6.6 Prepare to present
7.3 Upset your team’s thinking
7.4 Mentor your leaders-in-waiting
7.6 Inject life into your teleconference
A memorable leader – for the right reasons!
Over the last 50 years there have been over 1,000 studies to establish what leadership is. How leaders behave. What traits they have. I don’t have much time for them, and nor should you. Instead I’ve filled this book with the convictions, skills, beliefs and techniques that great leaders need. The behaviours you see great leaders demonstrating every day.
And what experience am I drawing on? It’s not only the 20 years or so I’ve been working in the world of leaders as a consultant. But all the other years when I experienced leadership first hand, as a corporate employee. I’ve been around leaders it was a privilege to know and leaders it was dangerous to know. Both extremes – and all the leaders in-between – provided me with insights into what really great leadership is.
So I’ve done all of the research for you. If you’re a leader or an aspiring leader, then let us spend some time together. I want you to be a memorable leader – for all of the right reasons! And I’m willing to share my 50 secrets of leadership with you. These secrets are spread over seven chapters:
Leadership character. There is a core of behaviours, values and characteristics that great leaders have. They’re the backbone that makes them the strong, principled individuals that people look up to.
Leadership responsibilities. Leaders change things. Their responsibilities are to take what they see and reshape it to meet the demands of the world tomorrow.
Leadership strategy. The ability to set a strategic direction is where leaders thrive – or fall. But strategy is much more than the ‘where’, it’s also the ‘how’ and the ‘why’.
Leadership and execution. It’s the plain old ‘getting it done’. It’s so easy to ‘talk the talk’. But execution is about getting everyone to ‘walk the walk’.
Leadership and change. Change happens. The working world doesn’t have a habit of waiting around for others to catch up. But not everyone who works for you is going to think the same…
Leadership influence. You need friends. Not so much in high places but in the important places. They need nurturing if you’re serious about getting your initiatives off the ground.
Leadership and the team. You need great people around you. You also need to repeatedly challenge them to keep them great. They’re going to have to pick up the goals and make them their own.
Dip into the book or read it front to back – whichever you prefer. But promise me this. You won’t skip the questions I ask of you. These questions help you gain the insights into the skills that will turn you into a truly memorable leader.
Great leaders leave their values in the hearts of those who worked for them.
There are different styles of leadership but all of them depend on character. That’s why I’ve made character the subject of the first chapter of this book. Later chapters deal with practical aspects of leadership, but first and foremost the leader must possess the essential attributes of leadership: courage, patience, a steely mental toughness and the passion and enthusiasm needed to bring about change. Leadership that doesn’t demonstrate these principles is spineless.
Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend.” Leadership courage often means experiencing emotional or even physical discomfort. Is it the first of the leadership virtues? There have been many instances in history where a failure in leadership was the result of a failure in courage.
When people told Terry Anderson, the US journalist who was held hostage in Lebanon for seven years how courageous he had been, he modestly pointed out, “People are capable of doing an awful lot when they have no choice, and I had no choice. Courage is when you have choices.” Leaders are constantly faced by choices and the kind of courage they have to display is often moral and ethical. It is the mark of the leader who stands up for a principle when others would prefer
one minute wonder What one great thing could you achieve if you knew you could not fail? Describe the outcome to yourself. What is it that holds you back from achieving it? Are there too many obstacles? Time? Energy? Or a lack of courage?
“The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear”
Nelson Mandela, South African political leader
to walk away. It is about acting out of integrity and being true to one’s principles. It is the courage of the person who, when they realize that something important is being lost, will take a stand and ask the questions that no one else dare ask.
This bravery, this sense of principle is inspiring to others. It makes its mark in people’s hearts. It is a stand for truth and what is believed to be right. Such behaviour sets out clear boundaries and inspires those who feel they are working in ambiguity. When, for whatever reason, a team loses heart then it takes a great leader to make them address their fear.
