than ever. The world is more transparent and connected than it has ever been. The actions and philosophies of organisations are scrutinised by the media and the general public as never before. This coincides with massively increased awareness and interest among people everywhere in corporate responsibility and the many related concepts, such as Fair Trade, sustainability, social and community responsibility (see the ethical leadership and ethical organisations page). The modern leader needs to understand and aspire to leading people and achieving greatness in all this areas.
Here is (was...) an Excellent 30 minute BBC Radio 4 Discussion about Modern Leadership - (first broadcast 2 Sept 2006, part of the 'Sound Advice' series). Its mere existence is evidence of changed attitudes to leadership. Such a programme would not have warranted BBC airtime a generation ago due to lack of audience interest. Today there is huge awareness of, and interest in, more modern leadership methods. The radio discussion highlights the need for effective modern leaders to have emotional strength and sensitivity, far beyond traditional ideas of more limited autocratic leadership styles. I'm sorry (if still) this linked item is unavailable from the BBC website, especially if the recording is lost forever in the BBC's archives (and especially since we, the UK BBC licence payers, arguably own it...) If you know a suitably influential executive at the Beeb who can liberate it please contact me.
Incidentally the BBC is an interesting example of an important aspect of leadership, namely underpinning purpose, or philosophy. The BBC's leadership challenges stem from some obvious reasons - size, diversity, political and public interest, etc - but more notably from its fundamentally confused and conflicting philosophy. Philosophy is a crucial underpinning aspect of leadership. The BBC is a surpisingly difficult organization to lead given that it benefits from substantial public funding, and enjoys substantial (arguably unfair) advantage in several extremely lucrative commercial market sectors. Such advantages would normally enable relatively easy leadership, but this is not so in the BBC. The BBC's leadership challenges (and occasional crises) are not due to its financial or market position, which are primary threats to most corporations. Instead BBC leadership is difficult because it cannot reconcile its operational activities with a single congruent (fitting, hamonious) philosophy. Its activities and aims are at times inconsistent with its basic purpose, whatever that is; and this is the problem. Its fundamental philosophy is inherently conflicting: Who are its owners? Who are its customers? What are its priorities and obligations? Are its commercial operations a means to an end, or an end in themselves? Is its main aim to provide commercial mainstream entertainment, or non-commercial education and information? Is it a public service, or is it a commercial provider? And also - of critical importance to commercial leadership - will the BBC's commercial operations and website one day be privatised? (Probably.) If so on what basis? For whose benefit? What leadership messages can be given to staff and customers about these vital matters? With what essential aims are staff, executives and managers supposed to align their own efforts and expectations?
See how such fundamental questions of leadership are virtually impossible to answer when the underpinning philosphy and purpose are themselves so unclear.
Leading and developing cohesive strategies and management principles for any large diverse organization founded on confusing and conflicting philosophical principles is impossible to do well.
The lesson of the BBC's philsosophical and leadership challenges is perhaps more valuable than the missing 30 minute radio recording (assuming it remains unavailable). The lesson is that philosophy - or underpinning purpose - is the foundation on which leadership (for strategy, management, motivation, everything) is built. If the foundation is not solid and viable, and is not totally congruent with what follows, then everything built onto it is prone to wobble, and at times can fall over completely.
Philosophy is therefore the platform on which great leadership is built. Get the philosophy right - solid and in harmony with the activities - and the foundation is strong. Ignore the philosophy - or patch it together without proper thought - and all that follows tends to be built on sand.
See also the notes and processes for incorporating fundamental philosophy within strategic business development and marketing.
Different leaders have different ideas about leadership. For example, see below Jack Welch's perspective, which even though quite modern compared to many leaders, is nevertheless based on quite traditional leadership principles.
First here is a deeper more philosophical view of effective modern leadership which addresses the foundations of effective leadership, rather than the styles and methods built on top, which are explained later.
A British government initiative surfaced in March 2008, which suggested that young people should swear an oath of allegiance to 'Queen and Country', seemingly as a means of improving national loyalty, identity, and allegiance.
While packaged as a suggestion to address 'disaffection' among young people, the idea was essentially concerned with leadership - or more precisely a failing leadership.
The idea was rightly and unanimously dismissed by all sensible commentators as foolhardy nonsense, but it does provide a wonderful perspective by which to examine and illustrate the actual important principles of leadership:
Jack Welch, respected business leader and writer is quoted as proposing these fundamental leadership principles (notably these principles are expanded in his 2001 book 'Jack: Straight From The Gut'):
As a leader, your main priority is to get the job done, whatever the job is. Leaders make things happen by:
As a leader you must know yourself. Know your own strengths and weaknesses, so that you can build the best team around you.
However - always remember the philosophical platform - this ethical platform is not a technique or a process - it's the foundation on which all the techniques and methodologies are based.
Plan carefully, with your people where appropriate, how you will achieve your aims. You may have to redefine or develop your own new aims and priorities. Leadership can be daunting for many people simply because no-one else is issuing the aims - leadership often means you have to create your own from a blank sheet of paper. Set and agree clear standards. Keep the right balance between 'doing' yourself and managing others 'to do'.
