28 June 2012 St Albans, UK [Bertil Wiklander] A colleague recently reminded me of Peter Drucker’s distinction between management and leadership:
‘Management is doing things right – Leadership is doing the right things.’
It made me think again of the real nature of leadership. What helps us know how to do the right things? See here the fruit of some of my reflections:
Art and Wisdom
- Leadership is the practice of an art. It is not an exact science and it is not accomplished simply by implementing rules.
- Leadership is based on wisdom acquired by making mistakes and learning the right lessons from them.
Character
- Leadership is best learnt and exercised by persons with certain personality traits.
- Leadership comes from feeling good about yourself – avoiding self-destruction and not being over-sensitive to criticism, being humble and yet fearless and bold.
- Leadership requires being energetic, persistent and self-disciplined and yet constantly encouraging others.
Abilities
- Leadership comes from being able to listen to, having empathy with, and reading the minds of other people.
- Leadership comes from being able to see the big picture while understanding how its elements relate to the whole.
- Leadership is not lost in the detail of things and never micromanages.
- Leadership comes from being able to focus on the essence in every given situation – a leader knows the difference between what is important and what is trivial.
- Leadership comes from being able to bring a group together that acts toward a common goal.
- Leadership comes from being able to communicate well – articulating your thoughts clearly while adapting to different kinds of situations and audiences.
Attitude to My Leadership Role
- Leaders understand their central role in the process of inducing others to act toward a common goal – and know how to master this role.
- Leadership is about relating so well to others that you are being followed.
- Leaders lead by their actions, not their positions.
- Leaders influence others by inspiring their trust, acting consistently, and motivating them by words and deeds.
- Leaders lead by legitimate authority, setting an example, setting goals, rewarding success and dealing with failure, organisational restructuring, team-building, and communicating a vision.
- Leaders act so that the organisation achieves its mission while all feel they were part of it.
By Dr Bertil Wiklander, President of the Trans-European Division
Used with permission from Leadership Development Journal – June-July 2012
