01 Leadership Manifesto

man·i·fes·to n. a public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions

What would prompt anyone to write a leadership manifesto? Damned if I know. It wasn’t a conscious thought process. It was just one of those things that seemed to happen.

The article I was writing was supposed to be about developing high performers. Starting with a list of competencies and attributes I started to develop a profile. First I started to develop an understanding of the environment in which an individual could achieve levels of high performance. I then turned my attention to the role of the leader in creating the environment in which people can succeed. In less than thirty minutes the first draft of the list you see below was produced. Don’t read it now. Stay here for a minute. It will make more sense after the next paragraph – I hope.

For the past twenty years so I have been looking for the quintessential definition of a leader. Although there are literally thousands of books about leaders, they all seem to approach the subject, but never quite get there. A leader is more than just what or who a person is. I believe a leader is defined as much by what they don’t do as by what they do and how they do it. Is that any clearer? Didn’t think so. One more try.

Motivation, inspiration, attitude, knowledge, skill, competence behavior; that’s most of the list normally attributed to a leader. But then, no two leaders are the same. Leaders exist in large organizations and small. Leaders come in all sizes, shapes, colors and genders – white collar, blue collar, no collar and reverse collar, as in the church. As I continued to observe people in both leader and non-leader roles, I came to see and admire what I call everyday leaders. These are people who get up everyday and do what they are supposed to do, so the people around them can do what they are supposed to do.

So here is my definition of a leader: n. a person who creates an environment in which others succeed.

Now you can read the list.

• A leader must have vision. No one sees the future of an organization as clearly as the leader. To fail to look ahead is to doom the organization to vicious cycles of false starts and dead ends.
• A leader must be a designer. The leader creates the environment in which people succeed. The organization is the arena of the leader. Designing an effective organization is the only way to realize the vision of the enterprise. To fail to design the right environment – the right place – is to risk collapse of an otherwise viable organization.
• A leader must be a standard bearer. There is can only be one set of rules and policies and they must apply to everyone. To allow or practice double standards is to foster dishonesty and deceit.
• A leader must be optimistic. The only thing that can stop a great idea is “no hope”. For a leader to be pessimistic is to risk failure.
• A leader must trust. The opposite of trust is control. If a leader controls, then people will cease to be accountable for their own actions. To control is to risk the leader managing too much and leading too little.
• A leader must show up. To be in the present and open and aware makes the leader approachable. People who approach will bring information. Information leads to improved decision making. To not show up risks alienating people who have information.
• A leader must stand up. The values and ethics of the organization are demonstrated by the words and actions of the leader. To not stand up risks complacency or worse – duplicity.
• A leader must speak up. Even if complete information is not available, a leader must say what is so. If the leader doesn’t know the answer, then he or she should say so – then find the answer. To remain silent is to risk confusion and doubt.
• A leader must listen - listen and hear the good news, the bad news – all the news. Listening does not mean agreeing. But it does means understanding. To not listen risks missing critical information, which leads to poor decision-making.
• A leader must teach. People come into an organization with finite knowledge and skills and infinite potential. To not teach is to risk stagnation.
• A leader must celebrate. Every victory or advancement – large or small – must be celebrated by and for everyone. There will be enough trials that take away the joy. To fail to celebrate is to risk apathy.

To be honest, I have never met or read about anyone who has all of these qualities. Therefore, from where I sit the perfect leader does not exist. I think that is a good thing.

We all know people who share many of these qualities and, like the rest of us, are working on the others. Imperfect but striving has been my definition for excellence for some years now. How do you rank on this list?

Over the next eleven articles my task is to expand on these attributes and competencies. What do they look like? How do you get them? Who has them already? How do they use them? What are the results?

I believe if we can find some of the answers to these questions, we will be closer to understanding what a leader is and how to become one. Each article will contain a story, illustration or model to explain how it works as well as best practices or further reading for the reader to acquire more competence (knowledge, skills and experience) in that area.

It should be an interesting ride.

Rob MacLeod

Next blog is: Leader as a Visionary