Leadership Part I: A Dialog on Understanding

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LeadershipPart I A Dialog on Understanding
Kelvin K. Droegemeier University of
Oklahoma NCAR Undergraduate Leadership
Workshop 15 June 2009
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Were Bombarded with Material on Leadership but
do we Really Understand It?
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What Does the Word Leadership Mean to You?
Do You See Yourself as a Leader? If so, in What
Ways?
What Individuals Have Been Important Leaders in
Your Life? Why?
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Leadership Searching for a Definition
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Leadership Searching for a Definition
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Leadership Searching for a Definition

• Powerful/influential
• Intelligent
• Mobilize people and resources to work toward a
  common goal
• Effectuate positive change
• People of high values/standards/ethics role
  models
• Well known/famous leave a legacy
• Operate with a mixture of formal and informal
  authority

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But What Makes Them Leaders?

• Money?
• Pedigree/education?
• Beliefs?
• Actions?
• Personalities?
• Looks?
• Connections?
• Work ethic?
• Chance?

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• "Leadership is a combination of strategy and
  character. If you must be without one, be without
  the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

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Leadership Searching for a Definition
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Leadership Searching for a Definition

• Powerful/influential
• Intelligent
• Mobilize people and resources to work toward a
  common goal
• Effectuate positive change
• Role models
• People of high values/standards/ethics
• Well known/famous
• Operate exclusively with formal authority,
  usually by coercion

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What Other Adjectives Work?

• Demagogue
• Dictator
• Madman
• Control Freak
• Other.?

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According to Webster

• Leadership is the position, office, or term of a
  leader
• A leader is one who
• Directs
• Guides
• Is in command
• Has influence

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Thats Sort of a Useless Working Definition!

• It ignores values/ethics
• It does not describe the work of leadership
• It does not distinguish between a shift worker at
  a restaurant and 4-star general!

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Key Facts About Leadership

• Leadership is inexorably tied to values,
  morality, and ethics

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Key Facts About Leadership

• We shape our values early in life, and thereafter
  our values shape us
• Respect cannot be demanded, it must be earned
  by giving it away.

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Do You Buy This??

• Look at how long these people have been in power
  or the influence they have!
• Do you think they ultimately will succeed?

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What Does History Tell Us?
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Key Facts About Leadership

• Leadership seeks positive outcomes to benefit
  others a servant viewpoint

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• We make a living by what we get we make a life
  by what we give." - Winston Churchill

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Key Facts About Leadership

• Leadership is called forth by crisis and
  challenge and helps shape it, but is not produced
  by it

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LIFE Is Difficult!!LEADERSHIP Is Difficult!!

• This is a great truth, one of the greatest
  truths. Once we truly know that life is
  difficult once we truly understand and accept
  it then life is no longer difficult. Because
  once it is accepted, the fact that life is
  difficult no longer matters.
• - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

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What is our Response?

• we moanabout the enormity of our
  problemsas if life should be easy. We voice
  our beliefthat our difficulties represent a
  unique kind of affliction...visited upon our
  families, tribe, class, nation, race, or
  speciesand not on others.
• - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

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A Dose of Reality

• More than 1 billion people live on less than 1
  per day
• 6 million children under the age of five die each
  year from malnutrition
• More than 800 million people go to bed hungry
  every day 300 million are children
• More than 40 of the worlds population does not
  have basic sanitation or access to clean water

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The Good News

• It is in this whole process of meeting and
  solving problems that life has its meaning.
  Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom
  indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.
• - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

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Leadership

• In a nutshell, thats what leaders do they
  solve problems
• But they do so in a way fundamentally different
  than what you might imagine

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Two Words that Often are Confused Leadership
and Management

• Leadership and Management are very different,
  though some confuse them as being nearly
  synonymous
• Few people are effective leaders and managers

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Leadership and Management

• Management
• is about coping with complexity
• brings order and consistency out of potential
  chaos
• applies knownsolutions andstrategies

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Leader of a Baseball Team??
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Leadership and Management

• Leadership
• is about coping with or planningchange,
  especially if its sudden

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The Generals Managed Our Troops into Battle???
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• "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder
  of success leadership determines whether the
  ladder is leaning against the right wall."
  - Stephen R. Covey

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• "Management is doing things rightLeadership is
  doing the right things." - Peter Drucker

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Leadership and Management Parallel but Not Equal

• Management
• Creating a plan
• Defining steps
• Establishing astructure
• Allocating resources
• Executing the plan
• Controlling situations and solving problems

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Leadership and Management Parallel but Not Equal

• Leadership
• Developing a visionand setting direction
• Defining strategies
• Aligning, motivating,and inspiring people
• Testing reality
• Delegating work

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The Reality of Vision

• The crucial feature of visions is that they must
  serve the interests of the constituency

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Important Facts

• Management controls people by pushing them in the
  right direction
• Leadership motivates people by drawing them in a
  way that satisfies the basic human needs for
• achievement
• recognition
• self-esteem
• a sense of belonging

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Are You a Leader??

