Day: August 7, 2017
What Exactly is Leadership?
Often leadership creates images of the charismatic CEO, expounding a vision to industry analysts or a charismatic coach giving an inspirational talk that turns a halftime deficit into victory or a fundraising presentation that secures a major gift.
A recent Google search on Leadership revealed over 800 million sites with multiple applications of the clearly overused word, “Leadership.” Yet, despite its many applications, the consensus appears to be that leadership is not only about, “what” is accomplished, but also about “how” it’s accomplished. That “how” happens through relationships, the characteristics of which we’ll describe in the next few blogs. Today we’ll begin with two important ones:
Influential and Dynamic More Than Positional and Controlling
As I read some titles and selected articles, I wondered, “Why is leadership so broadly defined?” After a bit more reading, I concluded, that many people confuse leadership with headship, job titles or responsibilities. However, true leadership is not positional, and its dynamics are far more complex than presiding on top of an organization or using people to get things done. Many organizational heads (including Syria’s Assad) get things accomplished through power, but that doesn’t make them leaders. Leaders use power and influence strategically to create or strengthen relationships and motivate individuals to achieve common purposes. Those purposes are about the needs of organizations, leaders and those being led.
James MacGregor Burns on Leadership
In 1978, James MacGregor Burns described leadership in even simpler terms in his definitive (Pulitzer Prize winning) book on the subject. In Leadership, he argues that the term is best understood as a relationship between leaders and followers. Inherent in that relationship is power and how one uses power in working with the people, purposes and resources determines whether that person is leading or power wielding. To this point, Burns comments, “To control things – tools, mineral resources, money is an act of power, not leadership things have no motives. Power wielders may treat people as things. Leaders may not. All leaders are power holders, but not all power holders are leaders.” Leaders, then, don’t use power to control people or make them serve only the leader’s purposes. Instead, they influence followers to act on purposes that both leaders and followers have in common.
Developmental More Than Dictatorial
It’s interesting that the inability to engage people productively is often blamed on laziness. This logic follows that managers need only to dictate what should be done and punish those lazy people who don’t comply. While “laziness” could be a factor, often the lack of productivity is due to the manager’s inability to teach and develop people effectively. According to Dr. Mel Levine, a learning expert, developmental pediatrician and college professor, laziness is a myth. He explains that neurodevelopmental dysfunctions may cause what he calls “output failures”, but he argues convincingly that none of these failures is due to laziness. He commented, “We’re all born with a drive to produce, and we have within us the resources to bear fruit from early childhood on through our adult years, we want to show what we can do. We gain energy and feel good about ourselves whenever our personal output wins the approval, the acceptance, the respect of (others).
Assuming Dr. Levine’s observations are correct, what he says has significant implications for leaders. Though we may be born with the drive and resources to produce, these traits need cultivation and nurturance for individuals to learn how to produce. The learning “how” is the job of leaders. They teach by explaining, modeling, measuring and allowing followers to succeed and fail. Essentially they develop people by creating a culture of teaching and learning, where it’s safe to ask questions and take risks. Of course, talent is crucial for any organization (as well as in nonprofit fundraising), but unless leaders develop talent they are bound to be less productive.
