It’s tough because leadership requires a strong connectivity between leaders and those they lead. Sounds simple but there is another reality at play here and that is those being led are being measured by some tough standards. Standards that say the strong will prosper and the weak will suffer.
The Leadership Paradox in Business
The evolutionary forces that produce strong species in the natural world are at play in the organizational world as well. Those strong enough to deal with the challenges will prosper while those weak entities will suffer. This “law of the jungle” is what presents the leadership paradox.
How can a leader maintain strong connectivity to his or her charges knowing that some will fail? The paradox is that without that strong connection, there can be no strong leadership yet it is the connection itself that produces the pain for the leader when the tough decisions have to be made.
Many business leaders refer to the “tough” decisions they have to make yet statements like these are misleading because survey after survey has shown that many business groups are poorly led. If they are poorly led then there is a poor connection between the leader and the group and if that’s the case, there isn’t the pain. The bottom line is these decisions weren’t so tough after all because these were leaders in name only.
Preparing for the Next Generation of Business Leadership
Some of the best leadership training and preparation experiences still available can be found in the military. One of the best quotes from that realm is: "Inspiring people is simple, but you have to be where they are. That's why the great generals eat what the troops eat."
Note that the word great is used to separate those generals from the others. A good commander will insist that officers go through the chow line last and they adopt the attitude that if it is good, they go last. If it is rough like a two-mile run, then they go first.
So what’s the big deal? There aren’t any chow lines or two-mile runs in business. There are other challenges though. These are challenges that demand the most out of those in organizations today and their leaders. Connected leaders have a sense of how their people will interpret what they say. They also understand how those people feel about the challenges and what they're willing and able to do. They get better performance.
Inspiring others is a leadership skill that depends on the ability to empathize with the people a leader wants to lead. In the leadership part of staff development work it is common to invest in the time and experiences that will help develop the next generation of the organization’s leaders. If leadership (not management, by the way) is an issue for an organization then perhaps a visit to the organizational development doctor is in order.
Paul Larson - Paul W. Larson is the founder and President of the Myrddin Group LLC and he brings over thirty years experience as a successful operations ...
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