The way people talk about leadership, you’d think someone would have to be a wizard to lead. Maybe Gandalf or Merlin could clean up this mess. Maybe some mystical creature from another dimension will come to our rescue. Businesses spend millions to hire high-profile CEOs to rescue their faltering companies. Corporations on the verge of hostile take-overs look to white knights to step in and defend them against the dark side.
Myths:
• Leaders are born. The idea that there are innate characteristics that make one a leader and that only certain people have these traits is a widely held belief. Certainly, there are attributes such as cognitive capacity and physical beauty that work to people’s advantage, but there are simply too many exceptions of individuals without such traits becoming leaders for that idea to be credible.
• You can be appointed leader. Tenacious is the idea that you cannot be a leader unless someone appoints you to a position with lots of authority. But, again there are just way too many people out there who are clearly leaders who have absolutely no formal position. There is not enough authority in the world to make someone a leader if the team members won’t follow them.
• Leaders need to be in charge. Leaders have and use a lot of power. If you don’t use your power, people think you are weak. Power can be used to accomplish certain things in the short term but it is very misleading to equate power with leadership. By its very nature, leadership is what happens when someone chooses to follow you. It is something that must be earned from the people you aspire to lead.
• Leaders have to be extroverted. It’s the outgoing, backslapping types who become leaders. Some leaders are extroverts but most are not. Many quiet, competent, decent, trustworthy individuals have many followers. When asked what traits people want in their leaders, they typically respond with, listening, trustworthiness, care about me and the team, don’t play favorites, fairness, etc. Some look for decisiveness and vision but few start by mentioning extroversion or outgoingness (is that a word?).
In a way, good leadership is magic
Sort of! I don’t mean the metaphysical kind but the kind that overcomes all of the headaches that most of us associate with trying to get a group of people to work as a team. One of my favorite “light reading” series is “The Dresden Files.” It is a science fiction/mystery series about a wizard who has set up a private eye business. He uses his magic to find lost people, solve crimes, and generally help those who are in trouble defend themselves from the “forces of darkness (demons, vampires, ghouls, and so on).” Part of what makes it fun is that the wizard, Harry Dresden, is not all-powerful. His magic has limits so he must be creative. He has to use his head. He has to ask for help. So, leadership is a little bit like Harry Dresden’s magic. It’s great stuff if you know how to use it. Sometimes people choose to follow poor leaders, but those who are most successful, the leaders we look up to and try to emulate work hard to learn certain things.
Here is their magic.
• Listening. Great leaders listen first. They are often not the best talkers but they darn well better be able to listen if they are going to remain the leader for long.
• Straight talk. Great leaders tell the truth. They don’t obfuscate, evade, avoid, or sugar coat. They give straightforward, honest, nonjudgmental feedback to their team members, peers, and bosses.
• Ethical behavior. Great leaders don’t lie, cheat or steal. That spoils the magic.
• Ask for help. Great leaders know it’s not all about them. They are not so wrapped up in themselves that they can’t go for help when it’s appropriate to do so. There’s not so much ego. More gets done when groups work as a team and great leaders understand that.
• Model the behavior. Great leaders understand the magic of practicing what you preach. They don’t ask people to do things that they would not be willing to do themselves. They don’t treat people less well because they are engaged in the more mundane tasks. They understand the importance of the steady, day-to-day stuff as well as the spectacular and acknowledge people for it.
• Live win/win. The truly great ones see every conflict as a normal part of all human relationships and strive to get those disputes resolved so that no one has to compromise on their fundamental needs. Sure, people modify their positions and back off on their favorite solutions, but their most important, basic human needs are always respected.
• Flexibility. Great leaders are more interested in fairness than consistency. It is easy to be consistent. You don’t need great leaders if all you want is to treat everyone the same. To be fair, you have to listen, care about each person and be willing to do the work required to resolve conflicts fairly. They are willing to change when necessary.
Leadership training is not magic. It is a straightforward process that helps individuals learn the skills that will help them become successful when they are in leadership roles. Leadership training will not make you a leader any more than Harry Potter can make you a wizard. We should not treat leadership like it is some mystical process reserved for the elite few. The most successful organizations have leaders at every level, in every team, in every department, in every function and of every age, race, gender, and ethnic background. When the people of the organization do the hard work it takes to learn the skills, the outcome often looks like magic. Who knows? Maybe, that’s what magic really is.