How to Be A Great Leader
By VICKY BROWN
“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.”
“Leadership is the capacity to translate a vision into reality.”
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Those of just some of the quotes you’ll find about what a leader is, and the impact a leader can have. And certainly, they’re inspiring and uplifting, and in fact – not wrong. But they’re also like clouds. You can’t touch them, you can’t get your arms around them.
So, if you’re facing your first leadership gig, with a company to run – how do you nail the leadership thing. How do you become an effective leader?
Well, you’re in luck – let’s talk about some solid strategies you can use to step into your leadership suit.
The first one – and I’ll bet you already guessed it – is that you have to set your mind to it. In other words, it’s about your mindset (see what I did there?)
You’ll need to understand that this is a role you are absolutely equipped to take on.
You know, early on at Idomeneo, I realized that my perspective around how I could lead this group of very talented people – well that perspective was a bottom up one. I was ‘looking up’ at the role of leader, and trying to figure out how I could reach ‘up’ to get to it.
How could I be smarter – as smart as the other CEOs in my circle. Now, aside from engaging in the unhealthy game of comparison, I was also making a judgement based on ‘looking in’ on them from the outside. I never even considered that things probably looked completely different from the inside out.
They didn’t always have all the answers. Things weren’t perfect all the time, or even most of the time. They got stumped on making their vision a reality – in fact, in some cases, they got stumped on even creating a vision.
So after a while, I realized that my perspective was all wrong. It wasn’t about reaching up to the level of leader – I was already on the level I needed to be. I had the skills and judgement I needed to become a solid leader – I just needed to allow myself to ‘step into’ that leader’s role.
I was already there – I just needed to take a few steps forward, and own it. And yes, even with that, of course I would need to polish my skills; expand my experience; learn more and grow more. But none of that should hold me back from knowing I was ready – ready to lead my company.
So, you see – without the proper mindset – well, you’ve got a tortuous road ahead of you. You’ll spend all your time second guessing yourself; you’ll be tentative and uncertain. And all that blows a huge hole in your team’s confidence in you.
So, leave all that behind and walk into the role you were built for.
Now that we’ve addressed your thinking, it’s a good idea to understand the different types of leadership styles.
“… You’ll need to understand that this is a role you are absolutely equipped to take on.“
Of course there are a ton, but here are some of the most common:
Authoritarian – now we all know this one right off the top of our heads. This type of leader dictates – they dictate policy, procedure, they are usually micromanagers, in most cases they hold all the power to themselves – very little collaboration; very little creativity.
Now on the up side this type of leadership generally yields dependable results and fewer mistakes. But for me – the downside of how it impacts the team and the culture makes it a non starter for me.
Another type of leader is the Charismatic leader. One of the most famous examples of this type of leader in business is Steve Jobs.
Charismatic leaders are amazing at motivating their teams through their natural charisma. They have a knack for articulating a clear vision and inspiring the team to follow. They have incredibly strong communication skills and self confidence.
And on the other side of that coin – they rarely, if ever, doubt their own decisions. And they can so vividly create their own ecosystem, that it can push people to go beyond their own capabilities. In the case of the Apple founder, this was famously referred to as his Reality Distortion Field. But sometimes reality – the real reality – can get in the way.
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If people are constantly pushed beyond their limits, it can easily lead to burnout and resentment. It’s a delicate balance – you want them to realize their full potential, but you don’t want to wear them out.
Next we have the Visionary leader. Not unlike the charismatic leader, the visionary leader has an incredibly strong sense of where they want to go – the vision. And they are especially good at inspiring people to embrace that vision. But one glaring difference is that they prioritize teamwork and collaboration. The vision is theirs but the road to get then relies on everyone.
Now the positives of the Visionary leader are clear. But there is a downside here too – when you are overly reliant on consensus, it can produce a lack of accountability – people can ‘hide in plain sight’.
And then there’s the Servant leader. I this leadership style, the goal of the leader is to serve. Power gets distributed among the whole team, and the servant leader is the facilitator. It encourages collaboration , trust and empathy.
But it can devolve into no leadership at all. In the wrong hands, the guise of servant leadership can lack decisiveness and a clear direction.
As I said, there are a whole host of leadership styles – these are just a few. But my favorite, by far is the Situational Leadership model. That’s because the Situational Leader uses all the tools in their leadership tool belt. And they apply the one that’s just right for the particular situation.
Listen, not everyone is the same, and not everyone is motivated in the same way, and (most importantly) not every situation is the same. Sometime the Servant leader is just the thing, while other times may be calling out for an authoritarian leadership style (used sparingly, of course).
My point is – everything is fluid. So a truly great leader has the ability to adapt and use their skill as needed.
In the next episode we’ll round out the list of strategies you can use to develop your leadership skills.