توضیحات جورج

BEC : Leadership - George

Hey, it’s George here and I’ve got a few comments on this subject of leadership. I’ll have to admit to you, it’s kind of a tough subject because it’s really difficult to pin down and say here’s what a leader is. Here’s what a leader looks like. Here’s what a leader does.

The reason I say that is because there are so many different styles of leadership in the world. There are so many different styles of military leadership, business leadership and political leadership. I’m talking about not the ones that are supposed to be leading, but true leaders.

I alluded to the fact or suggested - mentioned - in the conversation that there’s at least three different ways that leaders display their skills or the way that people look at leaders. Some leaders are created just by authority. By that I mean the authority of the job they’re in. They’re the president. They’re the CEO. On the lower level they’re the manager. They’re the coach. They’re the captain of the team. That’s a responsibility of leadership that they have gained through the authority of their position.

Now, that doesn’t mean that a person is actually going to be a good leader just because they have that position. You would hope whoever put them in that position had gone through the thought process and looked at them and their skills and abilities and how they interacted with people and said there’s a leader. Not always the case, but one would hope so.

Then there’s another kind of leader that becomes a leader just by example, by the example of the job that they do, the way they carry themselves, the way they talk, the way they talk about the objectives or the mission of the organization. Those people are pretty easy to spot. Not only are they the managers or coaches in an organization or the true higher level “leaders”, those can be people that you work with as peers.

These are people that by their example they, without even saying so, motivate people to want to do a better job, to improve their skills, to improve their accomplishments, to raise the bar, if you will. By that I mean let’s not settle for level four when we can go to level five and level six and keep going higher and higher in our accomplishment. Those people exist way up and down through the organization also.

I bet you know of some people that you feel that way about. You may even be one of them. By example, by your example people want to follow you. They want to be as good as you are. They want to accomplish as much as you do. They want to see the world and the business as you see it.

Then there’s the big one, the charismatic or the charisma, the person who achieved their leadership through pure outright charisma. I know AJ defined the word to you and that’s all well and good, but this is a tough one to define. How do you look at somebody and say wow, they’ve got charisma. Believe me you do know, even if you’re not conscious about it. How do you know? Well, because they’re motivators. They motivate you to do a better job. They motivate you to rise to higher heights, to accomplish more things. You want to follow them.

Most of all them, in fact I’m going to say all of them in one way or another are good speakers. They’re at ease in front of a large group. They’re at ease in front of a small group. They’re at ease one on one, speaking one person to one person. Leaders generally are pretty good speakers. That’s part of how they get their message across and that’s part of their charisma - their presence on the stage when they’re giving a presentation.

Most of them are leaders and charismatic ones are pretty good organizers. They just have this ability in their minds and in front of people to sort out the details of an organization, what has to be done, who has to do it and how we’re going to accomplish objective one, objective two and objective three. They can organize all this stuff in their mind because they’re looking forward and guess what? You want to follow those people.

Some of the other things that leaders have is they’re certainly focused. They are focused on the goals. They’re focused on the mission. They’re focused on the vision.

They’re constantly moving forward, forward, forward, forward.

They’re persuasive. Leaders are very persuasive. You see that generally in their presentations, in their speeches, when they talk. Even if it’s not a formal presentation or a speech you feel it, the persuasive nature that they have. They’re also very persistent.

They have a mission in mind, they have objectives in mind and they move towards those constantly and because of their charisma or by their example or maybe even because of their authority you want to follow them. That makes them a leader.

Leaders think strategically. They think in terms of the big picture --the overall picture -and they think long range, in long-range terms, down the road, if you will. They’re not looking at the stop sign that’s in front of them now. They’re looking further down the road to see what the next obstacle is to deal with and the next one and the next one.

They’re looking not just at what we’re going to accomplish this month or this year.

They’re looking at next year, five years, 10 years down the road. They’re looking at the obstacles, they’re looking at the opportunities and they’re looking at the ways to move that direction and move their organization. No matter how large it is, that’s where they’re going.

There’s a saying about these kinds of people. I’m on a northbound train. If you have a southbound ticket, get off. What do I mean by that? What I mean is this person, these people, are moving forward. They’re moving in a direction northbound towards the mission, towards the vision, towards the objectives. If you’re sitting there with a southbound ticket, meaning if you don’t want to get onboard and go north with us, then get off because we’re going north. We are not going south.

Leaders are tough-minded people, very tough minded. What do I mean by tough minded? Well, they’re analytical, they think in strong terms, they can and are demanding and they have no trouble, generally, with the tough decisions of management or leadership. Now, I will tell you for a fact I’ve known a few leaders. I’ve been very close to some who were outstanding, people I would follow a long ways.

They do have difficulty with the tough decisions. The tough decisions I’m talking about is firing somebody, reducing headcount, things of this nature, changing direction of the mission to get around an obstacle for a short period of time. They have problems with that internally, but you know what? The people who are following them never see it.

They’re tough minded. They’re able to block that out for the good of the organization, the good of the people and the good of accomplishing their objectives.

They are also very passionate people. They are passionate. Leaders are passionate and you can see that, again, in all three types, the authority, the one that leads by example and the one that has charisma. They’re passionate and that helps enhance their ability to be a leader because it makes it even easier and more desirable to follow them or to want to follow them.

Here’s a phrase that I’m going to give you that I’ve heard many, many, many times.

Leaders are born, they’re not made. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a false statement.

That’s a false statement. Everybody was born, you know, at a very early age. As a child of 18-20 months, you can’t identify a leader. As a child of five years of age, you probably can’t identity a leader.

Leaders are made. They are made through the environment that they’re in, be it the family that they grow up with, how their mother and father treat them, what they see going on in their day-to-day lives, the neighborhoods they’re in, the cities they’re in, the countries they’re in. There’s something that shapes their personality and their skills that moves them to be this person of vision and direction and tough mindedness, organizational skills and persuasive skills and all of these things that come together at some point.

I grant you, some of it may come together and does come together at a relatively young age. Certainly by the age of 14, 15, 16, you’re beginning to see the beginnings of some leaders, but it’s not a process they were born with. It was an acquired or learned process. The reason I say this is if you are in a position, particularly a management position or a supervisory position or just a position where you have to deal with a lot of people, you can be a leader. You can be a leader. You’ve just got to think a little differently. It can be done.

I just leave you with that final thought. Leaders are not born, leaders are made. So that is truly a false statement. It is a skill, it is a trait and it can be worked on and it can be accomplished. If you want to see how to get there, take a look at the people that you believe are leaders and practice. Emulate what they do, that’s how you’re going to get there.

So until next time around, it’s George. Goodbye.

The End.