Leadership in a Nutshell
How to Lead with Confidence
By Freddy Davis
Leadership in a Nutshell
By Freddy Davis
Copyright © 2005 Freddy Davis
Smashwords Edition
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1 - What Is Leadership?
Chapter 2 - Preparing for Leadership
Chapter 3 - Exercising Leadership in Real Life
Chapter 4 - Developing Leadership Styles and Skills
Chapter 5 - The Leader’s Personal Qualities
Chapter 6 - The Leader’s Moral Character
Chapter 7 - Stepping into Leadership
Introduction
I have a very dear friend who is one of the most wonderful and faithful friends a person could ever have. Not only that, he is talented, very intelligent and a hard worker. In fact, he is quite a good manager. Give him a job to do and he puts great effort into seeing that it gets done effectively and efficiently. On top of that, he is not afraid to step into a position of authority. He has strong ideas about what he wants and about how things should be done in order to accomplish his goals. In fact, he really wants to be a leader.
The only problem is, most people don’t connect with his vision. As long as he is managing an established operation under the guidance of a competent person, he does an excellent job. But put him in the position where he is setting the parameters of the organization and things start falling apart. Try as he may, he is not usually effective as a visionary leader. This does not mean that he could not turn it around. I believe anyone can become an effective leader. But to do it he would have to change the way he approaches leadership.
Everybody wants things to go their way. Everybody has an opinion about how things ought to be run. But the fact is, very few are willing to take on the responsibility that leadership requires. Many want the prestige of the position, but want to leave the struggles of the responsibility to others.
Those who want to become leaders must grasp an essential fact. Leadership is not a position of authority, it is a place of influence. It is not about being the person with the highest rank, it is about having a vision and mobilizing other people to work together to accomplish that vision. A person can be in an official leadership position and not be the leader. It works from the other side, too. A person can hold sway over the outcomes that a group produces without being in an official leadership position.
Leadership in a Nutshell was written to help leaders, and aspiring leaders, understand the task of leadership. Leadership is lonely. It entails huge responsibility, and only those who are willing to honestly look out for the good of the group and carry the weight of responsibility for its well-being, regardless of the outcome, will ever achieve success as leaders. Read on and find out what you can do to become more effective in your leadership responsibilities.
Chapter 1
What Is Leadership?
Lee Kuan Yew is probably not a name that most people would recognize and, even if they did, would not likely agree with many of the tactics he has used as a leader. But, by most accounts, he has been a person who has very effectively shouldered the mantle of leadership.
Yew is the man who led Singapore to independence and served as its first prime minister. Under his guidance, Singapore has become a financial and industrial powerhouse, despite being a country which has very few natural resources.
His leadership style has been very authoritarian. He is the one behind the laws that make it even illegal to chew gum. But in spite of his authoritarianism, he somehow gained the deep respect of the people of Singapore to the extent that he was regularly reelected from 1959 until he voluntarily stepped down from power in 1990.
But Yew’s influence didn’t stop when he decided he would no longer be prime minister. Even after he was no longer in office, he remained in the cabinet as senior minister and, as of this writing, is still commonly recognized as “the power behind the power.” He is still the “puppet master,” pulling the stings behind the scenes. He finds himself with this kind of influence because, to this day, he is still regarded as virtually a national institution. How can that be? How can it be that a person still has that kind of power even though someone else is in the position of leader?
The Meaning of Leadership
Many people think of leadership in terms of position. They believe that the leader is always the one who ascends to a high station to exercise control over those in subordinate positions. Now, this observation is not meant to minimize the importance of position. In fact, most leaders do end up taking on the highest positions. When we look at high government officials, company presidents, club officers, military generals, and the like, we see confirmation of this fact.
But think about people in high positions that you have known. Among that group, have you ever known anyone who had a leadership position but was doing such a bad job that no one was willing to follow, so the group fell apart? We sometimes see that in companies which go into decline, or service clubs that don’t fulfill their purpose, or government agencies that become involved in scandal. Based on our own personal observations, we can see that there is something about leadership that goes beyond the position. There are those who believe that if only they could assume the reins of power they would automatically be great leaders. They are sadly mistaken. Those folks are bound to cause their own downfall and that of many others.
While a position often goes with leadership, leadership, itself, is not a position. Leadership may be exercised in a position, but the person who holds a position of power is not necessarily the leader, nor does that person necessarily have the ability to lead. There have been scores of instances where the real power was the person behind the position, not the person in the position.
If leadership is not a position, then just what is it? Rather than being a position, it is ultimately one part of a relationship. Leaders don’t exist in a vacuum. Across from every leader are those who are following. There is no leader without those who expressly or tacitly agree to be the other partner.
For some reason, leadership is not a natural fit for the majority of people. That is not to say that they would not like to be the leader. In fact, most people wish they could be the leader. There is a problem, though, because the average person doesn’t really know what it means, or what is required, to don the mantle of leadership. They associate leadership with power, and power with getting what they want. In other words, most people are looking for a way to have their own desires fulfilled.
