Leaders are where you find them. The new leadership challenge is to make sense of the context. Deal with the hand you’re dealt. The key is to identify the people in your organization that others are following and bring them into the fold. Are they leading where you want them to go? Do they understand your goals, the reality of the marketplace you are facing? Can they see your vision? Are they on your team or creating an alternate world you may neither recognize nor approve?
Leadership comes in all sizes and shapes and it is no longer defined by title, expertise or experience. It can appear in the most unexpected places. Keeping the focus of everyone in your organization on a vision can require the flexibility of a chameleon, the charisma of a rock star and the wisdom of an ancient oracle. What are we poor mortals to do? Start with recognizing the multiple viewpoints and goals of the people you are leading and bring them with you in the journey.
Whether leaders are born, made or evolve on the spot when the situation demands it, there is no question command and control is out and persuasion is in. It’s all about identifying and developing talent and that requires subtlety. It is more about vision than task, collaboration and respect than hierarchy. The faceless leader who issues edicts from an ivory tower with a moat around the castle to keep naysayers out and who surrounds him/herself with sycophants will see the talent drain away and the company fade into oblivion.
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