• The role of the leader is to take people on
  journeys where theyve not been before
• By definition, you dont know how to get there!!!
• Never walk the traveled path because it only
  leads you where the others have been (Alexander
  Graham Bell)
• Leaders hate, and instinctively challenge, the
  status quo!

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Are You a Leader??

• You know youre a leader if you
• feel you can do things better, and know how to do
  them better, without offending those in authority
• are comfortable being challenged
• are comfortable with being under authority
• are comfortable with crediting other people for
  things you helped accomplish
• How many of these fit you?

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Major Tenants of Leadership

• Leadership involves coping with or producing
  useful change in response to challenges, problems
  or opportunities
• Leadership can be exercised with or without
  formal authority

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Major Tenants of Leadership

• Leadership involves coping with or producing
  useful change in response to challenges, problems
  or opportunities
• Leadership can be exercised with or without
  formal authority

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Producing Useful Change

• Problems -- when circumstances do not conform to
  the way we think things ought to be
• Two solutions
• Apply a known technical fix (management)
• Develop solutions that previously were unknown
  (leadership) known as adaptive change
• More on this a bit later

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Examples

• Someone doesnt show up for work

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Examples

• Terrorism threat in the United States

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Major Tenants of Leadership

• Leadership involves coping with or producing
  useful change in response to challenges, problems
  or opportunities
• Leadership can be exercised with or without
  formal authority

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Leading With Formal Authority

• Conferred in exchange for protection, direction,
  conflict control
• Based on a set of expectations or a job
  description
• Essentially a formal contract it can be revoked
  or walked away from
• Pros and cons
• Breadth and completeness of information
• Must operate within specific bounds
• Must operate at a distance from the front lines

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Leading With Formal Authority
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Leading With Informal Authority

• Based upon trust, reputation, civility,
  admiration, creativity and availability
• It can never be revoked, though the trust
  relationship can be broken and the reputation
  damaged
• This is the most powerful type of authority
• Can deviate from norms of decision making
• Can focus on hard issues
• Can get closer to the experiences of the
  stakeholders down in the trenches, where
  relationships are developed

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Leading With Informal Authority
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Is Leadership A Part of Who You Are, or Can it
be Learned?
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The Key is Intelligence!

• Part I Intellect
• Intellectual capacity (IQ)
• Technical expertise
• Knowledge and experience

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The Key is Intelligence!

• Part I Intellect
• Intellectual capacity (IQ)
• Technical expertise
• Knowledge and experience
• Part II Emotions
• 90 of the difference between outstanding and
  average leaders is due to emotional intelligence
  (EI)
• Its twice as important as IQ and technical
  expertise combined
• It is THE differentiating factor in leadership

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Youve Experienced This!

• Have you been around people that dont have a
  clue when they offend others?
• What instructors did you enjoy or value the most?
• The really brilliant one who cared nothing about
  you individually? or
• The one who was really smart (cant be a
  professor otherwise) but made an effort to learn
  about your plans and dreams?

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• People are persuaded by reason, but moved by
  emotion the leader must both persuade them and
  move them." - Richard M. Nixon

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Emotional Intelligence (EI)

• The capacity for recognizing our feelings and
  those of others for motivating ourselves and
  others for managing emotions in ourselves and in
  our relationships
• 1a Understanding yourself (self-awareness)
• 1b Managing yourself (self-regulation)
• 2a Understanding others (empathy)
• 2b Managing others (motivation, social skills)

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Self-Awareness/Self-Perception

• This is a key aspect of being a leader
• The ability to recognize and understand your
  moods, emotions, and drives, as well as their
  effect on others
• Self-confidence (but not arrogance)
• Self-assessment
• Self-deprecating sense of humor (rolling with the
  punches)
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?

