that a leader brings to the organization. The vision gets energized and
transmitted to those who follow.
There is an expectation of achievement, of success. Similarly, a lack of
vision gets communicated as well,
and what gets transmitted is a failure to energize. Green Bay’s Vince
Lombardi said it best, “Once you
learn to quit, it becomes a habit ....”
Jimmy Carter, another bright and
honest man, won no hearts and
minds with turning down the heat,
wearing sweaters indoors, and
speaking of “malaise.” But his successor, Ronald Reagan, could make
people believe in “morning in
America.”
Delegation is, in the traditional
literature, a management must, a
key to effective leadership. And
that’s generally true. But not all
leaders are equally adept at all five
elements of leadership. Results
come—usually—from making
someone else responsible for the
details of execution, from delega-
tion. But FDR’s first vice president,
prickly John Nance (Cactus Jack)
Garner of Texas, described the job
as “not worth a bucket of warm
spit.” Only, he didn’t say “spit.”
Later, FDR neglected to let his last
vice president know that the gov-
ernment had been successfully
working on a new toy for the mili-
tary called the atomic bomb. Of
course, Roosevelt was notoriously
Machiavellian in assigning trust-
ed—and trusting—aides tasks that
ran at cross purposes, and in dis-
sembling without hesitation if it
suited his private agenda.
Helping to Keep Things
Rolling for Over 50 Years
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arings/bushings • be
• metal rollers
• plastic rollers
• sleeved/coated rollers
• urethane tapers
• directional rollers
• torque limiters
• troughers
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•
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•
•
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culture
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ibution
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& unit handling
ufacturing
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manufacturing
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evaluation to people encompasses knowing
when to make change, when to coach, when
to develop, and when to part ways.
Coordination is the management of team
activities toward the desired end. It
demands ground-level teamwork for success—and the leader should be the best
team player in the group. Inevitably, management of conflict (“creative tension”) will
come into play. In the political arena,
Abraham Lincoln, as described in Doris
Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals,
virtually invented the practice and process of
coordination of peers and competitors,
amidst doubt and conflict.
There are other lists of so-called leadership qualities, but, frankly, they boil down
to the ones we’ve laid out. Anyone who
masters these five elements, believes them,
and has a vision to promote through them
won’t have to fight to become a leader. He
or she will have to fight off the multitudes
of people who want to follow and be part of
the winning team.
Why is this important today?
It’s always important. But we’ve been going
through tough times, and that affects both
the political world and the workaday world.
People need to know, at a cosmic level and
as matters affect them personally, what’s
going to happen—and that they’ll be OK.
We need many things. First, honest-to-goodness problem solvers who can figure
out what to do next (without first breaking
into a public flop sweat). Second, a communicator who can frame what needs to be
done into a vision that is coherent and
understandable to Mr. and Mrs. Front
Porch (and this is vital for both the national economy and the future of an individual’s department). Third, cheerleaders who
will take the time to communicate, lift spirits, and project confidence. Yes, cheerleading is also part of the leadership equation.
We can all play some role in making this
happen, and today would be a good day to
start.
Art van Bodegraven, practice leader at S4 Consulting, may be
reached at (614) 336-0346 or avan@columbus.rr.com. You
can read his blog at http://blogs.dcvelocity.com/
the_art_of_art/. Kenneth B. Ackerman, president of The
Ackerman Company, can be reached at (614) 488-3165 or
ken@warehousing-forum.com.