Build teams. Ensure you look after people and that communications and relationships are good. Select good people and help them to develop. Develop people via training and experience, particularly by agreeing objectives and responsibilities that will interest and stretch them, and always support people while they strive to improve and take on extra tasks. Follow the rules about delegation closely - this process is crucial. Ensure that your managers are applying the same principles. Good leadership principles must cascade down through the whole organisation. This means that if you are leading a large organisation you must check that the processes for managing, communicating and developing people are in place and working properly.
Communication is critical. Listen, consult, involve, explain why as well as what needs to be done.
Some leaders lead by example and are very 'hands on'; others are more distanced and let their people do it. Whatever - your example is paramount - the way you work and conduct yourself will be the most you can possibly expect from your people. If you set low standards you are to blame for low standards in your people.
"... Praise loudly, blame softly." (Catherine the Great). Follow this maxim.
If you seek one singlemost important behaviour that will rapidly earn you respect and trust among your people, this is it: Always give your people the credit for your achievements and successes. Never take the credit yourself - even if it's all down to you, which would be unlikely anyway. You must however take the blame and accept responsibility for any failings or mistakes that your people make. Never never never publicly blame another person for a failing. Their failing is your responsibility - true leadership offers is no hiding place for a true leader.
Take time to listen to and really understand people. Walk the job. Ask and learn about what people do and think, and how they think improvements can be made.
Accentuate the positive. Express things in terms of what should be done, not what should not be done. If you accentuate the negative, people are more likely to veer towards it. Like the mother who left her five-year-old for a minute unsupervised in the kitchen, saying as she left the room, "...don't you go putting those beans up your nose..."
Have faith in people to do great things - given space and air and time, everyone can achieve more than they hope for. Provide people with relevant interesting opportunities, with proper measures and rewards and they will more than repay your faith.
Take difficult decisions bravely, and be truthful and sensitive when you implement them.
Constantly seek to learn from the people around you - they will teach you more about yourself than anything else. They will also tell you 90% of what you need to know to achieve your business goals.
Embrace change, but not for change's sake. Begin to plan your own succession as soon as you take up your new post, and in this regard, ensure that the only promises you ever make are those that you can guarantee to deliver.
Leadership skills are based on leadership behaviour. Skills alone do not make leaders - style and behaviour do. If you are interested in leadership training and development - start with leadership behaviour.
The growing awareness and demand for idealist principles in leadership are increasing the emphasis (in terms of leadership characteristics) on business ethics, corporate responsibility, emotional maturity, personal integrity, and what is popularly now known as the 'triple bottom line' (abbreviated to TBL or 3BL, representing 'profit, people, planet').
For many people (staff, customers, suppliers, investors, commentators, visionaries, etc) these are becoming the most significant areas of attitude/behaviour/appreciation required in modern business and organisational leaders.
3BL (triple bottom line - profit, people, planet) also provides an excellent multi-dimensional framework for explaining, developing and assessing leadership potential and capability, and also links strongly with psychology aspects if for instance psychometrics (personality testing) features in leadership selection and development methods: each of us is more naturally inclined to one or the other (profit, people, planet) by virtue of our personality, which can be referenced to Jung, Myers Briggs, etc.
Much debate persists as to the validity of 'triple bottom line accounting', since standards and measures are some way from being clearly defined and agreed, but this does not reduce the relevance of the concept, nor the growing public awareness of it, which effectively and continuously re-shapes markets and therefore corporate behaviour. Accordingly leaders need to understand and respond to such huge attitudinal trends, whether they can be reliably accounted for or not at the moment.
Adaptability and vision - as might be demonstrated via project development scenarios or tasks - especially involving modern communications and knowledge technologies - are also critical for certain leadership roles, and provide unlimited scope for leadership development processes, methods and activities.
Cultural diversity is another topical and very relevant area requiring leadership involvement, if not mastery. Large organisations particularly must recognise that the market-place, in terms of staff, customers and suppliers, is truly global now, and leaders must be able to function and appreciate and adapt to all aspects of cultural diversification. A leaders who fails to relate culturally well and widely and openly inevitably condemns the entire organisation to adopt the same narrow focus and bias exhibited by the leader.
Bear in mind that different leadership jobs (and chairman) require different types of leaders - Churchill was fine for war but not good for peacetime re-building. There's a big difference between short-term return on investment versus long-term change. Each warrants a different type of leadership style, and actually very few leaders are able to adapt from one to the other. (Again see the personality styles section: short-term results and profit require strong Jungian 'thinking' orientation, or frontal left brain dominance; whereas long-term vision and change require 'intuition' orientation, or frontal right brain dominance).
If it's not clear already, leadership is without doubt mostly about behaviour, especially towards others. People who strive for these things generally come to be regarded and respected as a leader by their people:
Some of these quotes are available as free motivational posters.
