Onbecomingaleadersummary [615803]

®FILE: SUCCESS/CAREER TECHNIQUES12-10
First, Know Yourself
ON BECOMING
A LEADER
By Warren Bennis
THE SUMMARY IN BRIEF
This summary examines the evolutionary
process by which managers become lead-ers. This transformation, although noteasy, is simpler than you might think. As a
manager, you can draw from an inventory of expe-riences, observations, vision, and other qualitieswhich, if used to overcome inertia, can transformyou into an effective leader.
Leaders must know themselves thoroughly before
they can hope to lead others. This self-knowledgecomes through listening to your inner voice, accept-ing responsibility for who you are, learning ingreater depth than the average person, and reflectingon the unique experiences you have had throughoutyour life. Mistakes are inevitable, but they, too, con-tribute to your growth and development.
You must also know the world as thoroughly as
you know yourself. World knowledge comesthrough a host of experiences, including extensivetravel, a rewarding private life, key associationswith mentors and groups, and continuing education.You must allow yourself to emerge as a leader by
applying to the way you do your job the wisdomand insight gained from your reflections on life’slessons.
Change is the only constant in a leader’s life.
Consequently, you must resign yourself to workwithin an environment that’s forever evolving,adapting, and adjusting to serendipity. Your skillswill be forged within this dynamic crucible, and themore tests you survive, the more likely you are tobecome a good leader. Adversity, which is inheritin the process, is itself a positive and maturing ex-perience.
Leaders are only as successful as their subordi-
nates. You must earn the trust of those beneath youby demonstrating constancy of purpose, being reli-able, and displaying integrity. Your organizationmust support your efforts by maintain a mentoringatmosphere whose tone, pace, and values instructmanagers positively and help them to achieve theirfull potential.
Published by Soundview Executive Book Summaries, 10 LaCrue Avenue, Concordville, Pennsylvania 19331 USA
*All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited.

Leaders share a common passion for the
promises of life and the ability to expressthemselves fully. This free and joyousself-expression is the essence of leader-
ship, but it has a prerequisite: You must first knowyourself. Genuine leaders know who they are; theyrecognize and exercise their strengths and acknowl-edge and compensate for their weaknesses. Theyalso know what they want, why, and how to com-municate those wants to others in a fashion thatelicits cooperation and support.
Secondly, the world itself seems out of control. The
changes of the last generation have been so radicalthat it seems even in business as if the world playssoccer while America plays football. It’s not just therules that have changed. The game itself has changed.
For this reason, before you can learn to lead you
must learn a great deal about this strange new worldthat we all inhabit. If not, you’ll likely end up beingabsorbed by it instead of leading it.
Learning to Lead
Becoming a leader isn’t easy. If it were, we’d
have a great many more. But learning to lead is alot easier than you might think, because every man-ager possesses an inventory of raw materials to useto become a genuine leader. These materials consistof experiences, observations, vision, and a varietyof other factors. The key lies in molding them in aform and fashion that are unique to your own par-ticular circumstances and that turn them to youradvantage in the situation at hand, whatever it maybe and whatever it requires.
Although everyone can become a leader, not
everyone will. Why? Because too many people are
prisoners of their own inertia. They lack the will tochange and to develop their potential. People whoare willing to overcome inertia can transformthemselves if they want to badly enough. Becominga true leader is the ultimate act of free will, and ifyou have that will, you will find your way.
Leadership comes by evolution rather than a se-
ries of individual lessons. The process has no begin-ning, middle, or end, but it has several recurringand overlapping themes — the need for formal andinformal education, the need to unlearn erroneouslessons, the need to reflect on what you havelearned, the need to take risks and make mistakes,and the need to master the task at hand.
OUR LEADERSHIP ENVIRONMENT
Our quality of life depends on the quality of our
leaders. If you’ve ever dreamed of becoming aleader, now’s the time to try to make those dreamsreality. The future needs a legacy from today’s lead-ers, and there are far too few to answer the challenge.
