Timeless Gems from Peter Drucker

I’m hosting a leadership conference for a small group of very special people this week. This seems a great time to bring out some timeless gems from Peter Drucker.

• “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.”

• “No institution can possibly survive if it needs geniuses or supermen to manage it. It must be organized in such a way as to be able to get along under a leadership composed of average human beings.”

• “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”

Do you have a favourite quote or words of wisdom to share?

Fierce And Vulnerable At The Same Time: Killer Leadership Combo

Whenever I use the word ‘fierce’ in the context of leadership I get raised eyebrows and looks of shock. In coaching parlance, the definition of fierce is: intense or ardent discussion. It has nothing to do with meanness or anger or doing damage. Engaging in a fierce conversation is an act of kindness. We call it fierce because it requires courage to step beyond the barriers disguised as harmless clichés and enter into true dialogue that builds understanding. It means talking about stuff that matters.

Naming the elephant in the room is where coaching and great leadership begin.

Where does vulnerability enter the picture? When we name the problem we have to be ready to discover the role we’ve played in creating it or in allowing it to continue. It may feel good and right to point out where we were wronged or let down but this is actually destructive behaviour if the conversation ends there.  In my experience, bringing a sense of curiosity into play at this point helps team members gain perspective and think creatively about solutions. This includes coaching the team toward verbalizing what they could have done differently to prevent the problem in the first place. In the absence of strong leadership, a group can easily confuse free speech (tearing down) with effective problem solving (building up).

Anyone can point out what’s gone wrong or needs to be corrected. Great leaders don’t stop there; they pull their followers along the path to accountability and solution. That’s high octane performance.

The Snapshot That Creates Alignment

Make sure everyone in your firm knows these 3 things:

• Who your ideal client is
• What is important to these clients
• What your value proposition is

From that information, you can produce a snapshot to align the team around who you are and who you want to be.  You may want to include a mission statement that identifies target industries, geographic scope and specialization.  Try something like this:  We help clients in Vancouver’s financial sector reduce risk by deploying audit teams on an as-needed, just-in-time basis.

Creating clarity around what you do will build pride and drive the right kind of activities.

A Simple Gesture to Boost Morale

Harvard Business Review is known for publishing the latest thinking in corporate and management strategy.  Here is one idea that is basic and simple yet carries the promise of impact.

See Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s idea here.

Seth Godin on Leader vs Manager

“Managers work to get their employees to do what they did yesterday, but a little faster and a little cheaper.

Leaders, on the other hand, know where they’d like to go, but understand that they can’t get there without their tribe, without giving those they lead the tools to make something happen.“

There’s a little more to his blog than those first two lines; you can read it here.

The whole leadership vs. management debate is a topic I love and one I write about often.  You can find past posts by using the search box on the home page (if you don’t see a “home” icon, click on the blog title - Leading With Passion - anywhere it appears).  Search on the words leadership, versus, or vs.  Here’s a quote from one of them:

“If I have the vision and the leadership skills to paint a picture of a possible future for my team and get them inspired to action, I’d better also have the capability to measure execution and progress — otherwise all I’ve done is provided short term motivation and a pretty picture.  That’s where management meets leadership in my book.“

You can read the entire post here.

You may also enjoy:  Flexing From Leader To Manager And Back Again.