What they don’t realize is that the person who goes after the power of leadership has a huge price to pay – a price that they must pay voluntarily. People don’t tend to understand that fact until they get up close and personal with the responsibilities of leadership. But when that price becomes evident, the number of people actually willing to step up goes way down. Of course the dropouts don’t usually quit trying to get what they want, they just go about it from a position which doesn’t require them to be responsible for the result. The majority are simply not willing, or capable, of shouldering that obligation.
Leadership is a lonely place. It is a place where it is hard to be intimately connected with the masses. It is the place where the buck stops – where there is no one else to blame. It is the place where wrong decisions can adversely affect the lives and livelihood of many people. It is, certainly, the place where success becomes obvious but where failure is even more obvious.
There are several elements of leadership that we can identify. Becoming a person capable of mastering those elements is another matter, altogether. But, at the very least, we can identify them. Leadership is the process of casting a vision, shouldering responsibility to make sure that the vision is carried out, influencing people to move toward implementation and creating momentum that leads to the completion of the vision. Let’s take a moment to define these elements a little more clearly.
The Role of a Leader
A leader is not simply a person who is at the top of an organization. It is one who has placed the operation of the organization as the highest priority, often even above personal priorities, and given himself to it in such a way as to move it forward. When varying priorities come into conflict, a good leader is going to do the thing that promotes the organization, first. To become that kind of person, you must develop four primary areas – vision, responsibility, influence and momentum.
Casting a Vision
The first job of a leader is to develop a vision for the future of the organization. You must become a person of vision. Simply put, vision is the ability to see a desired end result before the result exists. It is the process of establishing a clear picture of the organization’s ideal. You must have a clear mental image of how the organization looks and operates when it is working right. This vision gives you a precise sense of direction on how to go about getting the followers to accomplish the desired end.
Along with that vision comes the responsibility to share it with the followers. Effective leaders are able to communicate the vision in a way that inspires and mobilizes followers to take up the task of accomplishing it.
Shouldering Responsibility
Accepting responsibility is nothing more than the willingness of an individual to be held accountable for the operation of the organization. It, truly, is lonely at the top, and you must have the character, stamina and desire to endure the loneliness, sacrifice, suffering and struggle that leadership entails. Let’s look at several characteristics which facilitate the shouldering of this responsibility.
Self-Knowledge
A leader must have self-knowledge. If you have not examined your own motives and intentions, you will ultimately be very insecure. Insecurity leads to bad decision making; and leaders who struggle in this area will constantly be second guessing themselves. Without self-knowledge you will not be able to be decisive when crunch time comes.
Purpose
A leader must know his life purpose, and that purpose must be related to the leadership role. If you don’t have a strong personal direction, you will constantly be casting around to find meaning in what is going on within the organization. In that case, the circumstances within the organization will influence you more than you influencing the organization.
Strong Values
A leader has to have a clear set of values. Make no mistake about it, there is a set of values at work in every one of us, whether we are aware of it or not. It is possible for your personal values to work against the good of the organization. You must know what your personal values are and make sure that they provide a good foundation for leading the organization toward the vision.
Leadership Philosophy
A leader needs a clear leadership philosophy which becomes the foundation of personal style. Without this, you will be pulled in multiple directions. There are many possible styles that can be used and these will typically emerge out of your personality and training. There is no single style that is necessarily the “best.” Every style has strong and weak elements. You must find what works best for each situation.
Effective Communication
It is not enough for the leader to know what is going on within the organization; he must also be able to communicate that knowledge to the followers. You must be able to effectively communicate the vision, mission and goals so the followers will know where they are going, how they will get there, and when and how they can fulfill the mission. The organization only progresses as the leader and followers are moving forward in concert. You must develop communication skills that keep the followers moving toward the vision.
Task Knowledge
Finally, a leader must know the task. The task of a leader is not to further a personal agenda, it is to further the organization. Your job is to serve the organization, not yourself. If you are not willing to take this on, you have no business being the leader.
Wielding Influence
Influence is not the same thing as control. Some leaders try to lead by personally controlling everything that goes on. But ultimately that is a futile exercise. Influence is the ability to affect organizational direction by causing other people to pursue the vision. There is more than one way to do this and the effectiveness of the influence varies according to the situation. (For a deeper treatment of this topic, see another book in the Nutshell series, Influence in a Nutshell).
As a leader there will certainly be times when you must be authoritarian and virtually force the followers to comply with instructions. If the coercion is severe enough, people will comply. But there is a catch. They will also be looking for every opportunity to get out from under the heavy yoke of coercion.
There are other cases where authoritarianism is impossible. Volunteer organizations must operate with members who willingly agree to participate. In this kind of situation you must be effective in enticing people to do the work.
Most organizations, though, fall somewhere in between. It will be up to you to discern the amount of “carrot and stick” to use in order to make the organization operate most effectively.
Virtually no one will ever agree completely with everything you do. But, regardless of personal feelings, followers must make a determination that you are working in the best interest of the organization and that they will, personally, support it. To the degree that you can generate that kind of cooperation, you will succeed.
Creating momentum
Implementing a vision is a larger task than, simply, completing a particular job. The vision involves a single, very broad outcome – the big picture. But there are many tasks that go into executing it. If the vision is ever to be accomplished, a leader must get a group of people, all responsible for different tasks, to move in the same direction.