A Leadership Crisis
Leaders are vitally important today for three basic
reasons. First, the success or failure of all organiza-tions rests on the perceived quality of the people atthe top. Even stock prices are influenced by thepublic’s perception of corporate leadership. Witnessa case several years ago in which an ineffectivecompany president died and the market price of thefirm’s stock shot up overnight. It was an unflatter-
ing but unequivocal expression of investors’ opin-ions of his leadership.SELECTED BY SOUNDVIEW
AS AN OUTSTANDING BOOKFOR BUSINESS PEOPLE
The author: Warren Bennis is distinguished professor of business at the
University of Southern California.
Copyright ©1989 by Warren Bennis. Summarized by permission of the publisher
Addison-Wesley, One Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867 (1-800-447-2226). 226pages. $19.95. If you w ish to order the book, call Soundview, 1-800-521-1227 (outside
the USA and Canada, 1-610-558-9495) or fax 1-800-453-5062 (outside the USA andCanada, 1-610-558-9491) and charge to your credit card. E-mail: sales@summary.com.Internet: www.summary.com. Send mail orders, in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank, toSoundview, 10 LaCrue Avenue, Concordville, PA 19331 USA. We also accept AmericanExpress, MasterCard,Visa, Diners Club, and Discover. Please include the book priceplus $4.00 shipping and handling for the first book and $1.50 for each additional book;in Canada, $5.00 for the first book and $3.00 for each additional book, and addGST/HST (12521 8826 RT); in Mexico, $5.00 for each book; all other countries, $11.00for each book, shipped airmail.
THE SUMMARY
Published by Soundview Executive Book Summaries (ISSN 0747-2196), 10 LaCrue Ave.,
Concordville, PA 19331 USA, a division of Concentrated Knowledge Corporation. Publisher,George Y . Clement. Publications Director, Maureen L. Solon. Editor-in-Chief, Christopher G. Murray.Published monthly. Subscription, $195 per year in the United States, Canada and Mexico, $275 to allother countries. Periodicals postage paid at Concordville. PA and additional offices. POSTMASTER:Send address changes to Soundview, 10 LaCrue Ave., Concordville, PA 19331. Copyright © 1990 bySoundview Executive Book Summaries.
2

The second reason is that the change and
upheaval of past years have left us with no place tohide. We need visionary navigators who can substi-tute clearly charted courses for dead reckoning.
The third reason why leaders are so necessary is
that we as a nation are alarmed at the pervasive ero-sion of the integrity of our institutions.
Not so long ago, on Wall Street, a person’s word
was considered to be a binding contract. Prominent
evangelists were thought to practice what they
preached. To those in high places, lying or cheatingwas tantamount to professional suicide. Today,
however, getting caught in such acts seems far moredistressing to the people involved than the actsthemselves. Shame and embarrassment haveyielded to arrogance and bald-faced denials, nomatter how damning the evidence. Greed, timidity,and lack of vision are rampant among the currentcrop of pseudoleaders. We need leaders who willrise above those tawdry standards.
UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
The mythical “look of a leader” is precisely that –
a myth. Leaders come in all sizes, shapes, and dis-positions. What they share in common, however,are several basic ingredients:
●Guiding vision. Effective leaders have a clear
idea of what they want to do in both their profes-sional and personal lives. They also possess thestrength to pursue this vision despite the inevitablesetbacks and failures.
●Passion. Leaders love what they do, love to do
it, and communicate their passion in inspire others.
●Integrity. This facet of a leader has three ele-
ments. The first is self-knowledge. Leaders knowtheir strengths and weaknesses. They understandwhat they want to do and why. They never lie tothemselves.
The second is candor, a dedication to honest
thoughts and actions. This is the key to self-knowl-edge.
The third is maturity. Rather than showing the
way or giving orders, leaders learn by following.
They earn their status through dedication, observa-tion, and working with and through others success-fully and honestly.
●Trust.This is more a product of leadership than
an ingredient of it. Trust is the one quality that can-not be acquired. It must be earned.
●Curiosity and daring. Leaders want to learn as
much as they can, and they’re willing to take risks,experiment, and innovate in the process. They
wring knowledge and wisdom from every mistakeand learn from adversity.
