Comprehending Leadership
by Robert Hackman
Photograph from Getty Images via Unsplash+
Good leadership fails if it needs dominance
Lyric from the song ‘Cigar Talk’
By Vic Santoro
Forbes magazine declares that the Leadership Development Industry constituted $560 billion worldwide in 2019. That’s a lot of dough.
What motivates us to spend so much money on it? What makes leadership so vital? What makes it so challenging?
No one ever gets leadership down. Because it is a dynamic process that involves imperfect people leading imperfect people within an infinite array of ever-changing conditions.
Thus, leadership is continually a work in progress. Its components include the ever-changing leader and follower relationships and persistently shifting perspectives, circumstances, and environments.
All my engagements involve helping grow leadership in some form or fashion. Some in very targeted ways, and others integrated into more expansive initiatives. It is rare to meet a person or team that does not want to further their leadership. Consequently, I regularly engage in leadership conversations.
Leadership gets talked about a ton. It is considered the crucial ingredient if things are going well and the missing ingredient when things are not.
Everyone agrees on what leadership is – don’t they? Or is it akin to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s assertion regarding pornography in 1964, that ‘I know it when I see it?’
I suspect we do not always recognize leadership when we experience, read, or hear about it because it depends on how we define it.
What does leadership mean to you?
What attributes make a great leader? What features signify good leader-follower relationships?
Are leaders born? Or is leadership learned?
Must it correspond with authority? Does it require a title? Is it tangible? Intangible. Both?
What validates leadership? Results? Anything else?
Has a leader who succeeds in one arena and fails in another lost their capacity to lead? Or does it depend on the match between a leader and the situation?
Who determines leadership, followers, or leaders?
Is command and control a form of leadership or management? What is the relationship between the two?
What is the one must-have of leadership? Who confers it? What establishes authentic leadership?
Please allow me to offer some conclusions that will stimulate your own contemplations.
The Essential Leadership Component
Leadership is about followership. If no one follows, there is no leader.
Some disagree with this and believe it implies the leader-follower relationship is fixed and moves in a single direction. This represents a false dichotomy that one is either a leader or a follower.
Their concerns are valid. The leader-follower relationship is fluid.
Although people intuit that trust is the requisite leadership trait, this is not always the case.
We witness others follow those they do not believe in because they see them as a viable means to an end. This necessitates calculated expectations, most evident in politics, celebrity, and extraordinary wealth. We may see this in ourselves too.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, neither leaders nor leadership are necessarily virtuous.
In whom does the power of leadership reside?
Because leadership is decided by whether people choose to follow a leader, leadership is determined by followers.
Many factors affect these choices. The attempt to control others by exercising power and authority through carrots and sticks often induces people to go along with the person in the ‘leadership role.’
These are forms of coercion and should not be confused with authentic leadership. Yet they are ever-present.
Dynamics of genuine leadership
Sincere leadership acknowledges that the power in a leader-follower relationship resides with the follower. The follower continually decides the degree to which they will follow a leader. The process is perpetual and dynamic and can be withdrawn at any time.
What are the implications of recognizing this truth? How does it inform the mindsets of leaders and followers?
While leaders can demand that their associates treat them with respect through their authority, that does not mean they can make another person respect them. It is the leader’s responsibility to continually earn others’ followership.
The quickest way to create trusting relationships is to trust another first. Extending trust to others demonstrates vulnerability and signals care and respect.
When others recognize your vulnerability and engage in mutual vulnerability, it creates a virtuous cycle of increasing vulnerability, which deepens trust and generates safety. Trust and safety increase collaboration and innovation.
Counterintuitively, this frequently involves allowing others to take the lead when appropriate. Being a strong leader consists of the willingness to be an excellent follower. It provides another way of modeling how to lead.
Therefore, it cannot be bestowed on behalf of others. Leadership can be taught, guided, and supported by others. Yet, ultimately, leaders must incorporate it into themselves and make it their own.
For these reasons, all authentic leadership begins with self-leadership. Leadership is built from within, from the ground up.
Unfortunately, much of your development will occur through trial and error. As Mark Twain famously quipped, ‘A (person) who picks up a cat by the tail learns a lesson they can learn no other way.’
Leadership is fundamentally about influencing others. A person may be innovative. They may have vision, insight, and impeccable character. However, they lead by evoking change in and from others.
The best leaders expand and leverage the contributions of others, creating a multiplying effect. Followers choose to extend themselves and give their all in service to them and their cause.
They achieve this by expecting the most from them while affirming and supporting them.
This leveraging result is what sets individuals, teams, and organizations that make strong leadership so coveted. It differentiates individuals, teams, and organizations in demonstrable ways, setting them apart.
Getting guidance ensures that learning and growth occur, accelerating your development process.
How you relate to and impact others and your environment reflects the quality of your leadership. Doing so from a place of integrity and compassion is essential to living and leading with fewer regrets.
Worthy Inquiries:
- How do your beliefs about leadership impact how you lead?
- How do you define leadership? What makes up its crucial components for you?
- In whom do you believe the power in leader-follower relationships resides? With the leader or the follower?
- Do you believe the world is divided into leaders and followers? Or is the relationship between the two more fluid? In what ways do you earn others’ followership?
- How do you individually and collectively learn and develop leadership?
Please reach out to me to discuss your thoughts on leadership and to determine the impact its development can have on you, your team, or your organization. I welcome the conversation.
Robert Hackman, Principal, 4C Consulting – Courageously Curious Consulting and Coaching, helps people live and lead with fewer regrets. He grows and develops leaders through executive coaching, strategy consulting, facilitation, and training of individuals, teams, and organizations. He is committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He facilitates trusting environments that promote uncommonly candid conversations. Rob is also passionate about the power of Everyday Legacies and developing Legacy Mindsets. He has conducted over 50 Legacy interviews with people to date.
A serious man with a dry sense of humor who loves absurdity. Rob can often be found hiking rocky elevations or making music playlists. His varied mixes, including Pandemic Playlists and Music About Men, can be found on Spotify.