September 23, 2008--Leadership
For decades there has been a growing body of literature that focuses on the qualities that characterize effective leaders. This is not a dry academic subject with little purpose in the “real world.” Quite the contrary, the things that have been learned have all been derived from a close examination of the actual qualities that proven leaders possess.
Most of the leaders who have been studied come from the business world and admittedly at the moment it is hard to come up with good things to say about our current crop of CEOs. And many studies have been about those who have been deemed to be effective in the political arena, though again at the moment it is hard to conjure many about whom we can say positive things.
With these caveats, in exactly six weeks we are going to elect someone to be our nation's leader? And isn’t it true that whomever wins is going to inherit a massive set of economic, geopolitical, and environmental problems which to untangle will require exceptional leadership abilities? Problems so massive that Barack Obama just yesterday said that the cost of attempting to bail them out is such that budgets for most domestic programs will have to slashed. I think that was his word.
But though we are hoping that the one we elect will embody the characteristics of effective leaders, we have had virtually no public discussion about what that actually means or, cynicism and fear aside, have not even glanced at all that has been learned about the things that define them.
Instead, until last week, we heard more about lipstick on a pig or how many years in the Senate constitute the best number to prepare one for the presidency.
Even a glance at the literature on leadership reveals that these are not the kinds of things we should be debating. And that glance suggests that virtually all studies of leadership come to focus on many of the following set of characteristics:
Every study shows that fine leaders have a broad view of the worlds in which they operate. In other words, they have a clear vision, a vivid picture, the foresight about where to go and the ability to imagine what success once there looks like.
They have the capacity to communicate that vision and the discipline to work with dedication and energy toward achieving it. To do this effectively, successful leaders are able to hold people’s attention. Even inspire.
Further, at the risk of lapsing into MBA-speak or psychobabble, they reveal that they have the integrity to integrate outer and inner values. This enables them to have the capacity to engage in honest dealings with well-controlled emotions.
They hire or draw to them people with the talent and appropriate experience to work effectively as part of a “team,” and they give them the room to do what it is that needs to be accomplished. They are good at listening to them, considering their dissenting views, and being direct and frank with them about what is and isn’t working. Being magnanimous helps since giving public credit to others when they deserve it makes everyone more effective.
They display the humility to recognize the abilities of others and, with their own skills of self-assessment, have an awareness of their limitations. And they have the capacity to learn on their feet, acknowledge limitations and mistakes, and while in motion make appropriate adjustments and corrections. Another way of putting this—they have a constructively critical perspective on situations, others, and themselves.
They are comfortable with complexity, ambiguity, and perplexity and are drawn to take on challenging and even seemingly daunting situations and problems. In fact, they like challenges and responsibility and display genuine optimism that they can be worked on and even solved. They sweat the big stuff.
Good leaders are uniformly assertive. The opposite of aggressive. They are exceptional at stating what they expect and comfortable holding people accountable—themselves included—for their actions.
They may or may not be academically or intellectually gifted but all effective leaders have practical intelligence. They are savvy. They have smarts. And are mentally tough.
Successful leaders are uniformly open to promising new ideas even if they do not conform to conventional ways of thinking. In fact, they seek out creative people who are especially good at “thinking outside the box.” This does not mean that for its own sake they are innovation seekers but rather relish the give and take, the stimulation, challenge, and possibility of new ideas and ways of doing things.
A correlate to this is their ability to work with others with whom they disagree and when necessary, which is frequent with political leaders, compromise and make deals, realizing that little can be achieved without clever compromises.
They are compassionate and empathetic. Another way of putting this—they are good at feeling other’s pain and letting them and the rest of us witness that. If they are good at this—even if is not genuine—they by example reveal that this capacity is a sign of human strength, not emotional weakness.
And they all seem to have a fine sense of humor, dark at times though it might be, which is necessary to relieve tension and defuse opposition and hostility.
Ideally, when hiring or electing a leader, one should look for someone with a proven track record of in the past having demonstrated foresight and judgment. This is not always easy to do, and for certain will not be revealed in the bare bones of a resume.