Codifying Your Thinking
Managers who seek the mantle of leadership
must codify their thoughts by speaking or writingwhat’s on their minds. Writing is the most profoundway to do this, because when you write, you
3Here are ten guidelines that will help you as a
leader and your organization to rise above chaosand thrive on change and ambiguity.These ele-ments form the basis for survival into thetwenty-first century.They are:
1.Manage the dream. Communicate your vi-
sion to others, recruit meticulously, reward andretrain your people, and reorganize as circum-stances dictate.
2.Embrace error. Create an atmosphere that
encourages your people to take risks.Assurethem with words and actions that the only mis-take is to do nothing.
3.Encourage reflective back talk. Know the
importance of having someone in your life, per-haps a spouse or peer, who will tell you the truth.
4.Encourage dissent. Surround yourself with
devil’s advocates who will tell you the differencebetween what you expect and what could reallyhappen.
5.Display optimism,faith,and hope. Thesequalities are contagious.Your subordinates will
pick them up and embrace them, too.
6.Expect the best from your people. This
encourages them to expand beyond self-imposedor artificial limitations and excel in ways that maysurprise both you and them.
7.Develop a sense of “touch.” Cultivate the
ability to discern where the external environmentis heading and how your organization mustchange if it is to grow and flourish within that fu-ture setting.
8.Take the long view. Keep your eyes on the
horizon and refuse to become a slave toshort-term, bottom-line thinking,
9.Maintain stakeholder symmetry. Balance
the competing claims of each internal and externalgroup that has an interest in your organization.
10.Create strategic alliances and partner-
ships.Recognize the value and wisdom of creat-
ing ties with other organizations whose future isaligned with yours.Guidelines to Success in Leadership

focus and express your thoughts more effectively.
Writing is the best way to plumb the depths of yourfeelings and learn who you are and what you believe.
Newspaper editor Gloria Anderson said, “It’s vital
for people to develop their own sense of themselvesand their role in the world, and it’s equally vital forthem to try new things, to test themselves and theirbeliefs and principles. I think we long for peoplewho will stand up for what they believe, even if wedon’t agree with them, because we have confidencein such people.”
The current buzzword for people who don’t fit
Anderson’s description is “empty suits.” Lackingself-knowledge and codified thinking, “empty suit”executives borrow postures, spout secondhand
ideas, and devote themselves to fitting in rather thanstanding out. Camouflaging yourself this way canbe hazardous to your reputation and career, how-ever.
Lucky Stores CEO Don Ritchey said, “I believe
people spot phonies in very short order, whetherthat be on an individual basis or a company basis.As Emerson says, ‘What you are speaks so loudly Icannot hear what you say.’”
As an aspiring leader, you must discover your
own native energies and desires and find your own
way to act on them. When you’ve done that, you’ve
become the author of your own destiny. No matterwhat the future holds, you can be content to knowthat you have played the game that was natural foryou to play.
Enjoy Your Journey
The goals that you pursue aren’t worth arriving at
unless you enjoy the journey, because successcomes by short, well-contemplated hops — not bygiant leaps. Says Norman Lear, “You have to lookat success incrementally. It takes too long to get toany major success. If one can look at life as beingsuccessful on a moment-by-moment basis, onemight find that most of it is successful. And take thebow inside for it. When we wait for the big bows,it’s a lousy bargain. They don’t come but once intoo long a time.”
KNOWING YOURSELF
By the time you reached puberty, your family,
friends, school, and society in general had told you— by word and example — how to be. But peoplebegin to become leaders at the moment when theydecide for themselves how to be.
It takes courage and determination to know your-
self. You must separate who you are and who youwant to be from what the world thinks you are and
wants you to be. Some managers come to know
themselves early in life; others such as FranklinRoosevelt and Harry Truman did this much later in
life. Regardless of when self-knowledge arrives,you must realize that achieving and maintainingself-knowledge is a lifetime process. Exploringyour own depths and reflecting on your experiencesare ongoing activities. They’re an integral part ofthe lifelong adventure of seeking, evolving, becom-ing, and knowing who you really are.
