My friend said, "I'm taking a class on leadership and I have this questionnaire that I would like to interview you about." I replied, "Sure." and we set up a coffee time to meet. The questions were well-written and thought-provoking so we had a good time catching up with one another, drinking java, and kibitzing around the questions and my responses.
The concept of leadership is both fascinating and highly underrated. Although I used the word "kibitzing" to describe our time together, I did not take her questions and my responses lightly. Leadership comes in many forms, from many differing directions, can have differing agendas, and different desired outcomes. I re-learned so much about my own leadership philosophy just by the act of considering and composing answers to the questions my friend posed. Of course, there were several questions along the vein of "what you would do in this or that instance?" but one of the queries that stood out in my mind and drew an immediate response from me was "What do you think is the single-most important trait of a leader?" My instant reply was "consistency". I subsequently learned that another respondent to the same question said "integrity". I have had some time to consider both my response and that of the other respondent and hers is probably better because I could envision a leader displaying a consistent lack of integrity. It is possible to be bad, ineffective, or unskilled........consistently.
Regular readers of Ancora Imparo may remember a posting not too long ago in which I revisited time with two highly influential people in my past - both former band directors of mine. One of them was famous for pointing at a student (college) who made a mistake and say, "You are very consistent in your inconsistency." And so can it be for a leader.
Over the years as my leadership style morphed, molded, changed, modified and eventually gelled, I adopted a stye commonly called (once upon a time) "servant leadership". Capt. Cook has been one of my mentors and, from his vantage point in the corporate world, would frequently share leadership materials/books from his on-going life-training as a leader and manager. "Servant leadership" came from his cadre of methodologies as did an excellent book that I read and immersed myself in titled, No-Nonsense Communication by Donald Kirkpatrick, which basically taught me that when a problem (either situation or person) presents itself, handle it immediately......you'll sleep better that night - which has proven itself to be true dozens, perhaps hundreds of times. My other book that has dog-eared pages from being read and re-read is Leading With The Heart (Successful Strategies for Basketball, Business, and Life) by former Duke University Blue Devils Coach Mike Krzyzewski. This book was given to me by a former teaching colleague who was not only my school's boys' basketball coach but also a stellar human being.
I've been fortunate along my life's way to have some outstanding mentors to whom I listened and learned. I was reminded of these important people in my support system just because my friend called and said, "I have this little questionnaire I'd like to share with you." It is never too late to examine how and why you lead.
Ancora imparo
