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Leadership, Vision, Values and
Self - Knowledge

Questions or Answers

Most people agree that there is no absolute formula that makes a leader. The majority of studies you can name do their best to analyse characteristics and traits of recognised leaders - but long after the characteristics have been engendered, assembled and put to use.

"Good leaders motivate people in a number of ways. First they always articulate the organisation's vision in a manner that stresses the values of the audience they

In a study of 160 CEOs experts Charles Parkas and Suzy Wetlaufer state that of the 160 executives interviewed less than 20% subscribed to that approach. You can find a dichotomy in almost every leadership concept.

We believe we can study some qualities of some leaders. They are always studied in a particular context by a particular observer who sees the world through their own particular set of pre-existing beliefs.

Lowest Common Denominators
Probably the first thing that qualifies a leader as a leader is that he or she has followers.

We have not found any counter argument for that.
Even if you're good at coercing the multitudes, you need willing help from a close few. But personnel, staff, or team members are not necessarily followers. Followers are won.

If you have followers, you have to be seen to be going somewhere. So the second thing is that to be a leader you must set a direction. (In the broadest sense a 'vision', an image of an end point).

Feedback
And thirdly, if you're going somewhere you must
already be somewhere in order to start off! Like any instrument of navigation, you only know where you are by receiving signals from your environment (street signs, stars, beacons). Whatever specific name you put to each of these signals, in the broadest context, they are feedback.

To sustain the journey - and take people with you - you need a special kind of feedback mechanism. So, assessment of self, or self - knowledge, self mastery, whatever you'd care to call it, is vital.

We have three clear elements we can explore:
• Followers
• Your direction
• Feedback

Within 'followers' you have all the factors of which behaviours beget them and retain them. You have the elements of Values and Motivation. If your values are too far removed from those of your followers or culture, you'll lose your followers. Do most people know their top 5 values? The company's top four or five? (When you get up to eight or ten it becomes easier to fudge the issue and 'find your slot' of agreement). Do the aspiring leaders know their own values in relation to where they are currently in Maslow's hierarchy of motivation? Do they know the company's values as they shift - they almost certainly will have shifted - in relation to the company's evolution and development? (Larry Greiner's The Five Phases of Growth (for an organisation) … Creativity, Direction, Delegation, Co-ordination, Collaboration).

Within 'direction' you have all the elements of teleology. Vision, goals, mission, purpose (personal and team) and the estimation of their 'correctness' or appropriateness to the main vision and drive of the organisation and its culture of the day. How do you set a direction as a leader, larger than yourself and containing enough inspiration to give everyone a deeper reason to carry on, and yet keep it within the confines of the company vision? Motivation, rapport, beliefs and paradigms and all the heady stuff that make this so fascinating, could be examined under 'direction'.

Within 'feedback' you have the 'metanoia' of Peter Senge, the 'self mastery' of Peter Drucker, the 'emotional intelligence' of Daniel Goleman. The ability to know yourself, where you are in the fullest sense of the word. To know how you learn, how you perform, what your true strengths are and how to perform to them. How to use your followers to compensate for your weaknesses, which weaknesses to try to change and which to ignore. How to recognise and change your own attitudes, first, where necessary. How to use your own observation for feedback as well as the environment's.

Lastly, where and how to focus your time and energy whilst sharing what you've learned.