I don’t know where this leaves you when considering John McCain or Barack Obama, but for me it’s an easy call.
Most of the leaders who have been studied come from the business world and admittedly at the moment it is hard to come up with good things to say about our current crop of CEOs. And many studies have been about those who have been deemed to be effective in the political arena, though again at the moment it is hard to conjure many about whom we can say positive things.
With these caveats, in exactly six weeks we are going to elect someone to be our nation's leader? And isn’t it true that whomever wins is going to inherit a massive set of economic, geopolitical, and environmental problems which to untangle will require exceptional leadership abilities? Problems so massive that Barack Obama just yesterday said that the cost of attempting to bail them out is such that budgets for most domestic programs will have to slashed. I think that was his word.
But though we are hoping that the one we elect will embody the characteristics of effective leaders, we have had virtually no public discussion about what that actually means or, cynicism and fear aside, have not even glanced at all that has been learned about the things that define them.
Instead, until last week, we heard more about lipstick on a pig or how many years in the Senate constitute the best number to prepare one for the presidency.
Even a glance at the literature on leadership reveals that these are not the kinds of things we should be debating. And that glance suggests that virtually all studies of leadership come to focus on many of the following set of characteristics:
Every study shows that fine leaders have a broad view of the worlds in which they operate. In other words, they have a clear vision, a vivid picture, the foresight about where to go and the ability to imagine what success once there looks like.
They have the capacity to communicate that vision and the discipline to work with dedication and energy toward achieving it. To do this effectively, successful leaders are able to hold people’s attention. Even inspire.
Further, at the risk of lapsing into MBA-speak or psychobabble, they reveal that they have the integrity to integrate outer and inner values. This enables them to have the capacity to engage in honest dealings with well-controlled emotions.
They hire or draw to them people with the talent and appropriate experience to work effectively as part of a “team,” and they give them the room to do what it is that needs to be accomplished. They are good at listening to them, considering their dissenting views, and being direct and frank with them about what is and isn’t working. Being magnanimous helps since giving public credit to others when they deserve it makes everyone more effective.
They display the humility to recognize the abilities of others and, with their own skills of self-assessment, have an awareness of their limitations. And they have the capacity to learn on their feet, acknowledge limitations and mistakes, and while in motion make appropriate adjustments and corrections. Another way of putting this—they have a constructively critical perspective on situations, others, and themselves.
They are comfortable with complexity, ambiguity, and perplexity and are drawn to take on challenging and even seemingly daunting situations and problems. In fact, they like challenges and responsibility and display genuine optimism that they can be worked on and even solved. They sweat the big stuff.
Good leaders are uniformly assertive. The opposite of aggressive. They are exceptional at stating what they expect and comfortable holding people accountable—themselves included—for their actions.
They may or may not be academically or intellectually gifted but all effective leaders have practical intelligence. They are savvy. They have smarts. And are mentally tough.
Successful leaders are uniformly open to promising new ideas even if they do not conform to conventional ways of thinking. In fact, they seek out creative people who are especially good at “thinking outside the box.” This does not mean that for its own sake they are innovation seekers but rather relish the give and take, the stimulation, challenge, and possibility of new ideas and ways of doing things.
A correlate to this is their ability to work with others with whom they disagree and when necessary, which is frequent with political leaders, compromise and make deals, realizing that little can be achieved without clever compromises.
They are compassionate and empathetic. Another way of putting this—they are good at feeling other’s pain and letting them and the rest of us witness that. If they are good at this—even if is not genuine—they by example reveal that this capacity is a sign of human strength, not emotional weakness.
And they all seem to have a fine sense of humor, dark at times though it might be, which is necessary to relieve tension and defuse opposition and hostility.
Ideally, when hiring or electing a leader, one should look for someone with a proven track record of in the past having demonstrated foresight and judgment. This is not always easy to do, and for certain will not be revealed in the bare bones of a resume.
I don’t know where this leaves you when considering John McCain or Barack Obama, but for me it’s an easy call.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:28 AM
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