Day: April 28, 2017
Learning About Leadership from Peter Drucker (and Others)
The late Peter Drucker gave a simple distinction between managers and leaders. He noted that management does things right, but leadership does right things.
Articulate, Direct and Inspire
In these brief words Drucker offered a simple yet profound commentary. Leadership is more about vision than it is implementation. Not to suggest that leaders aren’t concerned about implementation; they are. However, in any organization that happens when a leader articulates a vision, gives clear direction and inspires others to follow.
When John F. Kennedy said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade not because (it’s) easy, but because (it’s) hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we’re willing to accept, one we’re unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
Delegate
Now JFK didn’t supervise every detail of the Apollo 11 project. As President of the US he was much too busy and ill-equipped for that. However, by articulating his vision and providing the necessary resources, he was able to inspire others to a high level of success. In fact, so strong was that vision that it outlived its visionary, and was achieved in 1969, six years after President Kennedy’s assassination.
Unfortunately, not all heads of organizations understand this. In Peter Drucker’s last interview, encouraged by his friend and pastor Rick Warren and conducted by Forbes writer Rich Karlgaard, he talked about this. In fact, the article gave several important jewels of advice:
Don’t Be a Know it All
Drucker has seen many organizations fall as a result of this. He noted, “Never try to be an expert if you are not. Build on your strengths and find strong people to do the other necessary tasks.”
Charisma is Overrated
Too much emphasis is placed on charisma today. Said Drucker, “The most charismatic leaders of the last century were called Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Mussolini.” They had a lot of power and charisma, but Drucker called them misleaders rather than leaders.
In fact, in Good To Great Jim Collins noted that companies that achieved the “good to great” status all had level 5 leaders. Collins noted that these leaders all possessed a combination of fierce resolve and commitment to the mission of the company and at the same time, personal humility.
Encourage Volunteer Work
Keeping people engaged is not always easy, particularly when they’ve been in their career for a while. They need to be re-invigorated and Drucker suggests that leaders provide parallel challenges by encouraging volunteer work outside of the organization.
Choose Character, Character.
According to Drucker, organizations offer plenty of management training, but character develops differently. He argues that character is learned over a longer period inside families, churches, synagogues and 12-step programs.
Certainly character is important, because people of character pattern their lives in a consistent manner. They are principle centered and not duplicitous. Character leaders operate from a position of integrity and use power for the good of the organization and not themselves; whereas people lacking character wield power at the expense of the organization and often for their own benefit.
So what is the answer? First, err on the side of character when selecting leaders. Regardless of whether the objective is revenue growth, church growth or nonprofit fundraising growth, people of character keep your mission primary.
Additionally, training people to understand your core values and then holding them accountable for working in a manner consistent with those values is crucial. Finally, the “holding people accountable” also depends on having people of character both leading the way and following in the first place.
