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The Productivity Network - Feature Article |
MANAGEMENT AND PRODUCTIVITY
Real leaders are NOT created in a classroom
by Basil Carter
May 2004
Effective leaders are not developed in classrooms. Leaders possess something deep inside them that gives them the will to win at all costs. Such leaders possess high levels of stamina, they move a little faster, they possess the necessary skills, a dominant drive, in addition to the will to win. Yet it is this drive, this hunger to be in first place, which is stronger than the skills. The time spent in a classroom teaches business leaders technical skills and how to operate a business. The real leaders were leaders before they entered the classroom and will be leaders when they leave the classroom.
The indigestible truth is that most managers are followers and deserve to be second in command. However all managers believe that they are competent candidates for the top position at their company. This is a combination of natural ego and training. Every executive in the second position at a company is a technically trained individual. Still, there are clear differences between the skills required to be a second in command and the skills required to actually command. The skills necessary to be a CEO are not a component of ego.
Many times, when you attend a meeting, you can identify the real leaders in the room just by feel. Good leaders are confident, generally independent, and do not need to be surrounded by trappings. Their command ability creates an atmosphere with their presence. These leaders are composed and relaxed even when under a high level of stress.
Poor leaders are boastful, flamboyant, and need to demonstrate their power to observers. Poor leaders require an entourage to reinforce their standing and importance. Good leaders possess scruples and will not accept the easy solution but look for the correct solution. Following the path of least resistance is what makes both men and rivers crooked.
Business leadership is more than counter punching to events in the marketplace or reacting to your competitors. If this is the style at your company, it means that your competitors are leading and your company is following. Being in first place - leading - is very important as the time lag for competitors, in any business situation, to mirror any competitive action is now very short. The leading companies will get a short period to exploit any new product or service but ONLY a short time. It continues to be true that the swift will always win the race. Innovation and being first is more important today than in the past due to the compressed product life cycles and the speed at which competitors can imitate any product or action. It will be easy to be the leading company one day and a following company the next day.
Good leaders can see things, events, and major changes coming and will anticipate these events and prepare the company to handle these challenges. Bad leaders hope that additional changes and new demands will not emerge at their company as it has only recently digested the last set of changes. Management at poorly performing companies cannot transform the company sufficiently fast to embrace all of the demands required by the marketplace. Good leaders control and direct the management of their company but do not personally perform the management.
Corporate leadership is both art and science. The science of how to analyse is taught at a business school. Deciding what to analyse, and selecting the information that is important to manage at a specific company, is art. There are many types of leadership style but there is only one type of leader. That individual must be respected by the employees at all levels, must be driving the company and not having the company driven by external events, and must be achieving results. The leadership style is less important, but remember that many good leaders use humour when delivering any message.
When a situation or problem is analysed there can be either optimistic or pessimistic views expressed. People become labelled as an optimist or a pessimist depending on their views. This is silly as these definitions are emotional and have little to do with decision-making. It is not important to define whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. It is important to define the actions for a company when there is a specific level of water in the glass. It is important for the leadership of that company to react to the facts of the evolving situation and do something to improve the bottom line. Most companies are going to survive the next few years but not all. The smart companies are the fast reacting companies, which are going to look further ahead than their competitors and take those decisions that will improve the profitability at the company, reduce the debt of the company, and reduce the costs at the company.
The CEO is responsible to look down the road, to see what is coming, and to develop a plan or a response to manage in the changing competitive landscape. If senior management is not going to anticipate forthcoming changes, and develop plans to adapt the company to take advantage of these changes, who is? If executive leaders are not going to implement change as required, why reimburse them at their current princely levels? A warm body with an executive title, to keep the corner office occupied, can be employed at very low cost. A leader will take charge and change the company to meet all competitive challenges and earn his compensation.
A successful business leader must be a winner and must have his company win. Business will not accept a ?glorious defeat? as an accomplishment worthy of respect. In the real world, there are many examples of self-sacrifice where individuals have triumphed over adversity, without achieving the planned goal. Dunkirk was a defeat, and a retreat, wrapped in a blanket of national pride. Many men were valorous in this retreat but it was a retreat. In business, the only measurement for a leader is whether the company that he is controlling is profitable and winning, or unprofitable and losing. The reason for this judgement is not just the reflection of a competitive attitude. It is also more than a general respect for winners and a dislike of losers. When a company fails, investors lose their money, employees lose their jobs, and suppliers lose their revenue. For many investors the money they lose may be their pension income. For older employees they may not have the skills to be reemployed. For suppliers the loss of the revenue may imperil the ability of their company to survive.
Good leaders find a way to win. This is why good leaders should be well rewarded. Poor leaders lose but unfortunately in the current business climate, even poor leaders are well rewarded and this is wrong. Poor leaders should be replaced. In the business world it is a brutal fact that winning is everything and the only thing.
Destiny is not a matter of chance but rather a matter of choice. Good executive leaders are employed to make choices. Open your eyes, as many things are self-evident.
Basil Carter (bcarter@productivitynetwork.com) is an author, CEO and specialist in the economies of Eastern Europe.
May 2004
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