Leadership and the Person - Qualities of an Aspiring Leader

There is a mindset to being a Leader – a way of being and a willingness to BE.

People on the journey of Leadership, need to prepare themselves for a number of things that will impact them personally. Leadership is personal. Anybody aspiring to be a professional Leader is fooling nobody but themselves. Being a Leader is much more than a lifestyle choice – it is a way of life and one has to choose such a life. As with all meaningful life-choices – Leadership and the journey to become a Leader takes commitment.

This is not for the faint of heart and neither is this a road for dabblers. As I have often said to people who have come to me for advice or direction – “Be careful what you ask for – You may actually get it”.

I personally started this journey based on a conscious choice. Having been in IT and the Technical side of it for many years, I came to a crossroads in my own growth that was driven by wanting to make a difference. As I gradually worked my way through the lessons in Leadership (and continue to do so) – culled from the school of hard knocks, I came to realize one fundamental truth for anybody on this journey. “You wanted it – You got it (Now deal with it)”.

There are very few experiences that can be as humbling as being a Leader. The fact of the matter is that you are not infallible. I call it the 80-20 rule. You can expect to get things right about 80% of the times – the remaining 20% - you are going to make mistakes (Of course there are more colorful ways to describe “mistakes”). The only choice Leaders have is picking and choosing the 20% that we are going to miss on. As long as the 20% are not things that are going to make a material impact to the Organization – this is acceptable.

One of the significant challenges of being a Leader is the fact that we are exposed and vulnerable at every moment of every day. We have to be willing to allow people to look into us, probe us and question all that we do and think. A big part of being a Leader is the willingness to allow others to second-guess us and yet stay the course defined by the Purpose we have set for ourselves.

The example I use with people who I talk to about Leadership is that “If you don’t think that everyday at somebody’s dinner table, you are not being discussed then you are fooling yourself.” Graphically the interaction can be illustrated thus:




The exposure that a Leader has is not just restricted to their immediate organization – but to the members’ families, social surroundings and in many cases the external environment as well. …And they are all experts…

The willingness and ability of a Leader to stay the course (not inflexibly) and stay focused on the goal through all of this takes a tremendous degree of belief, self-confidence and self-awareness. A Leader will usually exhibit such behavior openly when tough times come around. It is a truism that “When the going gets tough – the tough get going”. I have always wondered why we as a Human race exhibit our greatest qualities in moments of crisis.

One of the learning’s that I have got out of Leadership is that it is an intensely personal experience. You wind up growing as a person and most especially as a human being. The more open and accepting we are of experiences that Leadership bring us, the greater is our growth and the richer the rewards. The lasting rewards are those of the soul. The sense of responsibility that Leadership brings with it is far more lasting and universal than many other experiences as a working professional. The only experiences that come close are life-experiences such as living with a partner, having a child, losing someone you love…

Because Leadership is such an intensely personal experience and demands a lot from the individual, many of us are unwilling to go through this crucible beyond a point. There have been at least four separate occasions in my career that I have seriously contemplated stepping off this journey – but usually, there have been affirmations that enable me to continue this journey.

To lead is to Learn – and in my opinion the sheer joy of Learning differentiates good Leaders from Great ones. A Leader has to be constantly willing to learn – irrespective of where such learning comes from. Once, while I was an inexperienced Leader, struggling to find my purpose in life; I met a rickshaw driver – Phupuli. It had been one of those days, where I had been struggling to deal with some senior (in years) members of my team. I myself was a wet behind the ears Manager of a Sales force in a largely rural territory. I had more people telling me what I could not do than I could shake a stick at. At the end of a rough day, Phupuli had come to take me back to my little one-room, kitchen place. I was unusually quiet and meditative. Phupuli did not bother me. Finally, as a vocal sigh built up in me, I rhetorically asked out loud – “Why are people so difficult?” For a few moments there was silence broken only by the creaking of the rickshaw and then Phupuli answered – “Why are our five fingers different?”.

Everything just stopped and suddenly I realized that I was learning something. The “Something” was beyond the truism that each person was different – but that common-sense is really quite uncommon!! I have rarely seen commonsense either being used or revered. What I have found is that most people miss the obvious in the quest for a more complex explanation or solution.

