The debate on what makes for great leadership will run and run. But sometimes the best people to ask are those who are in the fray. One much referred to quote on the challenges of leadership comes from US President Theodore Roosevelt.
It is still highly relevant today (though we would make allowances for the fact that he referred exclusively to men; we would, of course, see this as relevant to both genders!).
Speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris in 1910, when the USA's Great Power status was on the rise he said:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
So, we asked you - MBAs and alumni - to tell us what you thought were the top qualities of good leadership. We got direct and to the point comments from some of you. For instance, Vladimir Paraschiv, studying in Germany, said the qualities were vision, integrity and efficiency. Kamal Manglani, a program manager at Tata Consultancy Services called for patience, ethics and the ability to be a motivator and coach. We also got longer and more detailed considerations from others.
All the many fascinating replies are posted at the end of this blog. We will set new questions for you to ponder on in the new year and look forward to getting more insights from all of you.
In the meantime, we hope you have a fantastic holiday break and come back refreshed for the exciting challenges ahead.
December 14, 2011
The Three Elements of Good Leadership
20 Comments:
1. Capitalise on human nature: Good leaders must capitalize on human nature and make it work for their organisations. For example, humans compartmentalise their tasks using short term memory. Rather than seeing this as a problem, leaders should capitalise on this amazing survival mechanism. Give them the assignments and let them organise the information, bringing it out when they need to carry out the task.
2. Using conflict at work to make better decisions: Conflict is always there - employees fighting in the meeting room about the allocation of resources, customers complaining about bad quality, or the boss in a bad temper again because you missed the delivery of something. What is the answer? Fire, hire, command and control it? No, this doesn't work. The fact is that dispute resolution is your main job as a leader! Take advantage of it. Take notice of the rich information being communicated about bad processes, missing knowledge, and wrongly appointed resources and learn from it.
3. Continuous learning: If you are driven to study, learn and work hard every day you will improve your leadership skills. If you don't want to work hard all the time on your performance, then consider doing something else!
Marcel Fath,senior business coach, mediator, leadership consultant & CEO of Aurorum Management in Germany.
1. Vision
2. Integrity
3. Efficiency.
Vladimir Paraschiv, Gisma Business School, Purdue University, Germany.
1. Honesty - 80 % (try to find even one that satisfies this quality!) & intelligence - 15%.
2. Resilience.
3. Open-mindedness (as opposed to blindness for anything else but money!.
Ilias Sioutis, Cass Business School.
1. Vision!
2. Passion!
3. Action!
Géraud Talandier, Project Manager, Bank and Finance
1. Consistency: consistency in feelings, thoughts, words and actions is the foremost way a good leader gains his followers´ trust.
2. Inspire employees to excel: Winning trust should be the means by which leaders can encourage their followers to over-achieve.
3. Honesty & Humility: In order to admit mistakes, accept the insights from others and set a new path to follow.
Rodrigo A. Fernández Castiñeiras, Controller at Grupo Lanin, Argentina (IAE Business School.)
1. Love: this encompasses three critical elements of good leadership – passion for your work, integrity (being willing to stand up for the right principles) and a genuine caring attitude towards the people you work with.
2. Character:Theodore Roosevelt once said, “When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'” Have things changed in a 100 years? How many people have we viewed as great leaders, but under the test of time have came up short due to lying, cheating or stealing? Leaders must be a “my word is my bond,” person. This person would despise arrogance, dishonesty, cheating, complacency and selfishness. They would follow the INTENT of the law not the letter of the law. They would not sacrifice their reputation for any amount of gain.
3. Vision: Leaders have a big picture view of the world and what they are trying to accomplish.
David Sorich, senior project manager, supply chain, Staples.
Patience: In these tough times, leaders must take the time to understand the opportunities and only go after the right ones at the right time. Once a decision is made leaders must own the mechanisms to deliver the results for the decision.
Ethics: A leader should be a role model so that his peers and co-workers follow the same path.
Motivation and coaching: A tough period is signified by job losses and a lot of negatives. However it is in the tough times that also make us think beyond our own situation. Leaders should motivate workers to innovate more. Leaders must uniquely identify with the organisation and build a uniform team spirit across the board.
