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Mastering The Self:
Leadership Must-Be's
What separates a convincing performance from a charade is the
degree to which the actors are able to subordinate themselves
to the role they are playing. When the director and the actors
put themselves at the service of the script, they will be able
to move people. Similarly, leaders of organizations subordinate
their egos and their personal issues to the work at hand. To
inspire others and to obtain lasting results, leaders must be
authentic, courageous,
consistent and emotionally
intelligent. While there are many examples of leaders who
have created short-term success without embodying all four of
these qualities, there are no examples of companies who have
taken their companies from good to great without evidence of
all four.iii
AUTHENTIC
1 not false or copied:
genuine and original, as opposed to something that is a fake
or reproduction; 2 trustworthy:
shown to be true and trustworthy.
This state of being is about being self-aware and honest with
yourself and others. It means being who you are without trying
to hide behind charades, politics, popularity or half-truths.
It is as much about being comfortable in your own skin as it
is about saying what you mean. In building trust, authenticity
is the cornerstone.
COURAGEOUS
1 quality of being brave:
the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain
without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen
course of action.
As we've all heard, courage doesn't mean being fearless; it
means feeling afraid and doing it anyway. Most excellent leaders
need a large component of courage to get through any day. Possessing
courage refers to being ready to do things that may not be popular,
easy, or clear, but are nonetheless the right things to do.
CONSISTENT
1 constancy: the ability to
maintain a particular standard or repeat a particular task with
minimal variation. 2 coherence:
reasonable or logical harmony between parts.
This is about being internally consistent, about walking the
talk. Without this internal consistency, leaders will crack
under pressure and find it hard to sustain the trust of the
people around them. A person who is consistent will also demonstrate
a persistence that is required to embed real change in an organization.
Consistency and high principles go hand in hand.
EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT
the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively;
to resonate appropriately with others without being derailed
by our emotional reactions.
In one groundbreaking study after the next we know that self-awareness,
self-management, social awareness and social skills of the leader
determine business climate and results. Furthermore six drivers
of climate or working atmosphere (Flexibility, Responsibility,
Standards, Rewards, Clarity, Commitment) are positively correlated
to four leadership styles and negatively correlated to two others.
An emotionally intelligent leader is one who demonstrates emotional
intelligence through appropriately choosing resonant leadership
approaches. ii
- All definitions are from: http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary
Encarta (R) World English Dictionary [North American Edition]
© & 2003 Microsoft Corporation.
- "Leadership That Gets Results," Daniel
Goleman. Harvard Business Review, March-April 2000Stephen
R. Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (New
York: Simon & Schuster, 1990), p. 289.
- Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, The Discipline of
Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus,
Dominate Your Market (Perseus Publishing, 1997).
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