The art of Leadership

The art of Leadership
agarbandhu

Leadership means setting aside personal desires
Subordinates will often quote their superior's directives in terms of his wishes. They will say, "Mr. Gupta wants us to do (so and so)."

In fact, if Mr. Gupta is at all worthy of his position, he will confine his wants, if any, to his private life. When on the job, he will think of it only in terms of what is needed to get the job done well. As he expects his subordinates to be obedient to him, so he himself should try to be obedient to whatever the circumstances call for. Always he should ask himself, not, "What would I like?" but rather, "What do I feel is needed?" and, "What is right?" He might even phrase the question thus: "What is trying to happen?" For there is a tide in every activity that transcends human dreams and expectations.

Great leaders recognize that they can only catch that tide at its height, and ride with it: They cannot create the tide. While not allowing him to be guided by his personal feelings, however, the leader must keep himself open at least to consider the feelings of others, especially those of his subordinates.

sacrifice of leadership

This is, quite simply, the sacrifice of leadership. For the feelings of others must be recognized as a factor in the formula of "What is trying to happen?" Unless he can win support for his ideas, the best project may amount to nothing, since there will be no one to give it sufficient energy for the project to succeed.

Remember, then, that leadership means:

1. To consider the team more important than the product. Remember, a good team can develop many products.

2. Not allowing your decisions to be influenced by personal likes and dislikes. The more you do so, the narrower your vision will become. Other people's likes and dislikes, however, are a necessary part of the reality you have to work with.

3. Inviting cooperation from others, rather than demanding their obedience. You can always, as the leader, enforce obedience. You will do so, however, at the cost of their willing and loyal support. Without these - indeed, without enthusiasm on their part - you will never receive their best efforts.

4. Enthusiasm: winning others to your ideas by the joy you yourself feel in them.

5. Doing willingly whatever needs to be done.


What is True Success? : The Art of Supportive Leadership :

The definitions of success are legion, as are also the techniques for reaching it. Perhaps the most important "rule" of all is this simply principle: The outcome of any project always reveals, however subtly, the kind of energy that went into its development.

A work of art reveals not only the skill, but also the consciousness, the basic attitudes, the philosophy of life, of the artist. A place of business reveals the general attitudes of its workers: their happiness or unhappiness, their confidence or frustration.

A leader who leads truly, and never drives others, will create in his subordinates the most constructive possible attitudes, and will ensure the best possible long-range results for his and their labors. The true success of an undertaking depends, more than anything else, on the spirit of the people involved in it. And the spirit of those people is a reflection, always, of the spirit of its leader.

In your role as leader or coworker, consider practicing the following principles:

1. Think of your position as an opportunity to serve, not as a trumpet call to self-importance.

2. Hold always to the principle, “People are more important than things.” If you hold to this principle, those who work with you will always give you their best.

3. Give loyalty to those under you, instead of demanding it first of them. Be loyal to those who work for you, whatever their position on the “totem pole.” Loyalty inspires loyalty. By demanding loyalty of others first, you’ll develop “yes men,” and the burden of every decision will rest on you alone.

4. Share with others the credit for any work well done. You will then have their support in all you do. Support is given grudgingly to the leader who claims, “I did it all.” Take from others the burden of blame. For even if the fault was theirs, in renouncing responsibility you renounce your leadership.


Leadership Is Not an 'Ego Game'

What does leadership mean to you?

Does it give you a thrill to think of others looking up to you, awaiting breathlessly for your slightest, but ever-wise, decision; or leaping to carry out your least, but always-firm, command?

If a leader glories in the importance of his position, he will infect his subordinates with the same attitude. Never will he be able to inspire in them the dedication which can bring a project to success. What is important in every creative expression, including that of creative leadership, is not to allow one's creative flow to be blocked by the thought of "I." If one's concentration is on "I, the great inventor," or, "I, the great poet," or, "I, the great general," one's creativity will become blocked by the ego. But if, on the contrary, one's energy-flow is directed outward–toward the thing one wants to invent, or the song one hopes to write or the war one intends to win, one's creative energy becomes liberated, and the flow toward success is assured.

Leadership, then, must be focused on the job to be done. Your own role in the completion of a task should not be the focus of your attention, however vital that role may be to the task itself. The greater one's mental emphasis on himself as the doer, the less he will be able to accomplish–whether as a leader or in any other capacity. The greater his mental emphasis, on the other hand, on the job to be done, the more likely he will be to succeed.

Remember then, that successful leadership depends upon:

1. Being impersonal where your own well-being is concerned, but personally concerned for the well-being of others.

2. Listening to what is really trying to happen in every situation. Be always ready to learn. You'll never lose face, if all you want is the truth.

3. Working with things as they are, not as you wish they were, nor as you think they ought to be: for the "impossible" dream can be attained only in possible stages.

4. Working with others' abilities as they are: not as you wish they were, nor as you think they ought to be.

5. Far-sightedness: gazing beyond

Leadership is an art
Genuine leadership is of only one type: supportive.

It leads people: It doesn’t drive them.

It involves them: It doesn’t coerce them.

It never loses sight of the most important principle governing any project involving human beings: namely, that people are more important than things. Leadership is an art. Bad leadership is usually due more to clumsiness than to ill will. Any tailor knows you can’t merely jam a thread through the eye of a needle.

The same is true of any art. One cannot bluster. One must attune himself sensitively to the requirements of the medium he is using. My hope in these articles is to help people in positions of leadership to see their roles, not as "big shots," but as artists whose medium is the dynamics of human cooperation. Because the suggestions offered are people-oriented rather than job-oriented, they will prove helpful as well to anyone whose lot it is to work with others: parents, for example, in raising their children; teachers interested in drawing the best out of their students; salesmen seeking to interest their customers in the products they sell; or anyone wanting to win others to a point of view.

Even people who live and work alone may find suggestions for drawing the best out of themselves.

In your role as leader, parent or friend, consider these principles:

1. Make truth your "bottom line." Remember, truth alone wins in the end.

2. Bear the larger picture always in mind. Ask yourself, "What are we really trying to accomplish?" Remember: Many a short-termed triumph has blocked the attainment of a long-term goal.

3. Remember also that leadership means even-mindedness: not being elated by success, nor depressed by failure, but simply doing your best, and letting the results take care of themselves. Let nothing that happens affect who you are, inside.

4. Concentrate on what you are doing, not on yourself as the doer. Your ego can either infuse a project with energy, or hinder its execution, depending on whether you give the project energy, or hold it spinning in a vortex of self-adulation.

5. Never ask of others what you would not willingly do yourself. There are leaders, and there are bosses. Be one who leads, not one who drives others.

Bojourn............. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! agarbandhu