BY ART VAN BODEGRAVEN AND
KENNETH B. ACKERMAN
basictraining
SO MUCH REALLY GOOD AND INSIGHTFUL MATERIAL HAS
been published about the essence of genuine leadership that we’re left
shaking our heads whenever we encounter leaders who obviously just
chewed the books’ covers when they should have been reading and
taking notes.
People generally think about the subject of leadership as a corpo-rate-level concern—and it is. But it’s also highly relevant to how we
do our jobs in the world of supply chain management. The basics are
the basics, whether applied to the entire organization or to an important component part.
“MASTER AND COMMANDER”
Brilliant as Russell Crowe was in the 2003 film, it was set in the time
of the Napoleonic Wars. The leadership model has changed somewhat since, we sincerely hope. Further, what was
required to keep order among a crew of illiterates
is of a different order than what is needed to run
flexible and creative business organizations,
whether they’re engaged in supply chain management, social media strategizing, or something else.
Even in the ultimate command and control organizations, the armed forces, modern leadership qualities are being increasingly and eagerly embraced.
And the failure of commanders to lead has had some
serious consequences in the past few decades.
Consider the level of enthusiasm and commitment troops might muster in the case of an officer
who assured them that he’d rather be with them storming the beach-es but that duty required him to stay behind versus the general who
actually got his pants wet wading ashore. Then, contemplate the
number of young junior officers who were killed or wounded in
Vietnam by grenades thrown from behind.
But enlightened views of leadership in the military are hardly a
brand new phenomenon. George Patton, the irascible World War II
general, once said, “Don’t tell people how to do things. Tell them what
needs to be done, and let them surprise you with their results.”
Regrettably, some in business positions that would, at minimum,
imply leadership and at most, demand it are still looking to the fear
and intimidation model they wrongly attribute to command and
control systems.
What it takes to be a leader
the necessary attributes: an ability to communicate, vision, empathy, self control, coaching skill,
positive attitude, and integrity.
A core understanding of this model is that six
out of seven is not enough and five out of seven
is a formula for either failure or catastrophe, or
both. On the other hand, being loved is not one
of the core attributes. According to some reports,
people at Apple would follow Steve Jobs into a
fiery pit although they might not like him in any
way as a human being.
We might suggest a few additions to Giuliani’s
list. They include the ability to think strategically,
a propensity to seek change, and a balance
between intuitive and analytic
perspectives.
Not all of those who are
placed in leadership positions
are genuine leaders, of course.
Some are pretenders and
poseurs. It usually doesn’t take
long for the true picture to
emerge. Leaders are confident
and secure, while their lessable counterparts are apt to be
secretly frightened and insecure. Sooner or later, they’ll
display some tell-tale signs:
▪ They are incapable of celebrating the successes of others—of other leaders or of the people
working for them;
▪ They give more than they take (and often
want personal credit and recognition for what
they have taken from others);
▪ They micromanage to ensure there is no deviation from “their way” (killing any real hope for
creativity in the process); and
▪ They hide information that would be useful
to others (believing that knowledge is power, and
that power cannot be shared to mutual benefit).
As they become increasingly consumed by the
need to maintain “control,” a number of bad
things happen:
▪ They begin to view people as things to be
LEADERSHIP FAILURES VS. LEADERSHIP SUCCESSES
So what makes a great leader? One-time “America’s Mayor” Rudy
Giuliani (whatever you might think of his politics) outlined some of
