The take out
AS EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES, we need to overcome the disturbing tendency in some sectors to simply promote able practitioners to management without any management or leadership training. But setting out to become the leader can sometimes be more of a hindrance than a help for developing key leadership abilities, such as humbleness, interest in others, empathy and knowing your limitations.
People are drawn to people who do what they do with great effortlessness, ease and confidence, not those who are stressing themselves out trying to climb a corporate ladder. Leadership can happen at all levels of the firm, and be expressed in different ways, from the CEO to the maverick creative, so be constantly alert to where your own personal genius is taking you, it will inevitably be to the right place that contains the most success for you.
Price believes that everybody can be a leader, no matter what role they have in an organisation.
“If you can come in every day and improve every day, then that is leadership,” she says. “You don’t have to have a title like CEO of CFO to be able to do that.”
Lee recommends to his students that if they are not already the CEO, they should start thinking like they are.
“This means that when you are looking at a business issue you don’t just think about it in the narrow context, you think about how it fits with the rest of the organisation.
“You have to start thinking holistically and strategically, within your organisation and the environment in which that organisation functions.”
And the nature of leadership goes far beyond just your business. Campbell points out that while New Zealanders are probably getting more comfortable with our own unique leadership style and on recognising leadership when we see it, as a country we have some critical decision ahead on our priorities and what we stand for.
“Where do we want to live and what kind of society do we want to live in? Answering that is going to require some outstanding leadership and vision.”