Take Me to Your Leader

Over the weekend, a non-profit organization I am involved with was bemoaning the fact that they are lacking professional leadership. Professional leadership means a lot of things to a lot of people, but at its heart it means the ability to move a vision forward by motivating others to push ahead. 

When I got my MBA at Santa Clara University, there was a big emphasis on leadership.  Yes, we were learning calculus, statistics, organizational theory, financial models for the management of corporate capital and the like.  But the foundation upon which much of this was presented was from the point of view of creating leaders.  One book that was recommended to us broke the leadership story into twelve or thirteen chapters.  A few of them speak to me:

Envisioning the Future: I do this in business – product and project management – every day.  I know where I want to end up.  I can see it very clearly – I can see the outcomes, the benefits, the happy customers, the glowing press reviews.  But sometimes the people I am trying to lead can’t see past the first hill.  People get so hung up about hills they have to climb, rivers they have to cross and difficult customers they have to talk to – they don’t spend any time talking about the end result.  This is something I do all the time.  It’s the way I get people on board when a project is just starting or when we have to change direction for a better outcome. 

Strengthen Others:  The sub-title on this chapter is “Sharing Power and Information.”  I had a boss – one of the greatest bosses I had – who often told his staff “My job is to work myself out of a job.”  In other words, if I train, coach and mentor you people right – then you can do my job and the company can get rid of me.  I thought that was the most amazing attitude.  While I have learned – both through education and on the job training – that information is power, I have always felt that you gain more power by sharing more information.  I’ve often marveled at people who hoard information in an effort to make themselves seem more powerful.  But the best leaders give their power away!  When I work on a team or manage a group of people, I keep this in mind and I encourage people to step forward and get involved in the leadership or management aspects of a project. 

My non-profit friends need someone to guide them to the future.  I’m fortunate – I can guide myself to my own future.