It amazes me when I run into people with absolutely closed minds. Individuals who are either afraid of the truth, or just refuse to see it will never been effective and efficient leaders. When I wrote my book on leadership, it included a section I titled "Not being afraid to admit when they were wrong." This characteristic is one which can be very difficult to recognize and to admit because we are human. I also had written about other leadership characteristics such as willing to empower others but now wielding power, willing to accept critique and contrary ideas, and many others. All of them extremely important to being a true leader.
Some people are great at management, but quite frankly suck at leadership. The CEO who is not open to new ideas and can't see there may be another or better way will quickly loose respect. A person who criticizes in public versus private will not only loose respect of their people, but also loose great people. They often find it easier for them to belittle someone or to even go to the extent of firing them because they lack confidence to lead them. This is where they cannot comprehend the difference between management and leadership, which in the truest meaning is the ability to get others to follow...and that means willingly follow.
I remember consulting for a Fortune 500 company and meeting with the President of the company. He said he perceived challenges within the leadership chain and a lack of "cohesiveness." Well, he was right, with some of the problems being with how his upper leadership looked at him. There was fear of not doing the right thing, fear of consequences, and the lack of trust. I had two hats made up with one embroidered "President" and one "Leader." After my analysis I met in his office and gave him my findings and the hats. I asked him to put on his President hat and asked him what that meant and how he felt. I then followed with asking him to place the Leader hat on and tell me what that meant. We talked for almost an hour and with each concern that came from upper and middle leadership his answers would change when I asked him to place on the Leader hat. At the end he looked at me and said, "Maybe some of the problems I thought with the team were problems with me." My reply was, "No sir they are not problems with you, they are opportunities." I went back about three months after the visit expecting to meet with him in his office. Instead I was directed to a large room with every department head in it along with the President of the company. I received a standing ovation and the President of the company came and handed me the hat which had "President " on it and said, "I won't be needing this anymore." What a profound moment and one that almost brought tears to my eyes. We talked in an open forum for about two hours, and you could tell the atmosphere changed from individuals to a team. At the end, their "leader" stood before them and gave a short speech on he meeting we had in the office and the story of the hats. He went on to explain learning that leadership was more important than being perceived as "the boss" and why it was more important to be respected than liked. I was shocked to see what happened next. The entire management team took out hats which had the word "Leader" written on them and placed them on their heads.
Simple things can lead to great results, but anyone in a position of power must be willing to see the opportunities with effective leadership and admit their own shortcomings. If they are not willing to do this, the same result will continue. As the saying goes, ignorance is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. None of us is perfect, however, we all have the same chance to learn if we open our minds and our hearts.
Now go lead!
