- Knowledgeable
- Great communicator (motivating and inspiring, building morale, understanding, clear, compassionate, public speaking skills)
- Organized
- Reliable
- Honest
- Approachable
- Competent
These are a foundation that take years and experience in order to accomplish and express in an organization. I think that there are two different sets of qualities that are required to be outstanding as a leader. I call them fixed qualities and variable qualities. The difference between the two are fixed qualities are general and easily passed over from one leadership role to another no matter how diverse the subject is. Some examples would include organization, excellent communicative skills, honest, reliable and approachable. Variable leadership skills take time and dedication to understand as they are specific to a leadership role. These would include knowledge, understanding the culture, goals, targets, objectives and strategies of the organization. Variable skills separate the great specific leaders to overall outstanding leaders. I believe its not just skills or qualities that make some leaders greater than others but a mindset, a desire, a want and passion for the role. Barrack Obama did not become president from just having the qualities listed above but also he had a vision, a goal, a drive and passion to lead the United States out of the recession.
One example I feel demonstrates my opinion surrounds Kathy Savitt, the new CMO of Yahoo. As reported in Computerworlduk.com, on 14th September 2012, Kathy Savitt, former CEO of Lockerz, joined the worldwide known brand Yahoo as Chief Marketing Officer. As an acknowledged outstanding leader for Lockerz, a social commerce website and known for her great marketing with Amazon and American Eagle Outfitters, Savitt now pursues a new career forwarding her expertise, aligning with Yahoo. Savitt can also be an outstanding leader if, in my opinion, she can accomplish the variable leadership skills associated with learning the culture of Yahoo, leading the global team creating new objectives, visions and strategies that work well for Yahoo. Learning new knowledge of Yahoo will help Savitt become Yahoo savvy and an outstanding leader in her new organization. Some of her fixed skills that Savitt can take from Lockerz, such as her competency levels, communicating skills and reliableness are just as important. But confidence and creativity will flow once knowledge and understanding is absorbed.
One factor that may deter an individual moving from one organization to another and still showing outstanding leadership could be expertise. For example a CEO of a major organization such as JP Morgan may not lead the Boston Red Sox as outstandingly because he does not have the expertise in the field of baseball. The drive, the passion and vision may get his leadership so far but not deliver and greatly as somebody else when the results are shown. However I feel expertise is predominant when the subject matter is so diverse.
One example that may show this would be the Celebrity Apprentice . On the show, many celebrity contestants, from Dennis Rodman, known for leading the Chicago Bulls Basketball team, Clay Atkins singer and entrepreneur from Pop Idol, and Lisa Lampinelli, leader in the world of stand up comedy, all failed in being the ultimate leader on celebrity Apprentice. New skills and levels of expertise prohibited these well known leaders in the various fields of entertainment, from being outstanding leaders in many tasks set by Donald Trump. Each had the drive and passion and great leadership skills obtained from there field of work but ultimately, they could not consistently lead one another week to week because they lacked expertise in particular tasks.
Leadership is dependent on many factors as shown and can be transformed from one organization to another but the expertise and rare unique skills can be the one factor that can stop an individual from being outstanding.
I agree with your opinion. Determining if a leader can be successful in another organization depends on many factors. Often a good leader that moves to another organization might not have the expertise necessary to successfully run the organization.
ReplyDeleteAs you refer, I believe that being knowledgeable of the area of expertise you are about to enter will be a big factor for your personal success. Sometimes we might have great leaders but without knowledge, vision, and inspiration, not many things will get accomplished. Running a professional sports team is not the same as running Goldman Sachs.
ReplyDeleteFrom all the factors that you have listed I think that knowledge is the most important one. If a person does not know anything about the industry that he or she is working in there is no possibility of them becoming a successful leader.
ReplyDeleteI do think that when expert power is paired with referent power, there will be unlimited possibility to create excellent and powerful leadership. However, I believe that leadership is more based on leading, planning, organizing and controlling the bigger picture than knowledge or expertise itself. Visionary leadership often represents great CEOs. It brings to the situation a clear sense of the future and understanding of how to get there. I think that the ability to have visionary leadership seems much more rare than having expertise in any industries.
ReplyDeleteHaving a fair amount of knowledge of something does transcend to overall performance. Though an individual may have a specific vision, it won't necessarily produce adequate results.
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