Lately, I have had an opportunity to read some great books on leadership by prominent authors and have had a chance to observe leaders at work from close quarters to validate my hypothesis. And to my delight, I was able to see a distinct pattern on this subject.
While most leadership books focus on who leaders are - their character, personality, style and charisma, the focus of this blog post is on what leaders do. The shift in emphasis has a practical objective, it is to model the skills of what a leader does, instead of trying to become someone you aren't. Because leadership at it's fundamental level is about authenticity, and using that as a foundation to practice certain learned skills that produce effective results. Because a Mohandas.K.Gandhi had a different personality style then that of President Roosevelt, although both were highly admired leaders and extremely effective at their day jobs.
One thing a student of leadership can take solace in is that more often than not followers are forgiving as long as they know that the leader is authentic and has integrity & is willing to level with them.
That brings us to the basic question of - What do leaders consistently do?
1. Establish the overall vision, values, strategy-goals and objectives
2. Create the structure, conditions, and infrastructure in which others could effectively carry out their tasks
3. Evaluate and then reward, those leaders down the line who successfully motivated their followers to behave in ways, consistent with the vision
In the next post I will cover the strategy and mindset great leaders adopt to execute on the above. Until then, Happy Thanks giving!