Monthly Archives: May 2013

#138 Are leaders born or made?

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I see three types of leaders in the workplace:

  1. The “born” leaders. These people seem to have an intuition about how to say the right thing, be in the right place, and speak to the right person. Either you have this gift or you don’t. If you do, it is likely your success has led to blind spots, because you are succeeding! Why change a winning formula? Especially if you don’t understand why you are winning. This is a subtle case of superstition. Some of these people can be obnoxious and arrogant, a misuse of their self-confidence. If they are not careful, they become one trick ponies and “has beens.”
  2. The “trained” leaders. Such people have a deep inner desire and they are ready to work hard to overcome obstacles to fulfill them. They don’t let their limitations or clumsiness or frustrations get in the way. They chip away and know success lies in being a tortoise, not the hare. Success comes slowly to such people, but they often have a reputation of being rock solid and dependable. Such people need to crank up their confidence and step up to grab the credit due to them. Acceleration of their success lies entirely in their hands.
  3. The “hopeless” leaders. These are the introverts who are the black holes in the workplace. They spend more time thinking about and defending their dysfunctional behavior (sullen, martyrdom, gloomy, “woe is me,” defensive, entitled) than in channeling their talents to accomplish a task or achieve success. These are the “wanna be’s” in the workplace. I’ve found trying to convert these people or training them is a waste of time. They deserve the menials tasks that no one else will do and to be treated as a service provider, not a partner. They will drain your energies and shake your faith in the inherent good you believe all humans have. They drift from job to job, until they find a permanent place to be miserable.

If you are a “born” leader, try to learn something new every day. Your knowledge is going to get obsolete very quickly and you will become an overhead or millstone around the organization’s neck at some point. If you are not a “born” leader, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Stay out of the “hopeless” category. Everyone goes into exile (layoff, demoted, passed over for promotion) at some point in their career, sometimes multiple times. That is no excuse for becoming “hopeless.”

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#137 Beware the inspirational speaker

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You attend a keynote session and are awed by the speaker. The awe is because the speaker is very, very good at the following:

  • Communicating in a simple and easy to understand manner.
  • They describe your pain point so clearly, you say, “Ah! At least one person understands how I feel.”
  • The stories are entertaining.
  • Using a combination of techniques, they make you feel good about yourself.

Speakers who live off speaking fees have this down to an art form. So do bosses and business leaders who are looking to get you to do your job. Their paychecks and bonuses depend on how good you feel about yourself, so you work hard and do your job. Lets call these people Type I (for “inspiration”).

On the other hand, the person who makes things happen, the person who understands risk analysis, the person who understands how the dots connect, is boring. They tend to scare you, they tend to give you work you don’t want to do, they make you think about things you don’t want to think about. Lets call these people Type E (for “execution”). Think of the grumpy martial arts teacher or the strict coach who drills you till your arms and legs fall off.

Obviously these are extremes. The takeaways are as follows:

  • We need both Types. Because Type I’s are entertaining, they will relax you so you might actually learn something. Type E’s get things done.
  • You’ll find that Type I’s don’t have tangible next steps. You still have to figure it out. BUT, the problem is not that Type I’s don’t have tangible next steps, the problem is you go and make foolish investments because you have a false sense of confidence in your untested and unpolished abilities.
  • If you are a Type E, take on Type I behaviors a notch. People will appreciate your talents more, and earlier. Besides, it will make you look and sound human.
  • If you are a Type I, take on some Type E behaviors. Keep your sword shining and send the message that “you can walk the talk.” Show people how its done, don’t just talk about it.

The ability to inspire and the ability to execute are both valuable. Business models can be built around each. But when you can combine them, you will be unstoppable!

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