The power to lead or to bully

INEVER was much of a boxing fan. Like everybody else, I did watch some of the top bouts in the world, like “The rumble in the jungle”, between Ali and Foreman. I also watched the lower weight division world title fights, and I cheered for the few South Africans who made it on to the world stage over the years — too few, I always thought, given the tough men we breed here. I can’t remember enough of the names, but there is one name nobody will ever forget, even if you are born after he died, and that’s Muhammad Ali.

Ali died on June 3 2016 at the age of 74. Measured not only by the three score years and 10 (plus a bit) that we are allotted, he lived a full life.

Often controversial, singularly determined and anything but invisible, Ali, to my mind, was only fully appreciated as a leader after his death.

He was a leader, for sure; the certification is abundant, both in his actions and attitudes.

Most particularly, he will always be admired for standing up for what he felt was worth standing up for. Ali was tough, and hard to put down, physically in the ring but perhaps even more so outside the ring, where he had no natural advantage. Ali was a man of principle.

Whether or not you share his beliefs, you can’t but admire how he advanced and defended them, by example, ultimately at the expense of the prime fighting years of his life.

Ali was obviously in his element in the ring, the self-proclaimed “Greatest of All Time” with the uncanny mix of being able to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”. Outside the ring, though, his alliances and refusals equally defined him to be his own man, with depth, with a core way beyond just the surface of the showman.

There is no blueprint for leaders. You can’t take a course to become a leader. More often than not, leaders emerge, leadership is a result, not a target.

I have had occasion to interview any number of people in business over the years — very few of those who went on to become leaders stated that as a goal in their interviews. Courses on how to be or become a leader have always confused me a little. You are invited to follow certain guidelines or rules to become a leader. Really? Leaders aren’t manufactured, they’re endorsed.

Even in the democratic process of elected leaders, with its increasingly obvious flaws, it is an endorsement of a stated manifesto, rather than a licence to go and write one.

Of course, elected leaders don’t always stick to the script, but that, I’m increasingly told, is politics.

There are, however, some characteristics I’ve seen again and again in those people we’re all prepared to follow.

It is these individual traits that endure beyond the mortality of their carriers that become the axioms that define what admirable behaviour is in the future, the stuff of leaders.

Leaders tell the truth. It is hardly a defining capability, to tell the truth, but it is nonetheless rare, and it is often difficult to face the truth. A track record of sticking to the truth is very powerful, particularly when it comes to negotiating deals or settling differences.

A liar, no matter the power of his anointed position, is nothing more than an inconvenience that takes some time to expose. The truth will always out, and if you always tell it there’s less you have to remember.

Natural ability, in something as clearly measurable as sport, is present in many leaders. Alone, it is not enough. Ability is an opportunity to learn, not a licence to rule. Without exception, leadership goes beyond simply evidenced capability. Just because you can run fast doesn’t mean you can catch a ball, let alone pass it.

Staying on the sports field for now, contrary to conventional wisdom I think there is a place for “I” in “team”. Strategy is not a system. Strategy is not a diagram. Strategy cannot be found in a textbook. Strategy cannot be pre-recorded.

Good leaders exercise judgment, in the moment, on the field. Good leaders make decisions. They have to, even if there isn’t perfect knowledge, even if there is risk — we need leaders more in a storm than on a calm sea.

Leadership and popularity are not the same thing. Leaders operate at the frontiers of change, at the sharp end of the stick, change requires a move away from consensus, from conventional wisdom, from the status quo.

Standing against the populist wind requires courage, not popularity. Sure, once victory is secured the followers stand up to be counted, but few have what it takes to fight what is wrong, particularly if you have to change the law.

Many world leaders have “done time” before their time is come. Humility is integral to leadership.

Engage with most leaders privately and you will find that they know their place and purpose. They have a higher cause than their leadership per se, and they stand aside when their role is complete, always.

Dictatorship, or power given by birthright or power entrenched by force are, none of them, leadership. Find a bigger playground and you’ll find a bigger bully. True leaders don’t bully, they’re never rude to the waitress.

Leaders are most times either driven

Once victory is secured the followers stand up to be counted, but few have what it takes to fight what is wrong Find a bigger playground and you’ll find a bigger bully. True leaders will never be rude to the waitress

by ambition or fear of failure. I’m not sure which is more virtuous or endurable, but you must have one of them to get through the obstacle course.

Many start off as firebrands, upstarts even, but the real ones mature from anger and enthusiasm to considered wisdom. In so doing, they define their essence and write themselves into the history books. The ability to distil essence is essential in leadership and those who can’t, won’t make valid judgments.

Even Ali moved from being “I am the greatest” to reflecting that “champions are made from something they have deep inside them”, and from saying ”I am the king of the world” to suggesting it was “just a job, grass grows, birds fly … I beat people up”, as he once said.

Leaders come and go, and some leaders should go before they do, but power is a difficult drug to do without once you’re used to having it. Most dangerous of all, though, is power without leadership. Like money, the value of leadership is defined by its absence.

I■ ❑❑❑

HAVE been writing this column for more than a couple of years now, and I’m going to take a break. I’ve loved it. I have learnt a lot, for sure, but my weekends seem to be getting shorter, and I want more of that time, not less.

Thank you, all of you, who’ve read or listened or watched my stuff.

Thank you, Business Day, thank you Giulietta Talevi. I’ll be back in some form, some day, maybe. This is just one of the knots I need to untie, to find out who the loose me really is. Barnes is South African Post Office CEO.