Some people strike out on a quest for self-knowl-
edge because they don’t like who they are or whatthey’re doing. They resolve to become masters oftheir own fate. Others, like Truman when hebecame president, are confronted by events andcircumstances that force them to grow beyond theirself-imposed boundaries. Regardless of your cata-lyst, you will find self-knowledge brings tangibleand intangible rewards, because if you continue todo what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to getwhat you’ve always got — which may be less thanyou want or deserve.
Four Lessons of Self-Knowledge
Only you can take charge of your life and express
yourself, but there are four lessons that many suc-cessful leaders have learned that you should employin the process:
●Lesson one: Listen to your inner self. Astute
managers realize when they have fallen short oftheir own potential. They know, too, that learning isa way out of the trap and a step toward self-expres-sion. If this is your case, you must acquire whatevertools are necessary to rise above your professionalor intellectual shortcomings, confining boss, stag-nant organization, or dead-end job and reach for ahigher plane. The alternative to ignoring your innerself is to settle for less than you are capable of.Major stumbling blocks on this path to self-knowl-edge are denial and blame.
●Lesson two: Accept responsibility for what you
are. Blame no one. Taking charge of your life alsomeans that you accept responsibility for your ownsuccess or failure. Bosses and companies may comeand go, but your own inherent abilities, learningexperiences, viewpoints, and personal qualities are
portable assets that will always be at yourcommand. They’re your unique inventory of con-stants in an ever-changing world. If you discoverthrough introspection that you need more knowl-edge, get it. If you need broader experience, seek it,find it, and move forward.
●Lesson three: Learn at a deeper level than
most people. This aspect of self-knowledge dealswith more than just absorbing information or mas-tering a discipline. It’s seeing the world both as itis and as it could be, understanding what you see,
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and acting on that understanding. Your level of
learning extends beyond just learning facts. Rather,you embrace the information, absorb it, andacquire, in the process, a level of understandingmore profound than that of the average person.
●Lesson four: True understanding comes from
reflecting on your experience. There’s an academicmaxim that understanding occurs at three levels. Atthe first level, you learn a subject. At the next, youteach it. At the last and highest level, you writeabout it. Understanding grows with each step, andeach step demands that you reflect on the one be-fore it. Reflection enhances and adds value to yourexperience.
Perhaps the most effective way to reflect on your
experience is to have a dialogue with yourself. In
this fashion you discover the truth of yourself andyour life. What really happened? What did it do toyou? What did it mean to you? In this way, you canlocate and acquire the knowledge you need to be-come, in Goethe’s phrase, a hammer rather than ananvil.
Your Experience Is a Key
Each of us is an enormous biological and social
phenomenon, a product of genes, environment,family, friends, schools, accidents, and more. What
distinguishes leaders from everyone else is that theytake all of those elements and use them to reformu-late themselves in a new and unique way.
By taking mental inventory of your life’s experi-
ences, you take stock of yourself, realizing thatyou’re as much a product of your experiences asyour skills. Unlike everyone else, however, leadersuse their experiences as stepping stones to self-knowledge.
KNOWING THE WORLD
True leaders are obsessed with knowing the world
as thoroughly as they know themselves. Thisknowledge comes through extensive travel, a re-warding private life, key associations with mentors
and groups, and broad and continuing education.
Universities are not always the best place to ex-
pand your worldly horizons. Too many schools pro-duce throngs of narrow-minded specialists who,although wizards at making money, are unfinishedas people. They have been taught how to do; theyhave not learned how to be. Courses in philosophy,history, and literature are infinitely more develop-mental and inspiring than courses in accounting,marketing research, or computer programming.
Ambition Vs Growth
Your pursuit of world knowledge is a quest to seehow things can be different, but big institutions and
society, whether public or private, often expect peo-ple to toe the line in a host of ways — personal,political, and ideological. This is no revelation. Youprobably know people who have gotten ahead byconforming rather than going against the grain.
If you would keep ambition from stunting your
intellectual growth, however, you must not be afraidto lose, to say something that people might think iswrong or crazy, or to say something the institutionisn’t ready to hear yet.
