In the "new world" business environment that is evolving with dizzying speed, the search for strong leadership has taken on more urgency--and companies are discovering that the traditional approach to creating leaders may be in need of some retooling.
In his book, John P. Kotter on What Leaders Really Do, Harvard professor John Kotter contends that most organizations today lack leadership--and it has little to do with a paucity of talent, intelligence, or experience.
"Instead of nurturing talent, encouraging people to lead, and to learn from mistakes and successes," Kotter says, "organizations all too often ignore leadership potential, offer no relevant training or role models, and punish those who make small errors while trying to lead. Individuals, too, get in their own way by failing to assess developmental needs realistically and to proactively seek means of meeting those needs."
There is certainly no shortage of books that explore a hundred different ways to train leaders. But is leadership something that can be achieved by reading a book or taking a class, or is something more integral required?
"Once you find yourself in a leadership role, you discover that neither the books nor the MBA degree help you in the ways you thought they would," says Earl Hinton, vice president of developmental services for Fidelity Investments. "The things you've learned that are the most valuable are what you've learned outside of the company, in the family, in your community, in church. You just have to know how to translate them."
Fidelity, he says, views leadership training from multiple perspectives. While the company has not abandoned the classic training approach, there is now more emphasis on the whole person and "everything that comes in the door with them each day."
Gordon Curtis, of Curtis Consulting in Marblehead, MA, specializes in advising, coaching, and training for startups. He says his experience over the years has led him to conclude that "leadership training" is virtually an oxymoron. "In order for true leadership behavior to improve, it has to come from within and can't be imposed by traditional training," he says. "A person has to find the motivation to alter their behavior, and that has to come from within."
Leader, Know Thyself
The idea that leaders need to burrow into their own character, understand who they are and what they believe, seems to be catching on industry-wide. One of its proponents is Kevin Cashman, founder and CEO of LeaderSource and author of Leadership From the Inside Out. Cashman believes that leadership originates in the character of a person and isn't something achieved solely through the outward acquisition of skills. People who have a solid grasp of their weaknesses and strengths have what Cashman calls "authenticity," a key component in good leadership, he says.
This view resonates with Rick Maybury, president of Peak Performance Group in Gloucester, MA. He sees the ability to self-analyze and make changes as vital leadership traits. Leaders who know they are weak in a particular area, therefore, may choose to follow someone who is strong in that area. "Leaders who aren't married to their own way of doing things are able to drive an organization," he says.
|
A good example of authentic leadership, Maybury says, can be found in Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric. "If you look at what he did in the 80s and 90s, he made a ton of mistakes," says Maybury. "But he never made the same mistake twice. That was one of his gifts. When he talked about himself, he would say he wasn't brilliant … he would get his ideas by making connections with people, talking to his colleagues, talking to the attendant at the gas station."
Kotter agrees. Effective leaders, he writes, "spend a lot of time just talking to other people, including people who are not their subordinates. They deal in a broad sweep of topics rather than just their functional specialty, are much more likely to ask questions than to give orders, and actually make 'big' policy decisions only rarely. They engage in the kind of chit-chat and joking that cements relationships."
And while this all may seem like a casual form of leadership, the effective leader will actually accomplish diverse tasks, on multiple levels, while appearing to engage in simple, pleasant conversation.
Knowing who you are and understanding your values are important individual traits, says Dr. Ron Silzer, but there is a limit to which corporations will allow individuals be themselves. Silzer, whose company HR Assessment and Development in New York City specializes in industrial and organizational psychology, says problems arise when an individual's values collide with those of the corporation.
"Knowing yourself is the cornerstone of becoming a leader," he asserts. "You should know where your values lie before deciding what direction you want to take. If you can find a corporation whose values align with your values and style, it can work pretty well."
A Few Training Resources
The need to retool leaders for the new century has spawned--logically enough--an abundance of leadership training programs.
On the national level, leaders in the leadership market include the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Science in Alexandria, VA; the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Greensboro, NC; the Peak Performance Group of Aptos, CA, and Gloucester, MA; and the Covey Leadership Center in Provo, UT.
At the regional level, look to established career counselors for referrals or explore programs at executive training centers. Some of the best are at colleges and universities. |
