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The Art of Leadership
By Mark W. Sheffert
March 2002

If I had a dime for every minute I have spent in board rooms and in the “corner office” discussing leadership, I could probably pay for Minnesota’s budget deficit (no, no … put the phone down, Jesse … I’m just kidding!). Let’s just say that my experiences --- good and bad --- have led me to develop a few opinions on what leadership is … and isn’t.

Now I realize that the business icons, academicians, writers, and self-anointed leaders out there all have their own definition of leadership. I have read those definitions over the years and found them to be … interesting reading. But, I have developed my own definition after watching and working with some great leaders (as well as some dismal ones). I’ve come to the conclusion that leadership is: “The ability of the leader to create a vision of some future state of the organization; to have the passion to lead the organization, and; the ability to acquire and direct the key resources of the organization toward achieving that vision.”

When you match this definition with specific examples, many great business leaders come to mind --- Andrew Carnegie, Thomas J. Watson Sr., Sam Walton, and Jack Welch, to name a few. These leaders have become famous for their big-picture visions, passion and commitment, and relentless pursuit of maximizing efficiency and productivity. They were more than good executives --- they were masters of the art of leadership.

Creating a Vision

Let’s start with the vision thing. What do leaders really do? John P. Kotter, retired Harvard Business School professor, answers the question this way: “They don’t make plans; they don’t solve problems; they don’t even organize people. What leaders really do is prepare an organization for change and help them cope as they struggle through it.”

Organizations cannot remain static to succeed; they must change constantly to adapt to a changing world. Leaders stay ahead of this change by creating a vision that describes an organization’s culture, business system, or organization in terms of what it should be in the future, then effectively articulate how this goal will be achieved to affected constituencies.

Most people seem to think that developing a good vision is somewhat theoretical, but it isn’t. It is a laborious, time-consuming process that begins with accumulating and analyzing lots of information. And, contrary to popular opinion, leaders who develop and articulate grand visions don’t always have to be 140+ IQs. Rather, they are typically big-picture strategic thinkers who understand risk and are willing to take chances. Like Vince Lombardi said, “I tend to believe in catching stars, and I’m willing to take my chances on the hernia”.

A vision for an organization does not have to be particularly brilliant or even original, but what’s important is that it can be effectively and efficiently translated into competitive actions. Bad visions are typically strategically unattainable. For instance, if a company has always been able to only achieve a small share of the market but now states they are going to become the market leader, that’s not a vision --- that’s delusion.

Obviously one of the greatest challenges a leader has is articulating that vision to all the organization’s constituency groups, such as customers, stockholders, employees, or even voters, in order to influence them to work toward the achievement of the vision. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ronald Reagan were all effective communicators who were not necessarily born great communicators, but certainly learned how to do so.

Having the Passion

In my opinion, Vince Lombardi exemplified passion for leadership more than anyone else. His thoughts on passion can be summed up in this quote from a speech about leadership that he gave to groups of business people:

“The strength of your group is in your will --- in the will of the leader. The difference between a successful person and others is not in the lack of strength, nor in the lack of knowledge, but rather in the lack of will. The real difference between people is in energy. It is in the strong will, the settled purpose, and the invincible determination.”

Leaders possess many qualities that comprise passion, like commitment, loyalty, pride, dedication, competitiveness, and integrity. These qualities rub off on their organizations and help them fulfill their vision.

Directing Key Resources

Leaders have the ability to acquire and influence the key resources of their organization, which Peter Drucker defined as people, capital, information, time, equipment, and space (and who am I to argue with the guru of management?).

People: The greatest resources in every organization walk around on two feet. It’s not the assets like property, plant, equipment, furniture, or computers that make the difference between a company winning or losing in the marketplace. Rather, it’s the company’s people who make the difference; people have the power to build, stagnate or destroy the value of a business. Leaders are good at motivating people to be productively engaged in their jobs. And they know their people can stretch beyond the requirements of their jobs to help the overall organization achieve the vision.

Capital: Capital is one of the most important resources because it supports the other key resources. Leaders recognize that without an adequate capital structure, their organization will fail. Also, leaders understand capital is needed to offset the element of surprise in the unpredictability of business and to allow them to take advantage of new opportunities to accomplish their vision.

Information: If you compare Microsoft’s market value versus its book value, you can see there is value in information. Even if they are not managing the world’s largest software company, leaders know that information is a very valuable intangible asset and one of their organization’s key resources. Leaders know which information they need to serve as bench marks. They constantly analyze key indicators that tell them whether or not they are progressing toward the achievement of their vision, and insist on getting the information they
need to make informed decisions.

Equipment: Whether their equipment makes computers, cookies, or cabinets, leaders know how what equipment resources their organization needs to be effective and efficient and see to it that the organization gets it. They understand the capacity of their equipment, what new equipment they will need to achieve their vision, and what it will cost them. Before they invest into new equipment, leaders consider where their real “value added” is and whether or not they would be better off outsourcing it. Leaders know how to put their resources behind what they do best.

Space: Leaders know how their organization’s space relates to the fulfillment of their vision. This affects the decisions they make about where their space should be located, how productive their space is now and what it needs to produce in the future, and what hidden costs they can afford to absorb.

Time: Managing time is a key characteristic of leadership. Leaders don’t allow their organizations to get bogged down by analysis paralysis. They are willing to take calculated risks. They know when it is time to be opportunistic or when to pull back because they stay close to their customers. To a leader, time is not an enemy; it can be an ally. Leaders realize that to change the current state of the organization into to their vision of the future, it will take time. Therefore, they tend to be more measured in their steps. That’s not to say that because
they have patience, they don’t have passion; it’s just that they are realistic about what it will take to get there from here.

As you can see, leadership is not just a single quality, but it is an intangible characteristic made up of many qualities. While none of us can possess all of the needed talents that go into leadership, the silver lining is that we can strive to develop a mix of those qualities that will make us leaders.


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