Excellence

LEADERSHIP ™

THE MAGAZINE OF LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT, MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

VOL. 22 NO. 10 AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2005

Thunder
and Dust
When all members
of the top
leadership team
are aligned and
moving forward
together, stride
for stride, we
witness power and
poetry in motion.

BILL GEORGE
Authentic Leaders
Have your professed
values been tested? . . . . .3
MALCOLM GLADWELL
Screening and Selection
Do you use bias in
screening candidates? . . . .4
MARSHALL GOLDSMITH
The Courage to Ask
When you ask, people
can tell more freely . . . . .5
JOHNNY C. TAYLOR, JR.
The Courage to Lead
All I ask is that you
do the right thing . . . . . .6
KEN AND MARJORIE
BLANCHARD
Retain Top Talent
Managers are the first
line of defense . . . . . . . . .7
MARGARET J. WHEATLEY
Inclusive Innovation
Involve your people,
and they will often
surprise you . . . . . . . . . . .8
PETER ANDREWS
What’s the Big Idea?
Create a full-fledged
value proposition . . . . .10
JOEL A. BARKER
Tick-Tock Tech-Time
Innovations appear
much faster now . . . . . .10
IAN MITROFF
Crisis Leadership
You get one chance
to do things right . . . . . .11
DAVID LA PIANA AND DAVID DIBBLE
MICHAELA HAYES New Agreements
Competitive Strategy These create more
Seek the resources to enlightened leaders . . . .16
advance and achieve
your mission . . . . . . . . .12 THEODORE KINNI
Leadership Strategy
JAMES R. FISHER, JR. Start by understanding
the situation . . . . . . . . . .17
Leaders at a Loss
Hurricane Katrina
JOSEPH S. KAPLAN
exposes the void . . . . . .13
Strategy 101
People must know
KEN MYERS, DAN where they’re headed . .18
RICHARDS, CHRIS HOLLEY
Transition Politics ROBYN HENDERSON
Learn and follow the Ethical Networking
eight golden rules of Make productive,
transition politics . . . . . .14 effective connections . . .19
MICHAEL MCDERMOTT AVRIL HENRY
Knowledge Workers Leadership Differences
How can you gauge Apply the characteristics
their effectiveness? . . . .15 of respected leaders . . . .20
leadershipcompetence
Leadership Differences
Apply the characteristics of
by Avril Henry
IN MY BOOK LEADERSHIP
Revelations: An Austral-
ian Perspective, I identified
nine characteristics of highly effective
and respected leaders as people who:
• have an appetite for learning and
developing others;
• are change enablers;
• are able to coach people;
• communicate through listening;
• have courage;
• have integrity;
• inspire and motivate people;
• lead by example; and
• value diversity.
A further six important characteris-
tics, which were not necessarily com-
mon across leaders from varying
backgrounds and industries, include
teamwork, creating positive work
environments, self-leadership, tenacity
and perseverance, values, and vision.
However, of particular importance
were the differences in the characteris-
tics and behaviors between leaders in
organizations of varying size.
It was only in major organizations
that leaders talked about attitude as a
prerequisite for strong leadership,
combined with some of the character-
istics outlined above.
Leaders in small business talked
consistently about the importance of
celebrating success with people, as this
rewards and recognises people’s
efforts, and “ignites passion.”
Leaders in small business high-
lighted the following characteristics as
important to their success as leaders:
• creative thinking;
• empowering people;
• being inclusive;
• taking risks;
• transformational capability; and
• having a sense of humour.
In the analysis done following the
interviews and contributions by over
100 Australian leaders, those in large
organizations rarely mentioned the
above six characteristics. Let’s explore
what these six characteristics mean to
leaders in small business, as therein
lies the opportunity to learn from
them and their success.
2 0 w w w. L e a d e r E x c e l . c o m
understands where the company is
heading and how goals will be
achieved. People will happily follow a
leader who is inclusive and asks people
to join the journey, rather than a leader
effective, respected leaders. who demands it without explanation.
• Taking risks. Small business leaders
are more likely to take risks than leaders
• Creative thinking. Leaders of small in major corporations, who are often
business define creative thinking as confined by internal policies, procedures
“thinking differently.” Susan Halliday, and politics. In small business, they do,
the former Federal Sex Discrimination however, ensure that the risks are edu-
Commissioner, defines this as “some-
one with the ability to creatively map
cated and well calculated. An important
factor in taking risks is an absence or
and cultivate a new culture; someone limited fear of failure. Leaders in these
who defines a new way of working businesses are more inclined to view
(and thinking) in a manner that moti- failure or mistakes as a learning oppor-
vates others and gains acceptance” and tunity or an obstacle to be overcome.
does this with a “balance of passion, They believe that you need to take risks
personal strength, common sense and to succeed and grow the business.
humanity.” Only leaders in small busi- • Transformational capacity. Margot
ness and the not for profit sector con- Cairns highlights the importance of per-
sistently made reference to humanity sonal transformation, again seen more
and the human spirit. often in small business. She says that
• Empowering people. It was encourag- true “leaders have the courage, intelli-
ing and inspiring to find that young gence and character to search for tomor-
leaders talked more consistently about row’s questions, questions that will help
empowering people than did older, them create the future. To achieve this,
leaders constantly engage in a process
of personal transformation.” Few cur-
rent leaders have the courage or capac-
ity to do this. We continue to use
yesterday’s thinking and solutions to
try and solve tomorrow’s problems.
• Having a sense of humor. Small busi-
ness leaders and entrepreneurs believe
a sense of humour is necessary to draw
on to deal with both the good and the
bad times.
• Small business leaders don’t conform.
In summary, what sets small business
leaders and entrepreneurs apart from
leaders in major corporations is that
they do not “conform” to what is expec-
mature leaders. They also talked about ted of leaders, and they have a strong
seeking input from employees and desire to really make a difference, often
being more inclusive in their leader- not only in business but in their com-
ship style. In small business it is munities. In the process of exercising
believed that you cannot afford to self-leadership, being creative and
overlook the ideas, contributions or inclusive, they inspire people around
input of any employee, as often the them to do extraordinary things.
best ideas can be turned into revenue What truly defines the essence of
producing products or services, or true leadership is best seen from the
ideas on managing costs better. Great follower’s point of view, and this is
leaders energise and empower their brilliantly described by Rhonda Jansz,
people: they have the capacity not only an executive coach, who says that lead-
to create ideas, but to also implement ers will always be remembered “not
them. This is achieved through influ- only for what we said, not only for
encing people to accept the idea, and what we did, but more importantly for
empowering them to act while ensur- how we made our people feel.” LE
ing buy in from both internal and
Avril Henry is an executive coach, public speaker, author and
external stakeholders. Executive Director of AH Revelations, a leadership and human
• Being inclusive. By exercising inclu- resources consulting business. Contact: 61 2 414 862 527 or
avril@ahrevelations.com.
sive leadership, many small business
leaders have found that everyone ACTION: Lead with wisdom, passion and integrity
L e a d e r s h i p E x c e l l e n c e