Learning from Adversity
Many leaders believe that mistakes are necessary
and synonymous with growth and progress.
They realize that people who rarely make mis-
takes are frequently reluctant to take risks and strikeout on their own. They prefer to play it safe, but bydoing so they turn in a mediocre performance.
According to Shirley Hufstedler, a lawyer, for-
mer judge, and former U.S. secretary of education,“If you haven’t failed, you haven’t tried veryhard.”
OPERATING ON INSTINCT
In our efforts to simplify our lives, we doggedly
attempt to reduce life to bumper-stickerdimensions. Advocates of simplicity see reality asmechanical, segmented, and rational, when it is infact organic, whole, and ambiguous. Predictability
is the exception, not the rule.
Prominent leaders consistently report that they
rely as much on intuition and conceptual skills ason logic and analytical talents. CEOs must possessboth administrative and imaginative gifts. One rea-son why so few corporate executives have success-fully made the leap from capable manager to gen-uine leader is that corporate cultures, like society asa whole, recognize and reward quantifiable,bottom-line, left-brain achievements. People withthese achievements get the promotions. Qualitative,innovative, right-brain accomplishments tend to bediscounted, and these potentially great leaders arepassed over in the promotion process.
Writer, producer, and CEO Norman Lear encour-
ages would-be leaders to heed their inner voice,because “….. when we forgo our own thoughts andopinions, they end up coming back to us from themouths of others ….. When I’ve been most effec-tive, I’ve followed that inner voice.”
LETTING YOURSELF EMERGE
After you’ve mastered the context of leadership,
gotten to know yourself and the world, andbecome comfortable heeding your instincts when
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appropriate, you must express yourself as a leader
by letting your true self emerge and take charge.
Reflection Teaches from the Past
Reflection, you’ll recall, was one of the four les-
sons that led to self-knowledge. Reflection is alsothe means by which you learn from past experi-ences so you can resolve them and broaden yourself-confidence as a leader.
Reflection makes learning tangible and
conscious. It helps you put experiences into per-spective and get to the heart of the matter.Adequate reflection clarifies the meaning of whathappened to you and the course of action youshould take as a result of your experiences. Youraggregate experience is the foundation for the restof your life, and that foundation is as solid as thedegree to which you have reflected on it, under-stood it, and achieved a workable resolution aboutits significance and impact on the person you’vebecome.
The Value of Perspective
Leaders who are trying to express themselves
fully and truly must have a perspective, a point ofview that’s authentic and unique to them.
John Sculley, chairman and CEO of Apple Com-
puters, emphasizes the value of placing your expe-riences in perspective. “Shifting your stancechanges you,” says Sculley. “You take the same setof facts and shift the vantage point and everythinglooks different. One of the things leaders have tobe good at is perspective. Leaders don’t necessarilyhave to invent ideas, but they have to be able to putthem in context and add perspective ….. What Ilook for in people is the ability to transform theirexperience into ideas and put those ideas in con-
text.”Steps to Self-Expression
Emerging leaders must set tangible, focused goals
for themselves. Vague goals are virtually worthless.Overly specific goals are equally worthless, how-ever, because they’re so precise that they exclude
many alternatives and lack flexibility.
According to attorney Jamie Raskin, “It’s more
important to have ambitions in terms of the wayyou want to live your life, and then the other thingswill flow out of that.”
As an aspiring leader, you can set goals through
which to express yourself by following four steps:
1. Identify what you want and what you are capa-
ble of doing, and recognize the difference.
2. Identify the things that drive you and experi-
ences that give you satisfaction, and know thedifference between the two.
3. Clarify your personal values and priorities and
those of your organization, and measure thedifference between the two.
4. Having taken the first three steps, ask yourself
if you are able and willing to tackle the obsta-cles that stand in your way.
The first step’s issues are fairly basic. All of us
must reconcile wants with capabilities throughoutour lives, and some degree of compromise may benecessary. An undersized athlete may compromiseby pursuing a coaching career, a singer with amediocre voice may turn to songwriting, and so on.
The issues in the second step are more complex.
