If
only leadership were so easy. (Given the sad state of my game, I’m the last
person who should use “easy” and “golf” in the same sentence!)
Unfortunately, there are no handily numbered steps that we can follow in
growing our leadership. But after decades of studying leadership – of
writing and speaking about it, of trying to practice it, as well as providing
leadership coaching to thousands of managers – I am convinced that there are
timeless leadership principles which all of us can use to be more effective in
our personal and professional lives.
All
organizations have access to more-or-less the same resources. They draw from
the same pool of people in their markets or geographic areas. And they can all
learn about the latest tools and techniques. Yet not all organizations perform
equally. In fact, there is a huge gap between high- and low performing
organizations. What accounts for this? Quite simply, it’s people. As the
venerable Peter Drucker points out, “Of all the decisions a manager makes,
none are as important as the decisions about people because they determine the
performance capacity of the organization.”
When
it comes to people, the big difference is leadership. That’s why leadership training and development has
become so popular. It’s critical to team and organization success.
Want
to read up on the subject of leadership? Well, be my guest. During the
research and writing of my just completed book, The
Leader’s Digest, I did a search for books on leadership. I found over
10,000 in print! What’s more, it often seems that there are as many
different interpretations of “leadership” as there are people using the
term. The result is a confusing multitude of leadership grids, charts,
formulas, jargon, fads, and buzzwords. New ones seem to pop up every week.
Historians,
anthropologists and scholars of classic literature tell us that there are
really just a small number of recurring stories in the entire history of
humanity. Our books and movies provide us with endless variations on the basic
stories of the human condition. That’s one of the reasons why my favorite
recreational reading is historical fiction. So many of the same themes keep
showing up in the stories of people and cultures thousands of years or miles
apart.
A
key part of our continuous leadership quest is finding the approaches that fit
our individual values, personality, and style. It’s like trying to find a
path in a field of newly fallen snow. Once we walk across the field, we’ve
discovered our path. After years of keynote presentations, retreats/workshops,
and management team development, I am well aware that there is no one
leadership size that fits all. There are timeless principles we can all apply,
but we have to make them fit our unique circumstances.
The
problem for most of us is that leadership is easy to understand, but very
tough to do. It’s all common sense. But not so often common practice.
One of my goals in writing The Leader’s Digest is to remind us all of
common-sense principles where the practicing may be slipping. It is one thing
to know, it’s quite another to do. And many a manager has
confused understanding leadership concepts with practicing them.
Just like maintaining our physical fitness, growing our leadership is a
never-ending activity.
Excerpted from Jim’s
latest book, The Leader’s Digest:
Timeless Principles for Team and Organization Success. The Leader’s Digest is Jim’s new companion book to Growing
the Distance: Timeless Principles for Personal, Career, and Family Success.
Jim Clemmer is an internationally acclaimed keynote speaker,
workshop/retreat leader, and management team developer on leadership, change,
customer focus, culture, teams, and personal growth. His website is
www.clemmer.net.
