Thoughts on Leadership

There seems to be increased interest these days in the concept of leadership. In many companies they no longer use the term “manager” as they have replaced it with “leader”. However, it is my contention that this is not only an incorrect term for a company to use, but also actually not their place to award that title to anyone. Leadership is much more than just a title and for an organization to use it widely is to cheapen the term to the point of having it lose its meaning. Why do I feel so passionate about this topic? I have been in the technology industry for over 45 years now and have seen all sorts of individuals who have been given charge over the people and resources in that space. Many of them were managers, some poor, some good, but only a few were leaders. What is the distinction between these two terms? Several years ago, I watched a video of a speech given by General Mark Welch III the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force at the time. It is a very inspiring talk on leadership that I highly recommend watching but one thing he said resonated with me and summed up my feelings about leadership. He said:?

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“Leadership is a gift. It is given by those who follow, but you must be worthy of it!” – General

Mark Welch III, USAF.[1] ?

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That quote put it all in perspective for me. You are not a leader because someone gave you a title. You are a leader if people choose to follow you! In essence they have gifted you with the title no matter what the HR system might say. The interesting thing is that in my career I have been in formal, read that titled, leadership roles as well as informal leadership roles. Over the years I learned several principles that define what a leader is, and I would like to share them here.?

Leaders are visible and they care

I remember going through the 14 weeks of US Air Force Officer Training School to become a 2nd Lieutenant. I was exposed to leadership there, but I didn’t start learning about it until I saw real leaders in action. For example, on my first duty assignment the group commander had us take 2 pictures when getting our IDs created. Then we took a 5x7 card and put some information on it like where we grew up, marital status including spouses name, number of children if any and their names, hobbies, and other such information. What the Colonel would do is to pull out the cards of the members of the team he was going to visit and study them. Then, when he walked through our office area, he would stop and ask us about how our family was doing or if we enjoyed the NFL or College game on the weekend. We all knew that there was no way he could really know all 1,000+ of us like that but we were all impressed that he took the time to do what he did. He understood a couple of key things about leadership; leaders must be visible, and they must care! In that simple act of walking through the various working areas and talking to the troops he encountered there he gained much more respect

than the silver eagles on his shoulders could ever have given him. You see he was given the title of Colonel by the Air Force, but he was given the title of leader by his troops!?

The Colonel also fulfilled the other portion of this principle by being visible. There is a concept of leadership that was instituted by Hewlett Packard in the 1970s and made popular by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman in their book “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies”. The term was Management by Wandering Around (MBWA). The concept was that by getting out of their office and interacting with the staff the manager will learn things that would otherwise missed by them. The other advantage of MBWA is being visible to your team. People are much more comfortable following someone they know as opposed to someone who sits in their office day after day, and they only see at a team meeting. If you can combine visibility with caring, then you stand a much better chance of being seen as a leader.?

Leaders Make Decisions and Then Act on Them.?

One thing I did learn in my training and serving as an officer in the Air Force is that leaders are expected to make decisions.? That is part of what being a leader is all about. The sure-fire way to lose the respect of those you are expected to lead is to be seen as not being capable of making decisions. Those who you are expected to lead need a direction, an objective, a path to follow to achieve a goal. It is up to the person in charge to not only provide that direction but to ensure that action is taken and that the resources needed to achieve the goal are in place. Sure, there are times when you might make the wrong decision. That is the time that you own up to it and re-orient and move in the proper direction. As a Navy friend of mine used to say, “you can’t steer a ship that isn’t moving”! The important thing here is really to be open, honest, and transparent with your team. Let them know that the bad decision was yours alone and you will take responsibility for it. Do this even if your team was behind you in the decision. You can, and should take their advice but ultimately the decision, and the responsibility for the outcome is yours alone.?

Leaders Always Credit the Team for Successes

One thing I learned when I was first put into a position where I had to lead is that I was no longer responsible for my own success. That was a hard lesson to learn. Your success as a leader is completely dependent on the team’s success. The natural follow on to that is that if the team is successful the team needs to be recognized for that success. Nothing in my career has been more frustrating than watching a manager take credit for all the hard work done by our team and not share that credit with those of us who did the work. Yes, the manager was there and hopefully doing their part, but the success was achieved by the entire team. If you are a leader, you will always share the credit for success with your team. Let others know how great a job your team did! You will be surprised how far that simple act of verbally and conspicuously sharing credit with the team will go in motivating them to continue to perform.?

Leaders Also Have to be Managers

There is an old saying that you “lead people and manage resources”. That is a true statement! In any organization the leader also must manage things like budgets, hardware and software licenses and other resources. A good leader makes sure they can do these things as well because they are essential to the success of the team they lead. It is not a good thing to be visible, caring, and a good decision maker if you neglect providing the resources your team needs to succeed. Some leaders struggle in this area so it is important to recognize that and hire someone who can help you with these important tasks. I must admit this is one of my weaknesses so I have always had to make sure there was a member of my team who was very detail oriented and could help me manage resources.??

Conclusion?

The list of principles that I share here is my view of leadership. There are many other views and approaches but in general being a leader means, first and foremost respecting people. Be respectful of those who you lead. Be respectful of those you report to and anyone you interact with. Mutual respect is a definite hallmark of a good leader. If you treat others with the same respect that you want to receive, you will find that most people will respond in kind.?

Remember to be visible, caring, decisive, generous with praise and respectful of all. That is when you will be considered a great leader.?

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRgNVpCi6rY ?