One of the keys to successful Leadership is the ability to keep things simple. Relationships are usually simple, business problems are usually simple. It is the solutions that we naturally try to get to that are complex. I always say the “What” is always easy to get to and understand. As human beings who seemingly always want to get complex, the “How” usually gets out of hand.

The challenge for any Leader is to simplify the “How”. And if the exploration of the “What” is intensive, the “How” usually winds up becoming simple. Many aspiring Leaders spend very little effort in exploring the “What” and usually, being problem-solvers, jump to the “How”. This leads to complexity and a movement away from commonsense. The tendency to move towards complexity is usually caused by people dynamics. Questions such as, “How do I convince X person?”, “How is Y going to perceive this”, “How are we going to carry the people along on this path?”.

My thought is that “What” and “How” are two sides of the same coin. The challenge is to be able to balance both. Leaders often have a tendency to lean towards one or the other. The two must go hand-in-hand.

The willingness to explore these dimensions is the key to successful, differentiated Leadership. The difference a Leader makes to both themselves and the people they lead is this consistent desire, thought and action to improve and grow. This wanting to be different and to make a difference is critical to continually growing and evolving organizations.

Finally there is a little spice that needs to be added to the pot – Charisma. The ancient Greeks said that people with Charisma were the beloved of the Gods. I believe that every one of us has Charisma. Many of us simply do not know how to tap into it. I believe that the greatest surge of energy that comes from us is when we are true to ourselves. When that happens, I believe Charisma emerges. The struggle for many individuals is to allow that Energy itself to become visible. The only factor holding that back is reticence and conditioning. When you have grown up learning that “children must be seen and not heard” – you have a tendency to carry that forward as adults too.

My advice to all those who aspire to Leadership – be passionate about your Purpose and ensure you communicate that Passion. Once you do that, nothing can stop the charisma and energy from emerging and being visible to all.

Most times people mistake charisma for charm. Charisma is lasting and charm fades. In the highly short-term oriented times we live in, I think we all have a tendency to believe more in charm. I have seen it happen so often in organizations that are short-term focused that perceptions about people based on the “Charm factor” sometimes has a tendency to overpower substance.

This goes back to the old discussion of Form Vs Content. My take is that it is Form AND Content that is essential and lasting. As Leaders, all of us have to strive towards accomplishing and attaining both. This is an essential part of our roles in making a positive difference.

As you can see, there is a mindset required and a willingness to acquire that mindset in order to sustain this journey of Leadership. All I can say is – it is worth it.

Leadership and Competencies

While large aspects of Leadership are about Values, Ideals and Humanism – I believe Leaders must establish and develop a core set of competencies. As we have discussed earlier, a Leader is all about Change – Positive Change. The process of making change and leading through that process requires a Leader to have a certain set of competencies and expertise that enables and enhances the change process.

From what I have seen and experienced, Great Leaders usually have either one of two characteristics:

Firstly they either have all of the competencies necessary and have the expertise necessary to establish the change process from start to finish.

Alternately, they surround themselves with People who have these competencies which demand a great degree of self-awareness, humility and openness. Not too many Leaders have these attributes or the willingness to acknowledge that there may be others who have greater competencies than themselves.

I once asked my boss in one of my earliest Leadership roles a question. This person was known to surround himself with extremely talented people. And not just that, but also had the ability to grow and groom these people and then share them across the Organization. I asked him why he surrounded himself with such people – and what enabled him to pick such people.

He answered very simply – “I surround my self with people who make up for my deficiencies”. He very clearly recognized that he had gaps in his own abilities and traits and therefore ensured that he picked people who had those competencies and skills. Further, what enabled him to do this was a clear recognition of what he did not have that also enabled him to look for and find it in others.

For anyone, the challenge is not just to find and surround oneself with such people, but to also allow them to do what you picked them for in the first place. Many Leaders I know fulfill the first part extremely well – that of picking the right people – but there are very few who are able to follow-through on allowing the people they pick to do what they are best at.

The primary competencies any Leader needs to be aware of are:

These sets of competencies when put together create a spiral that is infinite. I call this the “Value Spiral”. These competencies when taken as individual elements come through as very basic skills that any aspiring professional needs to develop. While this is true – a Leader is able to pull these together and have them feed off each other in a continuous spiral that creates magic. The analogy that comes to mind is a music conductor of a symphony orchestra. Each instrument and piece of music taken in and of itself is good – but put together and conducted well makes magic and a Symphony. A Leaders role in working with a diverse set of competencies is in making it work as a continuum.