In the beginning stages, every accomplishment will be hard fought. But as successes happen, and success is piled upon success, the organization begins to move forward more and more effectively. As this process grows, momentum is created which makes the organization continually more productive.
The Focus of Leadership Activities
Not every organization needs the same kind of leadership, and not every leader has to put out the same amount of effort for the organization. Different organizations have different needs. What is important, though, is that the person who accepts leadership responsibility, provides the kind of guidance that will take that particular group where it needs to go.
Think about the various reasons that organizations exist. Some exist to make money and some exist to give money away. Some exist to provide a service or foster a movement. Some exist for the purpose of growing into a larger organization, while others are there to help people grow on a personal level. Of course, there can be some overlapping of these purposes, but there will always be only one primary focus. An organization whose purpose is to make money cannot be led the same way as one whose purpose is to provide a service.
Then there are other organizational characteristics which affect leadership. A huge company with thousands of employees has different leadership needs than the small high school basketball team. The leader of a prison has to operate differently than the leader of a local volunteer trade association.
Not only do these various factors affect leadership style, they affect the kind of commitment that is required as well. The company that is paying their CEO a seven-figure salary requires a higher level of commitment than does the local garden club whose leader only does it out of love. The kind of leadership must be appropriate to organization.
Still, whether the organization is large or small, command or volunteer, moneyed or penniless, there are principles of leadership that can be employed to create an effective organization. In every type of organization it is possible to have a leader who is good or bad – one who is effective or ineffective. Within the constraints of any organization, the leader has to determine the appropriate types of leadership activities and what degree to give him or herself to the organization in order to make it successful.
Understanding is a Beginning
Understanding the concept of leadership is very important, as far as it goes. Certainly, no one can be effective in any area of life without a certain amount of understanding of the task. Leadership is no exception.
But understanding is not the end. I know a lot of people who have a tremendous grasp of the sport of football, but have never been on the field for even one play in their entire lives. They might give effective play-by-play commentary as they watch a game, but will never be effective leading a team.
Leadership is a combination of intellectual understanding, personal development and skill. To become an effective leader, you must start with understanding. But from there, it is necessary to take the actual steps necessary to become a leader and do the tasks of leadership, if it is to have any real meaning.
Chapter 2
Preparing for Leadership
When I lived in Okinawa, I decided to get into scuba diving. It was a great sport and especially nice in those tropical waters. I was able to enjoy all kinds of beautiful coral, tropical fish and other sea life.
Scuba diving is, actually, quite a safe sport, if done properly. Of course, it can also be quite deadly without proper training and precautions. The government has an interest in making sure people dive safely so, in order to make sure that “would be divers” understand all of the safety issues involved, a license is required in order to dive. There is a course which must be taken to learn all about the equipment and general safety for operating in an aquatic environment.
When I began, I made sure that I got good equipment so I would not have trouble with something tearing up while I was in a vulnerable position. I also kept a regular check on my equipment and replaced pieces that wore out. When I rented tanks, I did so from a certified facility that had all of the proper licenses and equipment. I didn’t want to be sixty feet under water and have something go wrong.
But even with all of that, I still did a thorough check of everything before I began every dive. I made sure that the regulator was working properly and that I could breathe through it. I checked the tanks to make sure they were full of air. And when I first began my descent, I would stop at about ten feet just to make sure, again, that everything was working properly.
On top of that, I never went out without a diving partner. You can just never be too careful when participating in a sport that has potential danger.
As a result of all of my preparation, from initial training to dive site checks, I never had any serious problems. And when minor issues occurred, they were easily taken care of. About the worst thing that ever happened to me was a slight puncture from stepping on a sea urchin.
The principle of preparation so critical for diving, is just as important for leadership. No matter what happens within an organizational situation, the leader is ultimately responsible. To handle the issues that will inevitably arise, the leader must prepare in advance for them.
Who Needs to Prepare?
In actual fact, almost everyone is a leader in some area of life. Very few are leaders of large organizations, but nearly everyone has some kind of leadership role in the various smaller groupings they participate in. Leadership can be exercised not only in government bureaucracies, large companies, the military and politics, but also in clubs (formal and informal), family, church, sports teams, small or home businesses, school, task forces, study groups and so on.
The real question is not, “How can you become a leader?” It is, “How do you handle the leadership responsibilities that you exercise?”
Some people seek out leadership. They want to be the one with the authority to direct an organization. They deliberately study for it, train for it, practice the skills and work their way up through the organization until they finally make it into a position of leadership.
Other people have leadership thrust upon them. They already have the skills, character, respect and competence to be a leader, but haven’t sought it out for themselves. The push comes from other individuals who recognize a person’s leadership potential and who take the initiative to draw them into it.
Neither process for assuming leadership is inherently good or bad, right or wrong. The important thing is not how a person gets into a position of leadership, but how they lead after they are in it. Leadership is way more than a position, and the person who does not understand that won’t be a good leader. There are some who are great leaders but are not in the leadership position, and there are horrible leaders who are. The distinction between leader and position needs to be clearly understood.