(The following is from writings just found, literally tucked away in a filing cabinet, printed on that purple mimeographed stuff—you “old schoolers” know what I am talking about. What a find! While I continue my treasure hunt, I am posting some for you now.)
Leadership is too much related to one’s personality, one’s basic attitudes and values. Consequently, becoming a different kind of leader requires fundamental changes in the inner core of the person, as opposed to simply their outward behavior.
Such a change will occur only through frequent exposures to new situations, through a kind of painstaking experimentation with different methods, and through honest examination and evaluation of one’s attitudes toward self and others.
‘Techniques’ will help, of course, but they can be effective only if they become an implementation of the leader’s own philosophy and temperament. There is a reason for stressing the intimate relationship between one’s patterns of leadership and their philosophy and temperament.
People often get discouraged after once trying out new methods of leadership that they give up and go back to their old ways. If, however, these leaders realized that changes in their attitudes must go hand in hand with changes in their skills, then they might have more tolerance for their early failures and keep fighting to improve.
*Never-before-published writings from the creator of Leader Effectiveness Training (LET).