Most aspiring Leaders I have worked with usually have possessed one or two of these competencies. On many occasions, I have noticed either of two tendencies with such people:

In order to compensate for the lack of other competencies, people have a tendency to focus on developing them and their own strengths become rusty with disuse and neglect.

With others, I have observed overindulgence in what they are good at. This then leads to a comfort level that then holds them back from their own growth.

I was in the habit of meeting the Global CIO of a major corporation at least once a year to hear directly from the horse’s mouth as to how he felt I was doing and also to get some career advice. This was a person I respected a great deal and this year I was eager to learn where I needed to get better and grow to the next level.

We got started talking about skills development and what we all needed to work on. At that point, I asked him as to what he felt I needed to get better at. He said that he had not seen me be very creative and constantly full of ideas. He also gave me an example of one of my peers who he felt was an “Ideas person”. Now, of course I bristled – but held my own counsel. One thing I have noticed is that developmental feedback makes us bristle or feel hurt – only because we already know that to be the truth – but the feeling comes because we are hearing it from somebody else.

What I realized was happening was that I was getting to be pigeon-holed as a terrific Execution and Follow-through person. What rankled was that I had always felt that I had Ideation and Creativity and that I was unfairly being compared to another person.

On cooler thought, I realized that I had been unconsciously doing some things. As I had been rewarded for my Execution in the past, it merely reinforced my behavior – instead of encouraging me to explore other aspects of the Value Spiral.

I would like to believe that it was at this point that I started to become aware of the Value Spiral. The key to a Value Spiral is the acknowledgement that it is all these aspects working in concert that actually create the Value, not one or the other.

The second aspect of the Value Spiral is the acknowledgement that all the aspects/dimensions may not reside in any one individual but actually could reside in various individuals.

The Leader him/herself may have one or more competencies required in a Value Spiral – but most critical of all the capabilities a Leader brings is the ability to pull all of these together and get them to act in concert. However, it is simply not sufficient for a Leader to be a facilitator. They are not passive in this process but extremely active and have a great clarity of how each of these aspects comes together.

Further, much like a conductor in a symphony orchestra – not only does the Leader ensure that all the musical sections (Winds, Brass, Strings etc.) are in concert – but also brings in their own knowledge, experience and most important of all their own “Feel” to the music.

It is this “Feel” that distinguishes being good and being great – being motivational and being inspirational. The ability to infuse into a group the concept of a collective Value Spiral and the difference that it can bring in peoples lives is a significant part of being a Leader.

The individual components and competencies of a Value Spiral make organizations good – but what makes them different and great is the recognition and belief that all of them in concert make them meaningful - meaningfulness, makes the difference that make Organizations and Leaders Great. Exploring each of these competencies is critical in understanding how they work together and the positive differences they can make to the whole rather than a part.

Ideation – The ability to imagine and create a Vision or a Concept that is unifying and Positive Change oriented for the greater good.

Strategizing – Moving from the abstract image to a more concrete “How” to realize the image or Vision through detailed analysis of the forces that could impact the realization of the Image positively or negatively.
Planning – Breaking down the strategy that is broad and far-seeing into discrete and tactical What’s and How’s and Who’s, Where’s, Why’s and When’s yielding a defined outcome.

Analysis – Understanding of the risks, resources, pros and cons of each discrete step to realizing the Plan.

Execution – Actioning of the Plan and leveraging the circumstance to drive the Plan to accomplishment of discrete goals.

Follow-through – Ensuring the Execution actually happens – and more critically – actually “sticks” and finally ensures that the Positive Change happens and that is has an impact that is favorable to and in-line with the Idea/Image/Vision.

Most Leaders I have worked with have always exhibited a tendency to be focused more on the Strategizing and Planning aspects. That being said – an underlying competency that all of them have exhibited is Execution.

Traditional and modern organizations have always had a tendency to focus on Execution as a core competence and therefore develop Leaders using roles that are Execution heavy. Most of the Leaders in Organizations today have cut their teeth on Execution. I am not aware of any Organization that focuses on the growth of Leaders through the continuum of the Value Spiral. If they do so, I posit that it is more by chance/circumstance than a result of effort or clear focus.

