Thoughtful look at the impact of good and bad leadership

The world needs exemplary leaders and unfortunately there’s a shortage of them. That’s not because there’s a shortage of potential talent. Rather, it’s because of demographic shifts, insufficient training and experience and prevailing mindsets that discourage people from learning how to lead.

That the premise of this book, which maintains that leaders are not born but can be made. The belief that leadership is only available to a powerful few is a far more powerful deterrent to development than anything else and it prevents many credible candidates from even trying.

At its core, leadership is about the actions you take, rather than the position you hold. It is about the values that guide your decisions and about the visions you have for both yourself and others. It also involves an aspiration to excel, aiming for something better than the status quo.

Leadership potential and skills are not talents some people have and some people don’t, they are much more broadly distributed, the authors maintain.

One of the first pieces of advice in this book is to keep a journal as a way of recording the key insights you gain from your daily experience and to reflect on them.

Positive or negative

Leadership matters and its impact can be either hugely positive or negative. Numerous studies have shown leadership has an impact on people’s commitment, their desire to stay or leave, their willingness to contribute more discretionary effort and their inclination to take personal initiative and responsibility. Bad leaders have a dampening effect on these things while exemplary ones have the opposite effect.

A Gallup survey quoted here, for example, found 50 per cent of people had quit a job to get away from their manager, at some point in their career. By contrast, another survey quoted showed the best leaders bring out more than three times the amount of talent, energy and motivation from their people compared with their counterparts at the other end of the spectrum.

Further, the book presents percentages of engagement explained by leadership practices across countries including Ireland. Our figure of about 47 per cent is one of the highest, contrasting with a rating of 34 per cent for the UK and 36 per cent for the US.

Five leadership practices are presented. The first, ‘model the way’, suggests setting the example by aligning actions with shared values while the second, ‘inspire a shared vision’ suggests leaders should envision the future by imagining exciting possibilities. The third emphasises challenging the status quo and taking risks while the fourth is about fostering collaboration by building trust and developing competence in others. The final practice is about recognising contributions by showing appreciation, celebrating success and building a spirit of community.

The importance of continuous learning is emphasised here and a fixed mindset is contrasted with a growth mindset. With a growth mindset you are more likely to seek and accept challenges, persist when obstacles are in your way or not be deterred when you have a setback.

Mindsets also carry over into performance. Researchers in numerous studies have found when working on business problems those individuals with fixed mindsets gave up more quickly and performed more poorly than those with growth mindsets. Moreover, the mindset of organisational leaders can either facilitate or inhibit the growth of employees as well as the growth of the business.

Mentors and role models

One of the more interesting sections of the book looks at the journey leaders take through their careers. When first learning to lead, you focus on what you see outside in the exterior landscape, observing what respected leaders do and looking for mentors and role models.

Somewhere along the way, the authors note, you’ll notice your talks sound mechanical and rote, your meetings are boring and your interactions seem routine and empty. You’ll awaken to the terrible thought that the words are not yours, the vocabulary is someone else’s and not straight from the heart. Far from being a bad thing, this marks the turning point in your journey as a leader, a time when you begin to find your authentic voice.

Well-written and thoughtful, this book should prove useful to coaches looking to develop potential within their organisations and their client companies.