Transcript
Here we are at Lesson 3, where we’re going talk about your leadership philosophy, which is the third leg of the three legged stool we’re been building for the past couple of lessons.
Up to this point you’ve worked on two legs of the three legged stool, the first leg being knowing why you want to be a leader, the second leg, knowing what leadership means to you, this third leg is important because it gives you the “what” and the “how” of the way you lead, thereby completing that foundation, that three legged foundation of leadership, that most leaders never even consider. So, as opposed to leading by the seat of your pants, or by instinct or by assuming you know what you’re doing, what we’re going to try to do, is make this philosophy of yours more explicit.
Whether you realize it or not, you have a leadership philosophy. So it’s better to be explicit about it so that you’re in control rather than having an unarticulated philosophy control you.
Let’s talk about a couple avenues of approach to get there. The first way is to pick a leader you admire and want to emulate. A couple of examples for me include Colin Powell, former Chairman and Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State. His thirteen rules of leadership, one of which—my favorite—is, “professional optimism is a force multiplier.” It is a force multiplier for a leader to be optimistic. If you’re walking around like a gloomy Gus, or otherwise have a negative demeanor, your attitude is going to impact the rest of your team. Part of your role as a leader is to provide hope for an optimistic future. We also have John Wooden, he of UCLA fame who won 7 consecutive NCAA basketball championships, a feat that will not likely be repeated in our lifetime, probably ever. A key rule for him was to be more concerned with your character than your reputation, character is what you really are. Reputation is what people say you are. Character is more important.
There are a lot of leaders to choose from throughout history, and you could do some research, and pick someone you like. A favorite of mine is George C. Marshall. I think he was an impeccable leader in WWII and absolutely fantastic in working in both the military and political aspects of what it took to win that war.
Now here’s the only caveat, no human being is perfect, all of us are fallible, so no one you pick will be the perfect exemplar of leadership, so just keep that in mind.
The way I like to do it now, is to pick a good leadership model or models of leadership, one that’s backed by good academic research. There’s been a lot of study of leadership, especially over the past 100 years. They are many different models, and some better than others, some are way less than perfect, and some are really, really good. So you have to be a little discerning. Nonetheless, it’s a good option to base your leadership philosophy on proven models in leadership. OK, let’s talk about a few of them.
Here’s a partial list of models that I really like. The first one is “servant leadership.” Robert Greenleaf in the 1960’s and 70’s started to think deeply of leadership and what leaders to do to actually make a difference in the world, so he wrote a book called the “The Servant As Leader.” Greenleaf held that a servant leader thinks less of self, shares power, develops people and works to help them achieve their potential. What’s not to like really. There’s a whole movement of servant leadership and lot of research going on in this arena to this day.
Leader member exchange theory was also developed in the 70’s that’s been well researched over the ensuing forty years. The basic idea is that leaders generate more effective results if they develop and maintain mature relationships. What I like about LMX is that it puts relationships between leaders and followers firmly at the center of leadership. The stronger the relationship between leaders and followers, the better the results.
“Transformational Leadership” by James McGregor Burns, a presidential historian, wrote a book called “Leadership” about 30 years ago where he defined leadership as one in which leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation. If you recall I mentioned, James Kouzes and Barry Posner who wrote the book, “The Leadership Challenge.” Their five practices of exemplary leadership, is in the vein of transformational leadership which is a practical application of Burns’ model. It’s very effective and one that I use in my coaching practice.
Another model that I like is “Level 5 leadership” by Jim Collins. He wrote a book in 2001 called “Good to Great,” a very, very solid and well researched book. Collins shows that an indispensable requirement for a great company is an executive who exhibits genuine personal humility blended with an intense professional will. Humility I think is a strong quality for a leader, and Collins really nails it, I think with “Level 5 Leadership.”
Strengths-based leadership is an outgrowth of Dr. Martin Selligman’s work in positive psychology. Through his research, he identifies 24 timeless, cross-cultural strengths common to the human experience. By employing your strengths your chances of being a great leader are much increased Zenger and Folkman in 2009, took up this theme, and through their own research discovered a leader who has just 2 or 3 outstanding leadership related strengths is perceived to be extraordinary, so 2 or 3 of about 7 or 8 traits that they looked at very closely, with just two or three strengths being rated as high by those who follow you, you will be perceived as an extraordinary leader. They also recommend strengthening your strengths rather than, strengthening your weakness, which I think is a very unique approach.
