A Few Preconceived Ideas about Leadership

Leadership is about all relationships we build with the people around us, whether it’s at a macro level – social, a micro level – organisational, or nano level – individual. 

It requires a certain relationship quality, to enable you to achieve a particular predefined purpose. At an organizational level, this is its purpose. Let’s take a commercial firm, for example. Its goal is to make a profit. An NGO’s mission, on the other hand, is a social one.

It’s probably relatively easy to talk about a leadership crisis in Romania, given the real crisis in the values of the society we live in. In reality, I would say, this crisis of values is what contemporary society suffers from. 

Therefore, the initial process is extremely relevant and, besides a purpose, it must also assert and respect the values that rule over all interactions in that organisation, whether they’re human or non-human (for example, the way we use the resources of the organisation).

In this article, I would rather talk about leaders in the entrepreneurship landscape, about their behaviours and their attitudes and maybe even about some preconceived ideas, which, from my point of view, exist about being a leader.

These ideas are not limited to entrepreneurship and can be applied in other types of interactions as well. Likewise, some of them have long been discussed but are not implied so I will bring them up as well, at the risk of repeating myself. 

So, here are a few preconceived ideas…

1. Leaders are born. Some argue that leadership qualities can be recognised from early childhood. This is similar to the belief that “if the child talks a lot, he makes a good lawyer”.

This argument is based on the children having traits and social behaviours that are, in reality, insignificant for future development. It’s the same as saying that a child will grow up to be a pathological liar just because it’s been scientifically proven that young ones lie a lot (https://www.ted.com/talks/kang_lee_can_you_really_tell_if_a_kid_is_lying?language=ro).

No one is born a leader, or rather, we are all born leaders. During our lifetime, we will all inevitably find ourselves in leadership processes, starting with the relationship with our parents and ending with work relationships. And we are not leaders in every one.

That’s why I believe that leaders must be lifelong learners, know the level of development they’re at and continue to build their skills and capabilities. Neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, biographies are just a few examples of the areas that a leader should read and learn about. 

2. Once a leader always a leader. You can be a great leader of a team of three and a very weak one of a team of three hundred. To lead an organization of a certain size a leader needs particular abilities and certain experience, and I don’t mean MBAs of management schools. Those are programs that develop managers, not leaders. In keeping with examples from the education area, in primary school, we learn some things from certain manuals. In college, we learn from other manuals, and from other teachers. Therefore, the learning process of any leader not only has to be ongoing but also adaptable to the real needs of the organization.

3. The professional leader / the leader knows all. Many times, when promoting a manager to a leadership position, organisations choose an employee who has demonstrated a series of professional skills over time. Although I understand the idea of reward through promotion to a higher position, I see the same mistake over and over again in many organisations. It’s not the best technician/professional that’s going to make the best leader. That’s because when you get to a leadership position, the job description changes, and some of the abilities that helped you get promoted will become “flaws” to grow out of.

So, it’s not enough to “to have the right people on the bus” but also “to have the right people on the bus on the right seat”.

4. The leader’s agenda. The leader’s agenda doesn’t have to be full. But it has to be full of the “right” things. We all heard or read about the 4 quadrants in time management and the prioritisation of activities taking into account urgency and priorities. And, somehow, our agendas are full. Nothing is more dangerous than a very busy schedule. It’s frustrating to see at the end of the day that you didn’t “check” everything you set out to do, without considering that maybe it’s a simple delegation of micromanagement problem. Even worse, we subconsciously fill our agendas with many activities because otherwise we wouldn’t feel validated. We judge ourselves harshly, maybe even more so than others judge us, we forget about our passions, about relaxation, and don’t realise that not paying attention to the anxiety generated by stress has long-lasting harmful effects. 

5. The leader is first. Of course, when there’s talk about an organisation or when someone speaks in the name of the organisation (or in the team’s name), it’s the leader that is the spokesman. This is about structure and communication. But in a team, the leader doesn’t speak first and understands that in doing so all other members of the team are allowed to express themselves, to grow and to convey their ideas without prejudice (even with the risk of appearing absent). Again, it’s highly possible that the fear of being perceived as “not-knowing”, combined with the pleasure to hear ourselves talk, meaning the desire to be validated, creates that unfortunate loop that breeds followers, not leaders. 

A leader doesn’t stand out by speaking first, louder or about any problem in the organisation. A leader must listen, first and foremost, and for that, a leader must learn to be quiet.  

The Romanian version of this article can be found here.