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Leadership Part I: A Dialog on Understanding. Kelvin K. Droegemeier University of Oklahoma NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop 11 June 2012. We’re Bombarded with Material on Leadership but do we Really Understand It?. What Does the Word “Leadership” Mean to You?.
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LeadershipPart I: A Dialog on Understanding Kelvin K. Droegemeier University of Oklahoma NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop 11 June 2012
We’re Bombarded with Material on Leadership but do we Really Understand It?
What Does the Word “Leadership” Mean to You? Do You See Yourself as a Leader? If so, in What Ways? What Individuals Have Been Important Leaders in Your Life? Why?
Leadership: Searching for a Definition • Powerful/influential • Intelligent • Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal • Effectuate positive change • People of high values/standards/ethics – role models • Well known/famous – leave a legacy • Operate with a mixture of formal and informal authority
But What Makes Them Leaders? • Money? • Pedigree/education? • Beliefs? • Actions? • Personalities? • Looks? • Connections? • Work ethic? • Chance?
"Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Leadership: Searching for a Definition • Powerful/influential • Intelligent • Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal • Effectuate positive change • Role models • People of high values/standards/ethics • Well known/famous • Operate exclusively with formal authority, usually by coercion
What Other Adjectives Work? • Demagogue • Dictator • Madman • Control Freak • Other….?
According to Webster… • Leadership is the position, office, or term of a leader • A leader is one who • Directs • Guides • Is in command • Has influence
That’s Sort of a Useless Working Definition! • It ignores values/ethics • It does not describe the work of leadership • It does not distinguish between a shift worker at a restaurant and 4-star general!
Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership is inexorably tied to values, morality, and ethics
Key Facts About Leadership • We shape our values early in life, and thereafter our values shape us • Respect cannot be demanded, it must be earned – by giving it away.
Do You Buy This?? • Look at how long these people have been in power or the influence they have! • Do you think they ultimately will succeed?
Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership seeks positive outcomes to benefit others – a servant viewpoint
The Servant Leader - Humility • Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less
“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill
Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership is called forth by crisis and challenge and helps shape it, but is not produced by it
LIFE: Is Difficult!!LEADERSHIP: Is Difficult!! • “This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)
What is our Response? • “…[we] moan…about the enormity of [our] problems…as if life should be easy. [We] voice [our] belief…that [our] difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction...visited upon [our] families, tribe, class, nation, race, or species…and not on others.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)
A Dose of Reality • More than 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day • 6 million children under the age of five die each year from malnutrition • More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day; 300 million are children • More than 40% of the world’s population does not have basic sanitation or access to clean water
The Good News • …It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)
Leadership • In a nutshell, that’s what leaders do – they solve problems • But they do so in a way fundamentally different than what you might imagine
Two Words that Often are Confused: Leadership and Management • Leadership and Management are very different, though some confuse them as being nearly synonymous • Few people are effective leaders and managers
Leadership and Management • Management • is about coping with complexity • brings order and consistency out of potential chaos • applies knownsolutions andstrategies
Leadership and Management • Leadership • is about coping with or planningchange, especially if it’s sudden
"Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." - Stephen R. Covey
"Management is doing things right…Leadership is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker
Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal • Management • Creating a plan • Defining steps • Establishing astructure • Allocating resources • Executing the plan • Controlling situations and solving problems
Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal • Leadership • Developing a visionand setting direction • Defining strategies • Aligning, motivating,and inspiring people • Testing reality • Delegating work
The Reality of Vision • The crucial feature of visions is that they must serve the interests of the constituency
Important Facts • Management controls people by pushing them in the right direction • Leadership motivates people by drawing them in a way that satisfies the basic human needs for • achievement • recognition • self-esteem • a sense of belonging
Are You a Leader?? • The role of the leader is to take people on journeys where they’ve not been before • By definition, you don’t know how to get there!!! • “Never walk the traveled path because it only leads you where the others have been” (Alexander Graham Bell) • Leaders hate, and instinctively challenge, the status quo!
Are You a Leader?? • You know you’re a leader if you… • feel you can do things better, and know how to do them better, without offending those in authority • are comfortable being challenged • are comfortable with being under authority • are comfortable with crediting other people for things you helped accomplish • How many of these fit you?
Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority
Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority
Producing Useful Change • Problems -- when circumstances do not conform to the way we think things ought to be • Two solutions • Apply a known technical fix (management) • Develop solutions that previously were unknown (leadership) – known as adaptive change
Examples • Someone doesn’t show up for work
Examples • Terrorism threat in the United States
Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority
Leading With Formal Authority • Conferred in exchange for protection, direction, conflict control • Based on a set of expectations or a job description • Essentially a formal contract – it can be revoked or walked away from • Pros and cons • Breadth and completeness of information • Must operate within specific bounds • Must operate at a distance from the front lines
Leading With Informal Authority • Based upon trust, reputation, civility, admiration, creativity and availability • It can never be revoked, though the trust relationship can be broken and the reputation damaged • This is the most powerful type of authority • Can deviate from norms of decision making • Can focus on hard issues • Can get closer to the experiences of the stakeholders down in the trenches, where relationships are developed