“Flexible Leadership” by Dr. Gary Yukl, a professor of leadership for the better part of 40 years, wrote a book in 2004 called “Flexible Leadership.” What I like about it is that it’s a comprehensive theory and it integrates findings from multiple different leadership disciplines and more than a half a century of research. As a model it’s grounded, it’s practical, and it’s a very useful as a leadership model. It explains how leaders can effectively enhance the bottom line performance of their organization, Finally, a good friend of mine, James Scouller, an executive coach in Great Britain, he developed a three “P” model. “P” stands for “Public”, “Private” and “Personal” leadership. Public leadership applies to group leadership and the functions of establishing purpose, establishing tasks, maintaining group unity. Private leadership is one on one leadership and focuses on individual accomplishment tasks and taking care of people and last but not least, something that’s often overlooked. Personal leadership is self mastery and it encompasses your presence, expert knowledge, and people skills. Scouller maintains, as do I, that self-mastery is the basis for any success you might experience as a leader. Among its many merits, Scouller’s model emphasizes the psychological aspect of leadership.
So there are a few examples of role models and academic models that can help immensely as you look to develop your own leadership philosophy.
What you want to get to is knowing and having your own leadership philosophy. In this regard, I want to emphasize that you’re leadership journey is like a huge laboratory, you’re going to learn as you go and also your philosophy is going to evolve and change based on your experience that you’ve gained along the way. The great thing is, that you’ll encounter both good and bad leaders, you’re going to read books, take courses, and gain experiences, that bit by bit, are going to leave marks on you. And what this means is that you’ll have ample opportunity to develop a model that works for you and one that you continually construct.
Your philosophy will also provide a touchstone as you proceed on your leadership journey, and will help keep you from being buffeted by current fads and external pressures as well as keep you grounded. As my own leadership philosophy developed, I relied less on examples of leadership and more on proven academic research, as I stated before. During the last few years of my career as a leader, I learned more about leadership than I had in the previous 10. Much of what I had learned, I wish I had known earlier, but nonetheless I made the adjustments and I approved upon my model and became a more effective leader. At least, I like to think so. And to this day, I continue to learn and refine my leadership philosophy.
So, it’s crucial to have your own leadership philosophy, but it’s also important for you to be able to articulate your philosophy to others; they want to know what your leadership philosophy is, your expectations, and just exactly who is this guy or gal?
So let’s sum this up! Your leadership philosophy is a mental map that guides and directs the way you go about leading, it provides the touchstone for you and your team.
In order to develop your leadership philosophy you can emulate great leaders or adopt proven theories and models in order to establish your own.
It’s important to continue to refine your philosophies as you continue on your journey because you are going to collect different experiences and learn as you go.
Lesson 3 would not be complete without homework, so here are questions to help you start to bring forth and elicit your leadership philosophy. Now it’s going to take some effort on your part but I guarantee that there is a philosophy inside of you, and we want to start to get at it.
So I want you to answer these following questions: What is your current leadership philosophy? This is going to force you to think it through, what’s important to me about leading? How do I lead? What do I do when I lead? As you think through all that, you are going to find certain patterns and characteristics that are unique to your own way of leadership.
How did your philosophy develop? It had to develop somewhere. For example in your childhood, high school or college, early work experience, role models, and education. Somehow, someway it developed. How did it develop?
Then think about one of the most important elements of your philosophy, what are those things that without them, you would not be able to lead?
How well does your philosophy match with your current role? If you’re leading well, how is your philosophy helping you to do that? If you’re struggling a little bit, what might be lacking in your philosophy, right?
What are some things you could do to improve upon your leadership model? And I mentioned a couple of them already. Do some reading. Do some research, look for role models.
Alright so there’s lesson 3, what’s your leadership philosophy. Your philosophy, when coupled with how you want to lead and your definition of leadership gives you a nice three legged stool, that foundation from which to base your leadership approach.
So now we’re going to pull all this together in lesson 4 and talk about your first day on the job.
See you then.