True leadership is fearless and “fear”-less.
Level 5 Leadership, according to Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great, Why Some Companies Make the Leap…And Others Don’t, is a person who, “builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.”
It sounds like a rare and special combination. And it is!
Every organization starts with someone running ahead in some kind of leadership role. The founder comes up with an idea. Then, when they find out they can’t achieve their dream alone, they hire people to help them.
Later, they start casting a vision for their organization and exploring how they’re going get their team members to execute on it.
This is where true leaders emerge. And, where many others fail.
The ability to inspire in others the drive to achieve is what sets true leaders apart from those who simply inhabit a leadership role.
For example, I’ve heard stories of companies where people fear their leaders.
The stories usually relate back to a person who mistakes authoritarian behavior for true leadership. To their team members, these leaders come across as a dictator, instead of someone who inspires aspirations and shares responsibility.
They’re known to make comments that put people on the spot or focus on poor performance.
These types of behaviors tend to have the opposite effect of what the leader intended. Instead of reaching for the stars, the team members try to avoid risk of innovative thinking and seek safety in “the way we always do things.”
The result? The organization loses its agility. Its vision becomes clouded in a fog of apprehension.
Does your staff fear you?
I’m often asked how a person can tell if he or she creates this negative type of influence. My answer is another question: “Does your staff fear you?”
I’ve come in contact with businesses where employees don’t trust their leader. That’s because the decisions the leader makes are based on that person’s best interest, rather than the interest of the members of the team — or the company as a whole.
They are convinced that their success is based on their own ideas. They dismiss the thought their success is the product of many people who have helped bring a vision to life.
Not surprisingly, they even take credit for ideas that weren’t even theirs to begin with!
In organizations like these, team members are always faced with questions of whether to trust this negative leader as a teammate. If they can’t, it creates that queasy uncertainty that leads to Sunday Night Syndrome – an energy-draining symptom of a faltering vision.
A true leader lights the fire.
A leader has to realize that he or she can influence the culture just by being positive, clear and intentional. It’s not just a matter that they can, but they must!
I always go back to a famous quote by Zig Ziglar: “You will get what you want in life by helping enough people get what they want out of life.”
It was true when it was written. And it’s even truer today. If you aren’t sure what kind of leader you are, talk to the people around you!
It’s a critical step to building a team that’s on fire to help you succeed.
P.S. – I’d love to meet you on Facebook!
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