Great Leaders have usually stumbled upon their own native abilities rather than a result of their respective environments engendering these qualities. Leaders must practice each of these competencies, much like they work on perfecting their traditional skills. Where Leaders must pay attention to is on the establishment and focus on the recognition of the fact that it is all of these competencies that create the Value Spiral and not just one or the other.

Please Comment on "Need for Leadership"

I am seeing a set of comments on the earlier Blogs and the latest one on "Types of Leaders". I had posted another Blog on "The Need for Leadership", which introduces a Leadership framework that I am working on. Please review and comment on that as well.

Thanks.

Leadership Types

I have always been fascinated by observing the number of people who want to create an impression. All of us at some point or the other want to make an impact that is a resounding statement to demonstrate that we are bigger and more important than we seem.

The quest for Leadership is not much different from this. However, the difference is the willingness to place the greater good ahead of our own personal impact. Therefore, is Leadership an altruistic occupation or an encompassing Passion?

I have seen that there are three primary types of Leaders who are motivated by different outcomes:

The Opportunistic Leader – This is the Leader who grabs opportunities for both themselves and the Organization. Most Leaders today fall into this category. To clarify, this is not a selfish Leader but a person who leverages opportunity to further his own cause along with that of the Organization. A variant of the “Opportunistic Leader” is the “Selfish Leader” who places personal success ahead of the Organization’s.

The Altruistic Leader – This is the do-gooder Leader who is constantly looking to change their environment for the greatest good. This type of Leader will go to a great lengths to try and run everybody’s life around self-sacrifice, and a vision of getting to a world of perfection. Organizations that have such Leaders in them typically feel full of lofty ideals – but do not necessarily deliver as advertised.

The Purposeful Leader – This is the kind of Leader who is driven by a sense of purpose in almost every thought and action. Typically, these Leaders are able to explain and convince others as to the rationale and Purpose. This Leader is grounded in the “greater good”, but is neither opportunistic nor altruistic. This Leader has clarity of Purpose and direction, and the humility to be adaptive, with the willingness to learn from all sources. Most of all, this is the Leader who understands completely the concept Positive change for all.

In my opinion and experience, I have seen a number of Type-1 Leaders – perhaps the majority; a few Type-2 and an extremely rare handful Type-3.

As a result, the Organizations led by each of these types of Leaders also have a difference of feel to them.

Opportunistic Leaders, typically foster Organizations that are highly responsive to environmental changes. The ability of such Organizations to absorb and respond to change is very rapid, with a result that many of these Organizations feel like they do not have clarity of Vision or a sense of Purpose.

Organizations which are led by such people thrive on reactions and the short-term response always seems the most appropriate. The Leaders themselves are spending much of their time responding to changing circumstances rather than positioning themselves to meet the Change.

Initiatives, rather than a Vision and Strategy drive decision-making. The goal is usually something not everyone understands. As a result, the environment engendered is one where perceptions and their management play a key role in defining individual and organizational success.

Such Organizations have a terrific sense of responsiveness. Closure is valued; execution and risk management become mandatory competencies. Process thinking usually comes up at times when too much change hits the Organization – and for a brief while, the Organization mobilizes around a few key initiatives. Once the crisis passes, opportunism comes to the fore again.

Such organizations are usually led by strong personalities who are charismatic and savvy. Much of the Organizations energy becomes attuned to reading and understanding the Leaders’ mood and current thinking. Innovations in such organizations are usually not a priority – rewards come to those who react fastest and manage perceptions best.

It is easy to see a number of such organizations and Leaders in today’s world chasing the mythical business Quarter which usually tends to go on ad-infinitum with minor variations.

Altruistic Leaders on the other hand build organizations that have a strong sense of Vision and Strategy. Such organizations are built around concepts that are also strong ideals. Mission statements in such organizations have a tendency to meld Business Goals with positive Social Impact. These organizations most of the time operate from a long-term Strategy perspective. Many of today’s startups have a similar feel.

The Leaders in these organizations have usually come together because of a shared sense of values and experiences. People have a tendency to mistake Idealism for naiveté. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have seen more than a few such organizations and interacted with many such Leaders and have usually come away with a sense that there is great clarity in these people combined with a tough savvy.

