manipulated—and the manipulated
people start to pick up on it;
▪ Their effectiveness (i.e., their
ability to coerce for results) dimin-ishes the second they leave the
room—and the people can’t wait for
them to do so; and
▪ Their tactics result in unthinking
followers who keep their heads
down.
Faithful.
THE ULTIMATE DIFFERENTIATOR
Once we get past all the lists of leadership
attributes, a vital component remains:
authenticity. Genuineness. What you see
is what you get. This fundamental quality
can’t be faked. And it can’t be easily
taught.
It results in leaders who won’t ask fol-
lowers to do anything they wouldn’t
undertake themselves. Patton again:
“Always do everything you ask of those
you command.”
Occasionally, a genuine leader hires a
controlling second-in-command, who
winds up doing the dirty work the empa-
thetic leader won’t do. Usually, these situ-
ations get rectified quickly. If not, it may
be a sign that the ultimate leader wants to
maintain the appearance of authenticity
and is using a hit man to carry out his or
her secret wishes. Ultimately, people see
through the appearance, and the “leader”
loses credibility.
THE AUTHENTIC LEADER
The authentic leader does embody the
attributes on Giuliani’s list, not as poses,
but as actualities.
That genuine leader recognizes his or
her strengths—and weaknesses—and
builds a leadership team to fill in the gaps.
The leader challenges the status quo,
even one of his or her own creation.
A real leader already knows that not
everyone thinks and acts alike, and he or
she actively looks for ways to create a team
with diverse styles and perspectives. Not
for the sake of diversity, but for the sake of
leveraging comprehensive strengths for
complete solutions.
The leader deals with the big picture,
the complexities of all facets of an enterprise, the variety of alternatives for the
future, simultaneously.
The true leader models doing the right
things in the right way.
The ultimate leader never stops working on getting better.
©2011 Printronix
www.printronix.com | 1.800.665.6210
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.
