Continuing with the questions Darlene posed (see 9/14 post) I’m going to lump the next ones together with some brief specific comments and then my heretical overall response at the end.

Darlene asks,

• “Who today would you say is a good leader? Other than the people I know well because I interact with them, but you wouldn’t know them at all. Beyond that, we’re talking people with high profiles, lots of media attention and what day you ask me, since every so often they say or do really unleaderly things.
• Should our president model good/great leadership qualities? Sure, but by whose definitions? On 9/13 36% thought President Bush was doing a good job leading the country, primarily because they agree with what he’s doing, but does that make him a great leader? I remember reading that to properly evaluate a political leader’s actions everyone living during that time must be dead; another said that 100 years had to pass in order to perceive the events with true historical objectivity.
• Should leaders in organizations be leaders or managers or both? Either/neither, but more importantly, they should be secure enough to surround themselves with the best talent available and then let them do what they were hired to do.
• How does someone figure out if they are a leader? The same way one figures out is they are attractive/sexy/funny, by the reactions of others.
• Who decides whether you are a leader?” For better or worse, The Court of Public Opinion, i.e., whatever public is involved,

As to my overall heretical response to these and much of the leadership debate out there—who cares?

Do labels really matter if the person/people in question accomplish what needs to be done? Jose Lopez was upset by an incident that happened when he was on vacation in Mexico; he shared his experience and concern with a friend; they’re conversation morphed into a concrete idea; the idea became reality and is being delivered right now, as I write this, to Ayutla, a village in Mexico.

The men and women who accomplished this didn’t think about who was leading the effort and who was following, they learned about a need and found a way to fill it.

Interestingly, I found out when I called Paul Wright that in addition to being a fire battalion chief in Kent, WA and founder of TAPFIRE, he also teaches leadership, so I asked him if he thought Jose was a “leader.”

Paul said, “Jose is persistent, committed and has leadership qualities, but leadership is for instances. How people react to the things that happen around them—that’s the crux of life”

As well as the crux of leadership. And how you react is dictated by your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy)™, which is subject to revision, enhancement and change by you, and only you, as opposed to all the outside pressures, demands, requests, wheedling, etc., that happen.

Or, put another way, leadership is about doing and not worrying what public opinion and history may think.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 17th, 2007 at 3:46 pm and is filed under About Leadership, management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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