Usually though, what I have observed is that other than the few Leaders at the top who share such a strong bonding and congruence of Vision – the Managers below have a tendency to struggle with the same.

The Leaders in such organizations are usually not very inspiring – but have a strong belief in the goals of the organization and its direction that this translates itself down to the employees. Such organizations have a deep engagement with their employees and employees too respond to this clarity of direction.

All of this being said, I do believe that such organizations know and believe in their values so much that when it comes to interacting or conducting business, there is a tendency to sit on this ideological “high-horse” that gets in the way of a sound realism in driving decisions – or responding to changing needs in the marketplace.

I was introduced to a senior executive of a company a few years ago. This was a process of my own exploration into Indian businesses after a long stint overseas – preparing myself to set up a software unit for GE (General Electric). This executive came across as very open and passionate about many of the same things that I tend to be passionate about. When he started to tell me about his Company, I noticed that this person would lean forward in his seat to drive home to me the importance of what their Company was trying to accomplish. We had a long talk about the responsibility an organization has to its employees and society at large. How companies in India were not necessarily doing the right thing by paying lip-service to concepts such as civic responsibility, Employee and Community welfare.

I agreed to visit their offices – and throughout my visit(s), was deeply impressed by everybody’s energy around their belief that they were making a difference – and they were. I came away so impressed that I arranged to have my fledgling Leadership team meet with their Leaders to share experiences and best-practices.
That visit clearly demonstrated to me that these folks sure knew how to build software well and were serious about their processes which were in contrast to many of the other software businesses I had interacted with.

Following this meeting, I had a serious discussion with their CEO and COO about doing business with them. That is when I felt a distinct change. It almost felt like – “We will do business our way or no way”. The surprising or rather enlightening part of this was that I realized that it was exactly because of the Ideals that made it very near impossible to consider meeting someone halfway.

As this organization had some absolutely terrific people, I decided t continue working with them. What my experience has taught me since then is that, unless you are willing to accept the rules set down by such Organizations – everybody is better off not trying to work together. Usually in such organizations – it is an all or nothing sort of deal.

Such organizations usually have great people – thought and action leader – great processes too. But what happens is that these organizations become inflexible for exactly the reasons that made them attractive in the first place.

Purposeful Leaders may at first blush seem to be zealots. These Leaders are constantly passionate and at times may even burn. As you work with them and begin to understand their motivations, you begin to understand that they are people filled with a mission of making great positive changes to their Organizations.

Very high on balancing their Purpose with a great sense of Positive Change for People and Organizations they lead. Such Leaders are rare and also have a tendency to not necessarily carry along everybody in their quest for Positive Change. While they may seem at times seem to be very blinkered, they have a clarity of goals for the long-term that is usually unmatched. These Leaders are also adaptable and flexible in realigning their short-term tactics but yet maintain the focus on the goal. However, the bane of such Leaders is that they surround themselves with people of similar thoughts and experiences, leading to significant dynamics within diverse and large organizations.

Such Leaders are very charismatic and usually carry along people with their sheer passion, focus and energy.

I once worked in an organization where the Leader had clearly articulated a vision for the company that focused on delivering IT Solutions leveraging AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Expert Systems. The Leaders’ premise was that in every aspect of Business Operations there was a place to apply these technologies. A very exciting and novel concept to be sure... There were a few catches though that nobody seemed to have considered.

First, there were probably less than a handful of employees in the organizations who actually had real-world experience implementing Software Solutions – irrespective of scale.

Second, other than the Leader and one other person on his staff – nobody else had actually worked on any AI/Expert Systems implementations.

Third, the Technology available at the time was either very expensive or extremely simplistic.

Fourth, none of these Technologies had actually attempted to integrate with traditional technologies using large databases, or complex operating logic and many simply did not work with multi-tasking Operating Systems.

Last, but not the least – the Vision was to create a suite of products which would be so good that the “People would come” to buy it.

What made the organization tick were the energy, passion and Vision of the Leader. This person was extremely people-focused and was always there with the next great idea, the concept that he would float and expect his people to follow and deliver results on.

As a reasonably seasoned IT professional who had been around the block a couple of times – I made attempts to suggest that we probably needed to have a business strategy around developing our first product. Such as identifying our Customer-base, identifying a specific business need and then probably modeling it before attempting to get into full-blown development.

