Leadership May Look Simple, But it is Never Easy

Welcome to this week's edition of "Elevations."?

I've often wondered why some people make leadership look easy while many good CEOs struggle to lead people more effectively. Dr. Lee Thayer would regularly remind me that leadership is hard. Highly competent people tend to make what they do look easy. However, few people are genuinely competent leaders, and many who believe they are are not.?

It is, nonetheless, clear to me that most CEOs and business owners would benefit from leading their people more effectively. If it were easy to do, everyone would do it. I'm also confident that you cannot learn to be a capable leader by reading books or taking leadership courses in school. They may enlighten you about what good leadership looks like but will not prepare you to be your organization's leader. Coaching and mentoring will better help you gain the understanding and skills you need, but personal development requires practice that amounts to on-the-job training. Our Leadership Cohorts help by offering you real-time feedback and a broadened perspective on your challenges and opportunities from people who walk in your shoes daily.

Today's essay will guide your thinking in ways that may help you get out of your own way and on the path to becoming the leader you need to be.?

Leadership May Look Simple, But it is Never Easy

For almost twenty years, I have helped executives develop the leadership skills they and their organizations need. I have learned that leadership is hard: It’s challenging to learn, difficult to implement effectively, and impossible to teach.

Through years of observing how people approach leadership, studying why?some people are successful, and make it look easy while most people struggle no matter how hard they try, I have tried to simplify the complexities of leadership to make them more accessible and useful. But years ago, I found that reducing leadership to a few core skills, practices, and behaviors doesn’t achieve the desired results. I recognized that people must balance the complexities of leadership with curiosity to take simple steps toward acquiring the competence that being an effective leader requires.

Mastering difficult skills like playing golf, solving mathematical problems, or laying bricks tends to seduce casual observers to mistakenly believe they are easy. The foundations of golf, math, and bricklaying may be simple enough. However, the gap between the required rudimentary skills and virtuoso performance is insurmountable for most people. Gaining the knowledge and skills that propel your performance beyond that of a novice can sometimes be facilitated with some degree of natural talent. However, talent will only take you so far. Knowledge and skill are necessary but insufficient for tackling complex or challenging things at a high level.?Achieving competence requires applying what you know to the problems you must solve. Leadership is no different. It is a journey that requires preparation and the ability to course correct. And it takes time to get there.

It’s easy to be fooled into thinking things that look simple are easy. Some people rise to the occasion when confronted with challenges more than others. Many become disillusioned and discouraged when looking to master difficult things, either accepting mediocrity or giving up entirely.

As a kid, I was a mediocre ball player, a naturally talented but undisciplined musician, and deemed a bright but distracted student. Later in life, I was frustrated when I witnessed people perform the things I did reasonably well at a level I felt certain I could never achieve. While I could comprehend and learn complex and challenging things, I was frustrated by what it would take to bridge that gap. It either felt like a bridge too far, or I feared that I would already be better than I am if I were truly capable. Neither was true.?I learned the problem was my thinking and beliefs, not my talents or abilities.

You don’t improve by looking for the easy way to succeed. You must learn to confront your fears and accept that there aren’t many shortcuts to where you want to be. The fastest route isn’t always the shortest. But the surest route is one where your curiosity leads you forward, and you find something worth learning with each step you take.

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Have an outstanding week!

Philip R. Liebman, CEO ALPS Leadership