Kamal Manglani, Programme Manager, Tata Consultancy Services (MBA – General Management, Hult International Business School candidate 2012)
1. Critical analysis and austerity - knowing what's unnecessary and cutting it quickly, but understanding what's core and investing for the future.
2. Belief in better.
3. Persistance.
Lesley O'Connor, International MBA, IE Business School, Madrid, and President, IE Energy Club.
1. Self-awareness: A leader has to know himself in order to know if he is being guided by his beliefs or by his situation or the expectations of others. He has to be aware of his qualities and defects, so he can change course, learn, change attitude when needed.
2. Proactive: No job is going to be done by itself even if you delegate; a leader has to be proactive, motivational, and set leadership by example.
3. Principles: A leader’s true convictions and principles should be strong and impossible to break. Principles are like a lighthouse, that, no matter what part of the ocean you are adventuring in, you always keep sight of it and can return to safe shore.
PS: I would add two other traits: clarity - clearly knowing what you want to do - and work/life balance.
Ricardo Ayub Garza-Castillon, CEO at M&P.com (MBA IPADE/University of Illinois Class of 2011)
1. Entrepreneurial mindset: Always seeking opportunities to be fostered by their organizations.
2. Be ethical: Promoting a "good spirit" in business in fraudulent times.
3. Stay disciplined: Have the courage of your convictions, whether it is a niche market/need or about your organisation’s resources and capabilities.
Nitin Malhotra, MBA 2011, ESMT Berlin
1. Energy and strength: Professionally be competent in one's domain of action and personally be mentally, intellectually and physically capable of resisting pressure.
2. To inspire: Be exemplary, demanding as much on oneself as on one’s subordinates; at least respect, or better, love one’s subordinates; develop charisma, which is preferable but not essential.
3. To act in the common interest: Always prefer general interest to individual interest; and explain why this is the best way.
Patrick Lamiral, MBA student at HEC & a senior officer in the French army.
1. Vision.
2. Honesty.
3. Ability.
Maurizio Volonghi, master’s degree in chemical engineering, an Executive MBA at MIP (Politecnico di Milano, Italy) & head of glass and life sciences in a multinational company in Italy.
1) Integrity: Engage with the future acting in a consistent way every day, responsible for their own actions, being honest even during hard times.
2) Comunication skills: Able to speak and convince people with logical thinking, short and clear messages as well as the ability to listen and comprehend the environment.
3) Determination: Make things happen, anticipating results with a clear vision of the future.
Gerardo Aguilar, MBA IPADE
Nowadays, business leaders should execute a new kind of leadership. In my opinion, the only leaders who will be able to survive in the future challenging new generations of MBA will be those with a holistic perspective (individuals, business, markets, society and the eco-system are all intensely connected).
Profit is not the main objective anymore. The main characteristic of this kind of leadership are:
1. Challenge the status quo.
2. Integrity.
3. Vision.
4. Charisma.
Monica Hornung Cattan, MBA 31, School of Management MIP Politecnico Di Milano
1. Worldly - in the sense that it is important to have an understanding of the many things around oneself.
2. Supportive - leaders should help others, mostly by coordinating and by providing insights.
3. Involved - a leader should be involved from the top to the bottom of an organization. When they are disconnected they will no longer be able to be supportive and will lose their worldliness.
H.J.F. (Harm) Kuiper
MSc Management
Nyenrode Business Universiteit
Thank you for sharing this information.
It will really helpful to solve my confusion
Process $ Chemical Engineering
A leader who is an eloquent communicator.
One that is able to drive and achieve vision with the unanimous support of all organizational constituents. Lastly, a leader who remains optimistic during periods of adversity while simultaneously remaining objective.
Umeka Naidoo (MBA,Canada)
1.Creativity
2.Experience
3.Compassion
Harith Soysa (MBA Monaco)
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02/09/12@10:54pm
Greetings,
I enjoyed reading your answer concerning leadership.
My thoughts on leadership is a very simple one. Leadership is a person having a vision that he or she can get other people to believe in and rally behind, for the cause. To be a great leader, one must learn to follow first. Leaders are great visionaries and listerners to the need of the masses. Please note some of the greatest leasders of man kind are talked about in the bible.
Sincerely,
William Elcock, MBA
Tax Specialist
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