Leadership is key!

Anyone who reads the 14 behaviors might think, “Yes, that makes sense!”. But how logical it may sound, how difficult it is to put it into practice. Just check for yourself, are we really doing it according to these behaviors? In many cases, this is highly dependent on strong leadership. But note 1: a ‘Leader’ these days is often more concerned with achieving results than with showing leadership. They are literally more ‘in charge’ nowadays and so not acting as a Leader, but more as a Boss. They will have to transform first when the want change to really happen or stick. Note 2: Leaders are not aware of this…

Simon Sinek explains what such a transition means in an inspiring video below (approx. ~45m.):

Why does it go wrong?

How is it possible that teams or organizations are only result-oriented and the managers are more bosses than real leaders? You can find an inspiring explanation about this in the video below (approx. ~17m.):

Literature, a good example

No method is more effective than a good example

Ingvar Kamprad

Why do we do what we do? A leader should be a leader because he or she has a passion for it, not because he or she has shown in the past that they have been good at something (read: promotion, in many cases) or to have more to say (read: earn more, or ‘be the boss’). Managers these days often want or think they have to push the buttons themselves and determine how it should be done (read: getting results means having to be in control themselves, as they know best, right?).

The above paragraph describes exactly what is not the intention of a leader. A leader should primairilly take care of his or her people. A leader should put him- or herself last. Developing his or her people should be more important than his or her own development. A manager should therefore behave differently from what he or she was used to in a previous (often operational) role. This can be taught. The first thing you need to know is: Don’t be ’the boss’!

It does not make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do, it does make sense to hire smart people to tell you what to do with all your running ideas.

Steve Jobs