I’ve said it many times. “Good leaders are very hard to find.”
What do I mean? People in leadership roles who actually get and practice leadership fundamentals, enabling the organization to accomplish its mission and realize the vision are few and far between. Why? I don’t profess to know exactly, but I think it’s mostly because it’s hard. Good leadership usually requires “change” and we all know how difficult it is to change, especially when we as leaders are what needs to change.
I have also often said, “If you are looking for the problem or the person to blame, you need not look far. Just find the nearest mirror and take a look.” This is because we as leaders are the ones with the responsibility and authority to do whatever it takes to improve. So, we can’t really blame those in our charge. Our people are doing their best and most of the time are only limited by the tools (resources) we allow them to have.
There was a guest post on Michael Hyatt’s website a while back I thought was very good, The 3 Lenses Of Visionary Leaders. You should check it out. Makes sense. I think the quote the author begins with from Jack Welch, though, needs more examination. Jack wrote, “Good leaders create a vision, passionately articulate the vision, and relentlessly drive the vision to completion.” I believe the two most important words in this quote are “Good leaders … ” All of the vision in the world does the organization no good unless the leader is able to actually do the things in the rest of the quote. The trick is getting the rest of the organization to step up and do some pretty creative and awesome stuff.
If the leader is not really open to feedback and/or is unwilling to change as the feedback might require, nothing will ever really change. Unfortunately, this is what I’ve experienced more times than not over the years. It’s only when the leader is able to create “culture” that fosters the free flow of feedback, ideas, and most importantly, mistakes, that the vision can be realized.
All of the vision in the world does no good without the leadership to pull it off. Therefore, the first step is to find the right leader. I once saw a poster in the office of a manufacturing engineer. It read, “Warning – Due to a shortage of robots, humans are being used in the production area, and they react very unpredictably when abused.”
You get the point …