leadership

Do you have leadership skills? If not, it’s going to be tough in the future, because next to professional specialists (like electricians and plumbers), the economy is after ‘leaders’! Given the many wicked problems facing us, it takes true leaders to guide us into a better future.

That’s why most graduates, upon starting a professional career, are immediately confronted with further training: they need more leadership competencies! Obviously, the ‘normal’ education system doesn’t foster these enough?

Apparently, those who want to build a career and climb the hierarchy ladder can’t have enough of it, the ability to lead.
In the homeland of leadership – the US of course – they start as early as possible to foster this important skill. They identify the most promising early, in kindergarten, and then train them further in schools for the elite, or later ‘shape’ them at West Point and the likes. But even here in Europe, we have these facilities for future leaders, and they are increasing in number.

If you are a matured employee and the next appraisal meeting is looming, or maybe your next job interview, then there are many offers to improve your leadership skills, in order to progress in your career: tons of literature is filling the shelves, many training facilities offer appropriate courses and there always is the possibility to follow a specialized MBA, depending on the urgency and the size of your wallet…
At the current pace, we will soon have no one left to follow!

Lately, the question of leadership has popped up again. At an admission interview, someone asked whether the applicant considered himself to ‘have it’ – the potential to be a ‘leader’. Somewhat surprised, the applicant tried to find an answer, but he couldn’t. No wonder, with just 21 years of age and still having his studies lying in front of him!
The questions got stuck in my mind: why do we ask for this quality, what does this competency entail, and foremost, how can you develop it, if at all? And then, where do these ‘leaders’ take us? Does the goal play a role in leadership, or is it just the ability to run in front of the pack?

My research on the topic didn’t leave me with a good feeling, though: in most cases, leadership is described as the ability to lead others in doing something, to ‘manage’ them. You can read about the correlation between management and leadership competencies and how they are interrelated. Managers are leaders, and leaders manage. Accordingly, some experts strongly believe that leadership qualities are those that managers possess, and, as a result, they exclude them from other professions. A technician obviously doesn’t need this ability; nor does an engineer; nor do teachers; for sure, not designers.
But if, by coincidence, these professionals do carry leadership qualities and they come to the surface, they are quickly turned into managers. Apparently, developing technical solutions or teaching children alone can’t be regarded as a leadership task as such…

The theory also reveals that leadership is about the direct and indirect manipulation to achieve a set target: it is about goals and how to achieve them. Direct manipulation refers to the ‘stick’, whereas indirect manipulation refers to the ‘carrot’ (which nowadays are the incentives that motivate those who are led to achieve the target). Direct manipulation is easy to link to management, but the indirect is much more delicate to link to a skill: for me, this requires the ability to create incentives based on tangible visions, to create something, to design! Design can be a ‘carrot’ that drives followers to get going and perform. Design can be the tool by which leaders (and followers) can create relevance in what they do and why they do it. If all have a clear purpose, it doesn’t need ‘sticks’ and ‘carrots’ anymore, just a little push in the right direction.

Henry Mintzberg once said that leadership isn’t a skill but a form of art: you need creativity and vision to animate people to become intrinsically motivated to reach a goal. We need leaders who can create, and not just manage.

Look around: do your ‘leaders’ have the ability to shape and create tangible visions you would follow?
Can our leaders actually design something worth following, or are they just running ahead of the pack?

Maybe we need to revise the management doctrine and start to work on the ability to design – I personally will not follow anybody anymore who cannot design tangible visions of where to go.

If your boss discovers the leadership ability within you and wants to foster this, please do not visit an MBA, also visit a design school: study design and management 😉