This was simply too arduous a process for such a fledgling organization. Instead, the Leader chose to define the concept of a product right there in the conference room. The idea was excellent – but could it be developed and would it make money?

The teams started to build with no process or methodology to speak of. With the handful of experienced personnel, the product was developed and even piloted at a few installations – but nowhere near profitable. One of the attributes of such Leaders I have observed is that it is their definition of success that further reinforces their energies and sense of Purpose.

This Leader was on a complete “high” from the success and saw this as a vindication of his Vision which then enabled him to leverage his Passion and charisma even further to reinforce it within the organization.

Objectivity is not a virtue with such Leaders and usually, when the context changes dramatically; such people have a difficult time reorienting themselves and by extension, their organizations. However, such Leaders when surrounded by strong tactical minds and diverse opinions make huge strides in making an organization stronger, better and faster.

Having talked about three broad types of Leaders, I have always thought about what the attributes would be of an Ideal Leader.

The key to this, I believe is that a Leader who is principled – has a strong sense of values, is purposeful – as in, deliberate about the Purpose and Passionate about it. If we could combine these ingredients in a further attribute of Strategic and Tactical flexibility – then I believe we would come close to the attributes of an Ideal Leaders’ mindset.

The Need for Leadership

I had a boss, who I asked once about Leadership. He asked me if I had ever heard about the “CIO Handbook” (He was/is a CIO – one of the best I know). Naïve as I was, I shook my head; and he said that when I got the book, to read pages 1 to 5 and I would get my answer.

Needless to say, there never was and probably never will be a handbook on Leadership. And yet, the world at large always looks for and to Leaders for guidance, counsel, and even direction. Why then are Leaders such a rare breed? I do not make a distinction between “Good” or “Bad” Leaders because by definition a Leader serves Positive Change and the management of the Energy that such change brings with it.

Leadership is always defined within a context. The outcomes of such Leadership may live beyond the context and such is Greatness. History is replete with such great Leaders. Mahatma Gandhi’s context was India’s struggle for Freedom, and his Leadership through those times is unquestionable. But Gandhiji’s greatness stemmed from the lessons and Leadership he gave all mankind in its continuous struggle to be freed from Hate.

Alexander the Great with his vision of One World, Martin Luther King Jr. and his dream of a world of Equality - through all of these, one continuous refrain throbs gently – Leadership. Leadership that is beyond contexts and situations that define how we think, and who we aspire to be.

At the core of Leadership is a very fundamental premise – “If they work for you, you work for them”. In a very fundamental way, a Leader always serves needs and aspirations greater than themselves. The context therefore is far broader than the narrow confines of the Corporate world and extends into daily living.

In every situation and circumstance there is always a need for positive change. Whether you are a Manager on the shop-floor responsible for making widgets, or a Politician wanting to change the world, or a Housewife responsible for running a family and household – the need for positive change which in management-speak is “Value-add” is a constant.

So, how do Leaders make that difference? Basically, a Leader has three core capabilities that are constantly evolving in their own minds:

1) People – part of the context they are in and a deep understanding of the positive change they desire.
2) Principles – A set of beliefs that the Leader holds uncompromisingly to, ensuring transparency to all People. Positive set of beliefs, earned from experience.
3) Performance – How the Leader goes about making the positive changes and a reckoning of the impact of such changes. A Leader does not flinch from accountability to their actions.

Surrounding these is a passion for positive change. In simple terms, the key to sound Leadership are two fundamental principles:

1) Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
2) Say what you do – Do what you say – and How you do what you say defines the positivism of the impact.

Through all this, a Leader requires sustenance to deal with the ups and downs through this process of change and the ebbs and flows of energy. They are sustained by a strong sense of Purpose; accompanied by a pride in what they do; held constant by their Passion and Perseverance through all odds. What I have observed is that Leaders usually create their own Purpose, which usually resonates with the People who they lead.
A colleague of mine took over a team that was in deep trouble – Morale was low, there was little sense of “Team”, operating efficiencies were going down, commitments were being missed. A no-win situation, you would say. And yet, this friend of mine, even before he took the job, was already working on one simple concept that he wanted his people to understand that – “Each one of you is valuable”.

When a Leader is willing to look to the needs of the people before his own, something in each of us responds positively to this.

