Leadership

I want to share with you my views on the prospects a leader faces.

It is not a right to lead but an opportunity that a leader earns every day and risks losing every day if she/he fails to live up to the expectations, trust, and confidence given to her/him by the stakeholders. It is a special opportunity that no true leader takes lightly. A leader draws on all the experiences – good and bad, choices – wise and foolish, and people – helpful and hurtful, that have shaped her/his skills as a professional and a leader.

A leader earns the right to lead by exhibiting traits that move others to strive for their personal best. Be they the most junior to the most senior employee, the leader has a responsibility to know how to motivate each of them to excel.

Performance and sustainability of the business delivered to stakeholders (employees, board of directors, shareholders, partners, and society) is the measure of success. Each stakeholder has a different metric. For an employee it is a challenging and rewarding career. For the Board it is a thriving branded company. For the shareholders it is total returns. For partners it is being a reliable counterparty. For society it is contributing to the sustainability of our planet.

The personal qualities that I believe must be exhibited are: being fair and consistent; applying thoughtful judgment; being dependable in achieving goals; taking the initiative in anticipating and dealing with the unexpected; listening for ways to improve; making decisions; being accountable and courageous; dealing with all stakeholders respectfully; being cheerful, honest and truthful; exhibiting a sincere interest and exuberance in people; never being comfortable at the expense of others; ensuring that employees are recognized for their contributions; developing a learning organization and continuing to learn; being devoted to my seniors, shareholders, society, peers and subordinates; and maintaining mental and physical stamina.

All organisations and communities succeed because of their diverse people. A leader must strive to help people help themselves to achieve the best possible results. Together we deliver the extraordinary to stakeholders. Anything less than the extraordinary is the leader's failure to lead.

No discussion of leadership would be complete without touching on the temptation towards corruption. Leadership exposes a person to an exalted position. A position they may come to think is divinely theirs -- even Alexandre proved how perilous it is to believe that you have become divinely chosen.

In closing, the haunting words of Danny Dalton in Syriana (2005) ring loud, ‘Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.’

Corruption has been the undoing of every organization and system of government throughout history. Whether at a personal, corporate or governmental level – it breeds entropy. It is always excused for the same reasons and always leads to the same final outcome = failure. Leadership is the sweaty task of managing stakeholder's wealth and building something truly great with it.


No sustainable society or organisaton will emerge from a corrupt foundation – only distrust, contempt and dissolution await you.