"People ask the difference between a leader and a boss.... The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert. The leader leads and the boss drives." (Theodore Roosevelt)
"The marksman hitteth the target partly by pulling, partly by letting go. The boatsman reacheth the landing partly by pulling, partly by letting go." (Egyptian proverb)
"No man is fit to command another that cannot command himself." (William Penn)
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." (President Harry S Truman)
"I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." (Woodrow Wilson)
"What should it profit a man if he would gain the whole world yet lose his soul." (The Holy Bible, Mark 8:36)
"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline." (Harvey Mackay)
"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple, learn how to look after them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." (John Steinbeck)
"I keep six honest serving-men, They taught me all I knew; Their names are What and Why and When, And How and Where and Who." (Rudyard Kipling, from 'Just So Stories', 1902.)
"A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than the giant himself." (Didacus Stella, circa AD60 - and, as a matter of interest, abridged on the edge of an English £2 coin)
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful." (Samuel Johnson 1709-84)
"The most important thing in life is not to capitalise on your successes - any fool can do that. The really important thing is to profit from your mistakes." (William Bolitho, from 'Twelve against the Gods')
"Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be, For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud: Under the bludgeonings of chance my head is bloody but unbowed . . . . . It matters not how strait the gait, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." (WE Henley, 1849-1903, from 'Invictus')
"Everybody can get angry - that's easy. But getting angry at the right person, with the right intensity, at the right time, for the right reason and in the right way - that's hard." (Aristotle)
"Management means helping people to get the best out of themselves, not organising things." (Lauren Appley)
"It's not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred with the sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause and who, at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." (Theodore Roosevelt.)
"Behind an able man there are always other able men." (Chinese Proverb.)
"I praise loudly. I blame softly." (Catherine the Great, 1729-1796.)
"Experto Credite." ("Trust one who has proved it." Virgil, 2,000 years ago.)
The are various games and exercises on the free team building games section that work well for demonstrating, assessing and developing leadership. See particularly the 'leading or managing' exercise, which is a flexible activity for illustrating the differences between managing and leading. As regards leadership exercises for experiential development of leadership abilities, focus on the leadership challenge of leading and managing a team - the task itself is secondary - so virtually any team game is suitable provided you give each leader a team of four or more people to lead. The more people, the bigger the test of leadership. You do not need a complicated exercise to create a leadership challenge. The leadership challenge is produced by having to organise, plan and motivate a team of people. In fact, if the task is too complex it will obscure the team leadership issues, by distracting from or hampering leadership skills and qualities. For leadership development choose exercises that includes an enjoyable and achievable challenge - even very basic games like newspaper towers will be a good test of leadership if you create teams of four or more for the leader to lead. Use games that you feel will produce variety, fun and a mixture of activities. The round tables exercise is particularly suitable to test and develop leadership skills. Choose a mixture of exercises which encourage the leaders think about using a different approach, and different people's strengths, for each challenge.
Many articles appear in the press and trade journals about leadership; look out for them, they can teach you a lot.
Newspaper articles - particularly those that appear in the serious press - about leadership and management, organizational and business culture, are an excellent source of ideas, examples and references for developing leadership.
A journalist could have spent a week researching the subject, talking to leading business leaders, academics and writers, and preparing useful statistics. This is valuable material. Learn from it, use it and keep it, because finding specific detail like this is usually quite difficult.
Serious relevant articles in the newspapers, trade press, or online equivalent, cost little or nothing, and yet they can be invaluable in developing your own ideas about leadership, and in providing compelling justification to organizations and managers for the need to adopt new ideas and different approach to leadership development.
Particularly powerful are articles which describe corporate failings, many with huge liabilities, arising from poor leadership behaviour and decisions, and which appear in the news virtually every week. Recent history is also littered with all sorts of corporate disasters and scandals, and while these high-profile examples are of a grander scale than usually applies in typical organisations, the same principles apply - an organisation is only as good as its leadership - at all levels.
Business disasters and failures - be their nature environmental, financial, safety, commercial or people-related - are invariably traceable back to a failure in leadership, and so any boardroom that says "That sort of thing wouldn't happen to us.." or "Our managers all know how to lead without being taught.." is probably riding for a fall.
Finding specific examples of cost and return on investment relating to leadership development is not easy (measuring leadership 'cause and effect' is not as simple as more tangible business elements), which is why it's useful to keep any such articles when you happen to see them.
Certain leadership development organisations are sometimes able to provide ROI justification and/or case studies, which is another possible source of evidence for reports and justification studies.
And given the growing significance of corporate ethics and responsibility, we can expect to see increasing ROI data relating to 'Triple Bottom Line' and 'Corporate Responsibility', which being strongly linked to leadership therefore will provide a further source of evidence and justification for leadership development.
See also:
Adair's Action-Centred Leadership model
Erikson's Life Stages Theory - very relevant to generational motivation and leadership
Adam's Equity Theory on motivation
ethical leadership and organisations
and the various other material relating to ethical management and leadership on the main website if you are not already there.
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