Needless to say, this colleague is extremely successful at what he does – but more importantly, the Team feels that they are successful in what they do.

Contrast this with another situation where another colleague of mine took over a team in reasonably good shape, good team ethos, strong processes but lacking in Focus. This person really wanted to make her mark - and right at that point was her undoing. Instead of leveraging the fundamental principle of “If they work for you, You work for Them” – and in her anxiety to make a lasting impression – what came across to the People was exactly that.

I always say – People can smell a fake a mile away. If ever an aspiring Leader starts with the premise of “What’s in it for me?” – that is a sure recipe for disaster.

With both of these colleagues there was one common thread – both had the desire to create Positive Change. If ever there was truth to the aphorism “The Ends justify the Means” – it ends here. The Means are just as important and vital as the Ends. In Leadership it is always about BOTH the Means and the Ends. One took the path of valuing individuals, and through those means achieving the ends. The other started with the End of creating Focus and ignored the individual until it was too late.

You may very well ask if therefore the Means are more important than the Ends. The differentiator is the sense of Purpose. In one situation, the Purpose was to influence positive change for the People. In the other there was a desire for positive change for the People, but the Leader in their haste to demonstrate Positive Change ignored the People.

Primarily, we recognize Leaders by their desire to create Positive Change for People within the Context. Similarly, we also castigate Leaders (And I hesitate to call them this) by their desire for Change irrespective of People.

JFK Jr. said it absolutely right with – “Ask not what your Country can do for you; ask what you can do for your Country”. Replace “Country” with your own context – Boss, Team, Organization, Community, Group, State etc.

Response to some comments

Based on some comments I have seen on this Blog - Let me try and categorize them:

1) A comment was around whether Leaders need to be Charismatic - I would like to look at it from 2 perspectives - The Need for Leadership and Types of Leadership (That I have experienced).
2) Leadership and To Lead means a direction and therefore a movement. Towards this I would like to submit a Leadership model on this post that could help clarify. The subsequent 2 posts is my attempt to cover these topics.

What Leadership is about

Leadership is about positive change – initiating, managing or following. With Change, there is always Energy that is either gathered or dissipated. The management of this Energy is ultimately what Leadership is all about.

If anybody were to try and write a Job Description of a Leader, they would find themselves listing the positive attributes of a human being such as:

Courageous
Visionary
Honest
Influential
Change-agent etc. etc.

Therefore, we can safely conclude that Leadership is not a Job Title, but an attribute. And as with any attribute, you just have to Be it or simply Do it.

The mystique of Leadership primarily revolves around this vagueness, this squishiness. After all, most of us recognize Leadership in others, why then do we find this so challenging to find in ourselves?

The answer as always is simple – Self-awareness. Any of us are able to recognize attributes in others, outside of ourselves. This person is honest, this politician is courageous, and that lady is influential. Yet, when we turn that beacon on to ourselves, suddenly the clarity vanishes.

In my opinion, one of the key attributes/qualities of a Leader is the willingness and ability to constantly look into themselves – either on their own initiative or due to the ability to listen, reflect and act upon feedback from their environment.

The qualities required of a person on the quest for self-awareness are primarily – Humility, Listening, Reflection, Thought and Action. The primary quality though is Humility. For, this quality brings with it other positive attributes such as openness and honesty.

In this blog I will be taking on some of these topics head-on as I believe that the process of peeling the onion through the hindsight of experience is a great way to learn. What I have consistently found in my experiences is that there are essentially two ways to learn: One is to use a map and guideposts on the journey. The other is to forego the map and the markers – but to keep the goal in mind while experiencing.

Both are critical and both are rewarding. This book while providing some of the maps and markers will nonetheless use Questions that are meant for the traveler to explore by themselves.

Leadership, like Life is more about the journey and less about the destination. There may be material goals and other tangible results that a Leader on the journey may attain – but Leadership at its pinnacle is about the journey and the quest for learning - the growth through positive change.

1) Leadership is about initiating and actively participating in positive change.
2) Leadership is primarily about serving the greater and less about directing.
3) Managing is about maintaining through the change process.
4) Change is about the changes in Energy – Leadership is about managing Energy.
5) Leadership is a personal journey – not a professional destination.
6) Leadership is about Thinking and Doing – It is an attribute, not a job title.