At the end of the year, there is usually a review of the highlights of that year. I started this blog in February with the intention of posting at least one leadership article per week. It has been both an interesting and challenging task, but I am very proud that I have been able to accomplish this target. The feedback from readers has been great and encouraging and I must admit that this helped sustain me during periods when I struggled to come up with something worthy of posting.
Courage is a quality that leaders are expected to possess. There is the common but wrong assumption that courageous leaders are simply fearless individuals. The Oxford Dictionary defines courage as the ability to do something that frightens you. I agree with this and believe that courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to take positive action in spite of it.
Leaders come in different sizes, shapes, types, personalities, races and temperaments. Leadership is not about mindlessly copying the tactics, mannerisms, behaviours and actions of other good leaders but learning from them and incorporating these in a way that works for you. There is an ancient mantra which states ‘know thyself’. Knowing thyself helps clarify your priorities and decisions. People rarely make key decisions that don’t line up with who they believe they are. Everything we are meant to be and do is contained in the DNA of who we are.
Moses is regarded as one of the greatest leaders in Jewish history. I did a post on him a few months ago titled Reframing Responsibility. It proved to be quite popular and I’d recommend you read it. The Bible documents three individuals who helped shape and define Moses’ leadership legacy. I believe you need these three types of generational influences in your life to be a successful leader as well.
The terms strategy and tactics are synonymous with military leadership and warfare. But they are also terms adopted in the business world and are linked to vision casting and planning. All leaders use strategies and tactics even if they don’t refer to them by name. The vision dictates both the strategy and the tactics. It is common for a lot of people to use both terms interchangeably because they are quite similar, however, they are very different.
I discussed in a previous post about the need for leaders to make their vision sticky by keeping it simple. This is crucial when sharing the vision with large audiences. Leaders should not tire of sharing their vision. It is not a one off activity or simply reserved for special occasions. People need to be reminded where they are going. The vision is a future event. It is the metaphorical ‘there’. It is very easy to take your eye off the vision and get comfortable with the success of the ‘now’. It is the leader’s responsibility to keep his team’s focus on getting ‘there’.
In my last post, I said that a vision needs to be clear and compelling if a leader wants it to be sticky. The responsibility of establishing vision and direction falls on the leader and it can’t be delegated. Leadership really begins with a clear vision. This week I will focus on the four components of a clear vision as described by Ken Blanchard, Bill Hybels and Phil Hodges in their fantastic book – Leadership by the Book. They defined vision as a picture of the future that produces passion in hearts of everyone involved. A clear vision shapes, defines and guides the decisions and actions of the leader and his team.
Vision can be defined as a preferred future. Phil Jackson, the current coach of the LA Lakers basketball team, once said that “vision is the source of leadership”. I agree because leadership without vision is simply a recipe for confusion. An appropriate metaphor for a vision is a map. Without one, the leader and his followers will be lost. A vision helps the leader navigate the journey ahead.
On the 6th of May 1954, three thousand spectators watched a 25 year old British medical student run the mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds. Roger Bannister became the first man ever to run the mile under 4 minutes. The miracle four-minute-mile was considered by experts to be an impenetrable barrier until that historic day in May when Bannister proved the experts wrong and put himself in the record books.
I linked to this Wall Street Journal essay called the “The Genius of the Tinkerer” by Steven Johnson in my last post. It is an interesting piece which I will recommend that you read if you have not. He just released his new book last week called “Where Good Ideas Come from: A Natural History of Innovation” which l can’t wait to get my hands on. The Amazon reviews so far have been positive.
