Leadership
Posted on April 17, 2009 Comments (2)
Leadership is the act of making others effective in achieving an aim.
Leadership is not about being great yourself.
Leadership does involve more than making others effective. Leaders need to know what needs to be done, and then make others effective, based on that knowledge. As Dr. Deming said about any situation:
It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.
Leadership is not about getting a good performance appraisal. Leadership is not about making your numbers. Leadership is not about following the latest fad. Unfortunately, in my view, far too many managers fail to focus on making others better. Instead, probably largely influenced by performance appraisal mentality, they focus on making the case for why they, personally, are valuable.
Related: Deming on being destroyed by best efforts – 6 Leadership Competencies – The Leader’s Handbook – Seven Leadership Leverage Points – How to Improve – People are Our Most Important Asset – Bring Me Problems – Dr. W. Edwards Deming quotes
Categories: Deming, Management, Systems thinking
Tags: curiouscat, John Hunter, leadership, management, Systems thinking
2 Responses to “Leadership”
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April 21st, 2009 @ 5:09 pm
Amen John. Unfortunately that's the way most managers are brought up. It's the way they are rewarded. It's the way their bosses were/are rewarded. It's a tough cycle to break. Keep battling.
September 6th, 2009 @ 8:19 am
I have never been comfortable with the attempts to separate leadership from managing. Normally the tone is that leadership is what matters and managing is just then carrying out what leaders have determined and allowed…