Executives who are driven to succeed at all costsare often unfulfilled, one-dimensional people. It ispossible to succeed and satisfy yourself, but only ifyou’re wise and honest enough to admit what youwant and recognize that you must achieve those
wants through work that is inherently fulfilling and
gratifying.
6“The techniques of leadership,”wrote Frederick
and John Dyer, “are admittedly the most mysteri-ous and the most difficult to teach.Yet, in the longrun, the very fact that the (person) is trying to be
a good leader shows through.People becomewhat they seek to be.”
A study of leadership must scrutinize success-
ful leaders in many fields and identify the specialblend of attitudes, techniques, principles, and
values that they have employed throughout their
rich and varied careers.This is no simple task.
Nevertheless, Warren Bennis has done it sur-passingly well.He examines a human tapestry ofacknowledged leaders in such fields as entertain-ment, newspaper publishing, finance, education,
politics, medicine, science, law, athletics, andbusiness.
Studying leaders isn’t nearly as orderly and
predictable as studying the physical world, be-cause people are anything but orderly and pre-dictable.And leadership itself? Well, it’s a lot likebeauty:hard to define, but you know it when yousee it.In the course of his career, Bennis hasseen leadership often, and he has distilled theresults of his observations into his writing.It’s asummary of how people become leaders, howthey lead others, and how organizations encour-age or stifle the potential leaders in their midst. Bennis Studies Leaders to Learn About Leadership

When you come to the third step, you must care-
fully evaluate the degree of flex in yourself andyour organization. Some lockstep corporate culturesdemand absolute obedience to the company credo,while others are more laid-back and adaptable.After analyzing the amount of flex in yourself andyour organization, you can decide whether you’retrying to express yourself in an acceptable (andaccepting) environment or if you should join a dif-ferent organization, one whose culture is more inharmony with your personal values and priorities.
The fourth step demands intense introspection
and reflection. Your decision about whether totackle the obstacles that bar your way to self-ex-pression may cause you to maintain your presentcourse or chart an entirely new one in a differentfield or organization. Either way you’re ahead, be-
cause you are taking the necessary steps to let yourtrue self emerge.
MOVING THROUGH CHAOS
Leaders operate in chaotic, unpredictable environ-
ments where the only constant is change. Conse-quently, they must accept the fact that they willlearn by doing. They must learn where thechallenges are, where the task is unprogrammed,where the job is being done for the first time.
Effective leaders galvanize the resources of their
organizations to make the changes necessary toachieve their unique vision of how things should be.But unless you continue to evolve, adapt, and adjustto external change, your organization will eventu-ally stall. In other words, you must possess the abil-ity to use your experiences to grow within your job.True leaders are forged in a crucible of experience,
and the more experience and tests you survive, themore likely you are to become a good leader.
Expect Adversity
Their high profiles make leaders attractive targets
both inside and outside their organizations. Whenyou’re king of the hill, everyone seems to be gun-ning for you.
According to a study by behavioral scientists
Michael Lombardo and Morgan McCall at the Cen-ter for Creative Leadership, adversity is as randomand prevalent in leaders’ lives as good luck.
Executives’ ascensions are anything but orderly.
Throughout their careers, top managers encountersuch problems as failure, demotions, being passedover for promotion, traumatic mergers and
takeovers, reorganizations, and office politics. Suchobstacles are an integral part of the leadership expe-rience, and you must gird yourself to deal withthem and reflect on their learning value.
Ernest Hemingway said that the world breaks allof us, and we grow stronger in the broken places.
That’s certainly true of leaders. Their ability to re-bound from adversity permits them to achieve andto realize their vision.
GETTING PEOPLE ON YOUR SIDE
Charisma isn’t an essential leadership quality.
Many leaders, despite a lack of charisma, still
manage to inspire trust and loyalty in others, and inthat way get things done.
Some leaders, too, place a high value on empathy.
Although many leaders may lack it and still suc-ceed, those who possess it tend to engender moresupport from their people.
In addition to empathy, effective leaders make
others believe that the leaders’ vision is worthwhilefor subordinates to follow and those subordinateswill be better off by following.