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Knowing Yourself

• Taking criticism tough medicine to swallow, but
  usually always valuable

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Knowing Yourself

• Giving criticism -- kindly?
• Leaders have to bring correction, but HOW its
  brought can make or literally break someone

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Knowing Yourself

• Being aware of how people respond to you

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Self-Regulation

• This is another key aspect of being a leader
• Self-regulation is the ability to manage your
  emotions and reactions
• Creates an environment of trust, safety, and
  fairness
• Discourages those around you from losing control
  or reacting impulsively
• Bad scenes stick in peoples minds
• Others can and should be understanding, but
  SELF-regulation -- is up to YOU!

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Social Awareness/Skills

• Empathy do you understand others and take an
  interest in their concerns?
• Are you concerned with serving the needs of
  others do you put others ahead of yourself?
• Do you encourage others, inspire, and communicate
  well?
• Do you foster relationships?

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Beware of Power!

• Power abusers over-value themselves and
  under-value or de-value others
• The I owe this to myself syndrome
• Power abusers use people, often without realizing
  it
• Power abusers often dont take the time to deal
  with the root cause of problems
• Power abusers often are blind to counsel because
  of their positional ego

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Key Characteristics of Leaders

• A true leader is likely to be one who has no
  desire to lead, but is forced into a position of
  leadership by the press of the external
  situation.
• I believe it might be accepted as a fairly
  reliable rule of thumb that the man who is
  ambitious to lead is disqualified as a leader.
  (A.W. Tozer)
• The true leader will be as ready to follow as to
  lead, and when a wiser and more gifted man than
  himself appears, he will step aside.

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As a Leader, Youre Going to Make Mistakes!! How
to Deal With Them?
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Its a Fact of Life

• "I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I've
  lost almost 300 games. 26 times I've been
  trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and
  missed. I've failed over and over and over again
  in my life. And that is why I succeed."
   - Michael Jordan

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What is Our Usual Response to Having Made a
Mistake?

• Cover it up, quickly!
• Totally a protection of our ego
• We put the focus on ourselves rather than others

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Being Human

• Never let them see you sweat
• This is the worst advice in the world
• Remember about acknowledging our strengths and
  weaknesses?
• Think how others will respond to your mistakes if
  you come across as perfect and full of infinite
  wisdom!

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Being Human

• "It is necessary for us to learn from others'
  mistakes. You will not live long enough to make
  them all yourself."   --  Adm. Hyman G.
  Rickover

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As a True Leader

• You WILL
• Disappoint
• Receive unjust criticism
• Be misunderstood, misquoted, mistreated
• Be viewed as other than you really are
• Be unappreciated

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As a True Leader

• You WILL
• Receive incredible satisfaction
• Make an impact on people
• Not be forgotten

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But You Have to PERSEVERE

• Life is difficult, leadership is difficult, and
  nothing will change that fact!
• One of the most important factors that define
  great leaders is perseverance

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A Man I Personally Admire

• His brother died when he was 7
• His mother died when he was 9
• His fiancée died
• His eventual wife had 4 sons, only 1 of whom made
  it to adulthood
• He suffered deep depression and was hospitalized
  for a nervous breakdown
• He started two businesses and both failed
• He was defeated multiple times in runs for the
  state legislature, US Congress, and US Senate

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But He Persevered.
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The Takeaway Message?

• Had Lincoln lived an easier life, would he have
  become a great man?
• He accepted the difficulty of life and refused to
  let obstacles dissuade him
• He used them to build his character and impacted
  the world in profound ways
• Thats a hope for all of us as leaders

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The Payoff of Leadership

• This is not about getting people to buy into your
  own ideas!
• Its about teaching people to
• Recognize and embrace their unique abilities and
  limitations
• Relate effectively to people having different
  views
• Deal with situations theyve never faced and that
  have no known solutions
• Work for a broader purpose while fulfilling their
  own specific goals and needs
• Draw the best out of others by motivating and
  inspiring

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Summary

• There are NO UNIMPORTANT people or positions
• Everyone is a leader to some extent because
  everyone has a set of followers
• Leadership isnt a task but rather a way of life!
• Find out what youre good at both technically and
  emotionally
• Walk in those things and try to shore up other
  weaknesses
• History may not recognize you as a leader, but
  youll be a history-maker if you mobilize people
  to do something thats socially useful

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One Piece of Advice

• Dont waste your time looking around to see what
  the world needs. Rather, look inside to see what
  makes you come alive, and do those thingsfor the
  world needs people who are alive, walking in
  their passions.