Too many articles and discussions about leaders only
concentrate on ‘high level’ leaders, at the CEO’s and Executive level – but in
business, leaders exist all over the organisational structure and it’s at these
lower levels that the ‘great’ leaders of tomorrow need to be developed. You
have team leaders, project leaders, departmental and divisional leaders, branch
and store leaders, to name a few – there are leaders everywhere and the problem
with some of the current rhetoric on leaders and leadership is that it tries to
make the subject to complicated and elusive, when the foundations of leadership
are actually quite simple.
We ‘learn’ and start forming our ideas about leaders
and leadership from an early age, through the interactions we experience with our
families, our schooling and our first step onto the career ladder – where the
‘leaders’ we meet and interact with at an early age start to influence our
perceptions about leadership, both consciously and subconsciously, and influence
the types of leaders we might eventually become.
To be a good leader, at any level, you need a good
solid ethical foundation to work from, along with a basic understanding of the
concept of ‘treating people as you would like to be treated yourself’. Then you
need to add the behavioural, visionary and communication skills to these basic
principles to have any chance of becoming a good leader – let alone a great
one.
During my career I’ve had the pleasure of working
with great leaders and the unfortunate displeasure of having to work with appalling
leaders too (though the good news is that you can learn from bad leaders, about
the real dangers of this kind of leader and the negative impact they have on
people and organisations – the type who will stab anyone in the back to protect
their turf and realising just how dangerous an ‘animal’ these people can be).
Two great leaders stand out for me over the last 25
years, who have influenced my life, career and leadership style. The first is
someone I met back in 1989 called John Stanbury – John has been the CEO of many
great organisations including Foskor, Outspan International and Capespan. He
has a solid ethical foundation; the ability to be a ‘driver’ and a ‘team
player’; an insatiable appetite for knowledge – where he would know an
organisation, its products, and its customers, better than anyone else.
He had boundless energy, never seeming to tire;
always managed by walking around, getting to know staff at all levels, what
they did, what their problems were – yet while doing so helping each employee
to understand their job better and how they contributed to the organisation; he
was a hard task master, with very high standards but had that uncanny ability
to get the best out of his people.
Was he liked by everyone – nope; why – because he
would quickly identify those people who had simply been over-promoted or who
had lost the ‘drive or will’ to develop within their current jobs – something this
‘type’ of person never likes to be ‘discovered’ often hiding behind their
‘teams’ to avoid detection; yet even in these circumstances John would always
give them the opportunity to get back on track again.
He is a great speaker, very humble and willing to
impart his knowledge to those who care to listen and many of his managers over
the years have now gone on to be successful CEO’s themselves.
The second person is, Parkin Emslie, someone who I
met more recently but who has those ‘natural’ leadership qualities that makes
you admire them and what they have achieved. Parkin has developed his own
successful business from scratch and is a firm believer in generic growth. If
you met him out in public you’d never know how successful he is – he’s totally
unassuming, very relaxed and laid back – but underneath beats the heart of a
great and proven entrepreneurial spirit. One outstanding reflection of his
style is that his whole workforce respect him more than any leader I’ve worked
with – and he respects them right back.
Interestingly at the other end of the spectrum the
two worst leaders I’ve ever encountered both work for the same institution –
the Warwick business school – and I had the displeasure of meeting them both
recently. It’s not surprising that they
both come from the same establishment as it has been shown that bad leaders
attract other bad leaders.
Between the two of them they encompass everything
that is bad about a leader. Mark Taylor, the Dean of the business school is
your colonial, power driven, narcissist – who rules by power, like some
glorified roman emperor – sending those that even catch his eye to meet the
lions in the coliseum, as he watches on with that power crazed look in his
eyes. It’s all about being right – demanding respect – loving the feeling of ‘power’
in his hands, the ability to ‘dictate’ – the kind of person you imagine was
bullied at school, and now loves bullying back. Those that put up with this
style are a combination of other bad leaders, who have learnt that in order to
survive they must have their lips permanently sealed to his bottom; those who
are scared and who hunker down under their parapet hoping not to be noticed;
and those who have little choice in a tough job market, but to stick it out –
where they know they are working for a monster, but have to put up with it, as
they need the income to survive – and pray for a day in the future when the
‘dictator’ is deposed.
The second person is Alison Bond, the Head of
External Relations, who’s moral compass is so messed up, it’s amazing she can
find her way home. Here you have the classic example of someone who has been
over-promoted – yet rather than being ‘woman’ enough to admit their failings
has found a way to hunker down and survive. These are your most dangerous of
‘animals’ as they will ruthlessly defend themselves, for fear of being found
out. They know when to give that fake smile, pretend to be your ally, etc – but
all the time they are using other people to ‘promote’ themselves.
For me it’s not just the John’s and Parkin’s of this
world that inspire me to want to be a better leader each and every day – having
seen the positive impact these great leaders have on their staff and their
organisations; as well as how much they give back to their communities. But I’m
also inspired to be a better leader by seeing the chaos that is caused by bad
leaders like Taylor and Bond, who just make me want to create an environment
where people enjoy to work and where I can inspire others to want to be good
leaders as well – showing the different effects good and bad leaders have on
their environment.
But the question is: What inspires you to want to be
a better leader, each and every day?