Leadership Styles - a Lesson From My Mom

In a recent telephone interview for a Vice President’s position, I was asked what my “leadership style” is. I fumbled with this a bit because I have never tried to categorize this for myself, and failed to give what I thought was the most descriptive and true answer to the recruiter’s question.

I mulled this over the mother’s day weekend that I spent out of state with my mom. I was the only boy of four children, and the age span of the four of us is eight years. Within an eight-year period my mother had given birth to four children and for a twenty-four-year period was raising us to be good adults up to and through our college entrance age of eighteen (and beyond).

This means that my single mother had essentially spent the sixties, seventies, and half the eighties raising us. We had no trouble with the law, no one fell into a drug habit, and all four of us have survived with some measure of happiness, as somewhat well-adjusted adults with professional careers and some of us were blessed enough to achieve married happiness.

“What is your leadership style?” ?I think my mother would answer that her leadership style broached every style imaginable, and would have to answer “I did whatever worked to raise all of you the best way I knew how with the budget that we had”…

Brilliant.

My best answer to the question of leadership style was “transformational, but agile.” Using the term “evolutionary” implies that you are constantly figuring out your style, and anyone with children can tell you that this is more appropriate leadership within the parenting realm.

Another tidbit that I related to this recruiter was something I learned long ago, and sometimes must use a bit of extra effort to remember – “people are led, processes are managed.”

For those who have real trouble with realizing what their leadership style really is, try mulling that one over during a quiet weekend of self-reflection (and maybe a glass of wine or six). Realizing that your leadership style may not be the most attractive of the recognized approaches does not mean that you are ineffective as a leader, but it does have everything to do with keeping your own batteries positively charged. Feeling comforted by the knowledge that your entire sphere of influence has moved as you planned is a real boost!

Results matter most when you’re looking for your next crop of leaders, needing them to be effective. Leaders always look a few steps ahead and around the curve, preparing for the challenges to their next steps. One of the many, many lessons of leadership, and arguably the most important is to be agile!