Читать книгу Commonsense Leadership - Llewellyn Jack H. - Страница 6

Who are you today and who do you want to be tomorrow? This is a question that you need to answer every day for both your professional and personal life. Even though leadership is the focus of this book, it is virtually impossible to be a leader until you conduct a thorough self-examination. Instead of having others define you with the theoretical stuff of leadership books or seminars, you need to define yourself.

Looking at most leadership guides today, it's easy to get so obsessed with counting things that we lose track of commonsense answers. What are the seven habits of leaders? What are the 14 tips for winning? I don't know the answer to either question. Structured theories like these rob people of their identifying characteristics. You must use a commonsense approach to every day, both professionally and personally, to determine who you are and what works for you.

If you want to be a leader, first define what a leader does and how a leader is defined by colleagues. We typically define leaders by position or title, but this is misguided. I think that the majority of CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and chairpersons are not leaders. They are coaches and managers who create environments in which leaders can lead.

Leaders are most often team members, and some of them are even reluctant to lead. They lead through performance. Remember the old adage “What you do speaks so loudly people can't hear what you say.” The most effective leaders understand this and lead by example. Others try too hard to be leaders and end up seeming like all talk.

I worked with a major-league baseball player a few years ago who was really struggling with his on-field performance. He was very talented offensively and defensively, but he wasn't able to channel any of his skill on game day. The general manager called me, a sports-psychology consultant, because the team was concerned about the player's performance.

I called the player and asked him a critical question: “How do you want to be perceived on the team?”

His response was that he wanted to be a team leader.

My next question was, “How do you lead?”

His answer was, “I talk with players, try to get them pumped up.”

That was the source of his struggles. Instead of talking, he needed to act as a leader through his performance. To do that, he had to play the game with emotional intensity every day and let his skills, passion, and behavior send a message. We talked several times a week and his performance picked up. In fact, he went on to win the Silver Slugger Award, which is given to the top hitter in each field position, and he made the All-Star team. More importantly, his team began to see him as a leader, and he has kept that important role every season since we had our initial phone call.

In another case, I worked with a player who was a classic reluctant leader. In fact, he was committed to not taking on a leadership role. Despite this player's reservations, his character, work ethic, and talent ensured that he became the leader – and he will always hold a prominent place in his team's history.

The bottom line is that leaders come in many forms. We often talk about natural leaders, people born with the talent and personality traits to blossom when given a positive environment. The fact of the matter is, great leaders are not born, they are made, whether it happens on a ball field or in a conference room.

This book provides commonsense solutions to issues often perceived as major problems in the corporate environment. Too often we muddy the water by combining coaching and training, neglecting the difference between these two activities. Training is teaching work skills. It usually focuses on processes, procedures, tools, and technology. Coaching is harnessing those skills to best fit the work environment. Coaches create an environment in which leaders can lead. It's about putting skills in context – the key to cultivating a strong leadership at every level of your organization. In short, leadership is learned. It emerges through trial and error, which is made easier when you adhere to commonsense approaches to the work process.

This book guides potential leaders through the process of self-evaluation to determine if they have the tools to succeed. If you decide to become a leader, then you are supported through a process to develop the necessary skills.

Remember, it takes more than a title to make a leader. True leaders are defined by their performance and by how they touch people's lives every day.