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Management books became trendy in
the 80’s. One of the best-selling books at the time was The Art of War
by Sun Tzu. I still meet business people today who, upon discovering that I do
leadership trainings, automatically launch into a demonstration of the lessons
they learned from the book.
Today, we have other business books
entitled, Leadership Lessons from Atilla The Hun and, hilariously
enough, Management Lessons from Winnie the Pooh. But I personally feel
that pressing people to read the book is a great disservice to the field of
leadership.
Those and other similar books are
entertaining, yes. They also communicate a powerful message and offer page
after page of elegantly set-out tactics. But the problem is that readers
mistake their rival for the enemy.
In war, your enemy is hiding on the
other side of the hill, waiting to launch a surprise attack and destroy you.
But in business, what Pogo The Thinker has said is true: “We have discovered
the enemy, and the enemy is us.” This means that a company succeeds against its
rival (or rivals) not by attacking the other company but by satisfying the
needs of its own clients.
Business is not war. We don’t go and
murder our competitors, do we?
Maybe a “war mindset” is the reason
why the work place is toxic. Aside from perceiving other companies as enemies,
readers use the same tactics on another set of enemies – their own peers in the
work place!
A great business leader direct the
whole team to achieve aims beyond their expectations. And because being a
member of a top-performing team makes one always in demand, these leaders do
not have much trouble recruiting people to join their team, despite our
free-agent, new-employment-compact world where loyalty is no longer the virtue
it once was.
Working on a great team, with great
leaders, provides a boost to any individual’s career. Not surprisingly, the
three runners-up to succeed Jack Welch at GE all became CEOs of large
companies.
Leadership consultant Michael Maccoby suggests that there are three distinct
types of leadership roles that propel organizations to success, and these are:
• Strategic leaders
Strategic leaders are people within organizations who plot the course of the
business. They are the longer-term thinkers. Generally, they can think far into
the future. The best of them understand where the future is going and how to
get there. They love trying to figure out tomorrow’s challenges long before the
challenges present themselves.
• Operational leaders
Operational leaders make certain the trains run on time, the manufacturing
processes are adequate, the logistics systems work, the technicians are
well-trained, and the trucks are where they are supposed to be. Like strategic
leaders, operational leaders are vital to an organization’s success.
• Bridge-building leaders
These are people who connect people together, transfer knowledge and
information, make introductions and help others achieve their goals.
Bridge-building leaders are extremely important within organizations as well.
All three leadership roles – strategic, operational and bridge-building –
are vital to creating a common-purpose organization. Setting a goal
(strategic), making certain that everything that is needed to reach that goal
is being done (operational) and ensuring that everyone is working together to
achieve the same aims (bridge-building) are essential to the success of any
endeavor.
So here is my take on this:
You are in business. You are a professional, not a warrior. You don’t have
to be ruthless to lead. You don’t have to be toxic to get things done; those
who are never last. Serve and lead – that was Jesus’ model. And it works all
the time.
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