Lucky Stores’ Don Ritchey observes, “A real es-
sential for effective leadership is that you can’tforce people to do very much. They have to want to,and most times I think they want to if they respectthe individual who is out in front, and if they haveconfidence that the person has some sort of visionfor the company.”
Generating Trust
Willing followers must trust their leaders, but
trust cannot be mandated. As a leader, you will earnthe trust of those beneath you by consistently em-ploying four qualities:
1. Constancy. Stay on course and remain dedi-
cated to your vision.
2. Congruity. Display and confirm your values,
theories, and beliefs in everything you say anddo.
3. Reliability. Support your co-workers in mo-
ments that matter. Be there for them and withthem when it counts.
4. Integrity. Honor your commitments and prom-
ises. Let your word be your bond.
Ultimately, your ability to gather the support and
respect of your co-workers depends on how wellyou know yourself, how well you understand theneeds of your people, and the degree to which youearn their trust by employing those four qualities.
HELP OR HINDER
Such forces as technology, global interdepend-
ence, mergers and acquisitions, deregulation, andshifting demographics and values have fundamen-tally transformed the way that business is donetoday. Only by changing themselves can Americanorganizations get back on track in this globallycompetitive environment.
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People — the Greatest Asset
The last great change in American business took
place between 1890 and 1910 when the moderncorporation was created. Today it is time for an-other transformation. This one will transform howorganizations deal with their workers.
Employees are the primary resource of any enter-
prise, but too often management sees them as liabil-ities instead of assets. This archaic attitude preventsthe organization from fully using its major resourcein its effort to remake itself. Like individuals, or-ganizations must learn from experience to deploythemselves and all of their assets. Organizationsmust lead, not merely manage, if they are to fulfilltheir potential.
Only a handful of organizations have really begun
to tap into their “people power.” Indeed, many havetaken the opposite tack, eschewing loyalty to work-ers, pruning rather than nurturing, and focusingalmost exclusively on the bottom line. In
Thriving
on Chaos ,Tom Peters says that organizations that
succeed over time will have the following charac-teristics in common:
●A flatter, less hierarchical structure
●More autonomous units
●An orientation toward high-value-added
products and services
●Quality controls
●Service controls
●Responsiveness
●Innovative speed
●Flexibility
●Highly trained and skilled workers who use
their minds as well as their hands
●Leaders, rather than managers, at all levels
Offer Opportunities
Leaders must ensure that their organizations offer
employees the kinds of experience that will enablethem to learn and, finally, to lead. Because man-agers become leaders through experience, workersmust have the opportunity to learn through theirwork in an environment that permits growth and
change and tolerates the inevitable mistakes thatwill happen as people stretch their personal bound-aries in the process of learning and growing.
Opportunity = Empowerment
Organizations should give executives leadership
opportunities early in their careers. These opportu-nities should include rotation among departmentsand divisions, line-to-staff transfers (which developstrategic, conceptual, and tactical skills), specialproject work, task force assignments, troubleshoot-ing responsibilities, and overseas posts.
While many companies employ these standard
techniques with good success, others have gonebeyond the norm by allowing younger executives tostart new entities from venture capital pools, oper-ate smaller, low-margin subsidiaries, and attempt tosalvage troubled divisions instead of selling themoff.
LEADERS CONTROL TOMORROW
Becoming a leader is a lifelong adventure of dis-
covery. To become a genuine leader you must mas-ter the context of the leadership environment, learnand employ the basic ingredients of leadership, be-come intimate with your true self, reflect on andresolve significant life experiences, and chart theboundaries of the world in which you live.
Leaders frequently rely on their instincts as much
as their skills, which means that you must learn totrust and heed your instincts in a host of manage-ment situations where you find yourself setting,rather than following, precedent.
Making the transition from manager to leader is a
profound experience. You must allow your true selfto emerge by knowing your wants, capabilities,ambitions, satisfying experiences, and personal andorganizational values and priorities. Armed withthis knowledge, genuine leaders possess thecourage to change themselves and theircircumstances, which may mean changing careerfields and organizations if they discover they’re at
odds with the existing corporate culture.
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