of a leader - david irvine · the making of a leader | 6 5 after you get to people’s hearts, you...

The Making Of A LeaderIt’s About Presence, not PosItIon

The Making Of a Leader | 1

Every leader in today’s world must wrestle

deeply with four fundamental questions:

1 What does it mean to be a leader in today’s world?

2 Where do you get your power to influence and to lead?

3 Why should people follow you?

4 What are you doing to prepare yourself to be a credible

leader?


If you’ve been to a leadership development program lately, you likely learned a

lot about leadership practices and tools to help you be a better leader. However,

the only true measure of a leader is influence. If you can’t influence others

and inspire followers, you aren’t a leader. While leadership practices may

be useful and practical, if you want to influence people in today’s world, you

have to get to leadership presence. Great leadership cannot be reduced to

technique. Great leadership comes from the identity and integrity of the leader.

In today’s world, leadership is about presence, not position. Your very presence

is an attraction when you seek substance, depth, and strength of character.


Here are twelve observations about leaders, and twelve ways to

become a transformational leader through the power of presence.

1 Leadership is about presence, not position.

While you may get promoted to being a boss, you don’t get promoted to

being a leader.

Because your power as a leader comes from your presence, not your

position, every person in your organization is a potential leader. In the

words of the late Margaret Thatcher, “Being powerful is like being a lady. If

you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

2 You aren’t a leader until someone says you are.

Leadership isn’t in a title. Leadership is the way you live your life.


Holding a position of leadership is like having a driver’s license. Just

because you have one doesn’t make you a good one. You have to earn the

right to be called a leader. You aren’t a leader until you have followers.

Not followers in the conventional sense where we think of them as

subservient, submissive, or compliant. Leaders today have followers in

the truest sense: followers who engage, who listen, who are open to be

influenced, and who trust you.

3 Leadership means going where no one else has

gone.

If you aren’t embarking on new frontiers, you aren’t leading; you

are merely managing. If you aren’t traveling unfamiliar paths, you

haven’t gone far enough into the wilderness. One of the most powerful

ways to go where no one else has gone is to give your power to others.

Only secure leaders will do that.


4 To lead, you have to make the connection.

Everyone communicates; very few connect. You have to get to the heart,

before you get to the head. “People don’t care how much you know,” my

father used to say, “Until they know how much you care.” Great

leadership is largely a matter of love. If you are uncomfortable with that

word, call it caring, because leadership involves caring about people, not

manipulating them. Leadership means caring about the worker as much

as you care about the task. Leadership is about seeking to be interested,

instead of attempting to be interesting. People buy in to the leader before

they buy in to the vision. With no connection, you can have no

influence.

Leadership is about seeking to be interested,instead of attempting to be interesting.


5 After you get to people’s hearts, you have to get to

their unique gifts.

Everyone is talented, original, and has something to contribute. There

is an innate desire in all of us to make a difference. The task of a

leader is to help find that unique gift – both in ourselves and in

others - and help bring it forth in the world in a way that makes

a difference. You can tell what your gifts are by asking, “What do you

do well, that you don’t remember learning?” Discovering your gifts will lead

you to your passion, and passion will inspire you and the world around

you. When you, as a leader, tap into that unique ability, you won’t ever

have to motivate that person again. It’s inside every one of us.

6 Leadership presence comes in your roots.

A kind of bamboo tree in China is known to grow one inch in four years.

Then, in the fifth year, it grows a hundred feet. It needed four years

of roots to support the demand of a hundred feet of height. Like that

bamboo tree, your ability to bear the fruit of your influence will be in the

strength of your roots. It’s not the size of the storm that will determine

whether you break. It’s the strength of your roots, the character that

lies below the surface of what the world sees. Trust is the foundation of

leadership, and it’s strong roots that make you trustworthy.


7 A vision always precedes a plan.

The vision of the future is a powerful force. In his “I have dream” speech,

Martin Luther King did not proclaim having a strategic plan. While

plans may be necessary, it is dreams that inspire, uplift, and engage us. “If

you want to build a ship,” writes Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, “don’t herd

people together to collect wood, and don’t assign them to tasks and work, but

rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” Whatever

your vision, live it well and you will inspire others to engage

with you.


8 Leadership is about making a difference in people’s

lives.

The late Ray Nelson, owner of Nelson Homes, a successful building and

lumber company in Western Canada and long-time client and friend,

used to say, “It’s easy to make a buck; it’s harder to make a difference.” Leaders

are committed to adding value through service. It’s about what you give,

not what you get. You find yourself when you serve others. You respect

yourself when you chose service over self-interest.

9 Leaders inspire others with their sense of

ownership.

No one will ever think less of you for standing up and saying, “That’s

my responsibility.” You think like an owner when you clean up a mess,

even if you didn’t create it, when you turn off the lights in a hotel room

when you check out, when you take pride in your work, and when you

replace unearned entitlement with gratitude and service. Ownership

means bringing a generous spirit to everything you do. Ownership

asks consistently, “How can I help?” Nobody likes to be around people

who are irresponsible and who carry an entitlement frame of mind.

Ownership, on the other hand, inspires people.


10 Leaders understand that activity is not the same as

results.

“Everyone on a team,” writes Collin Powell, former US Secretary of State,

“knows who is and who is not performing and they are looking to you as the

leader to see what you are going to do about it.” Results are the name of the

game. With no results, you can’t call yourself a leader. Just because you

are busy and you can get others busy, doesn’t make you a leader. You

have to hold up high standards, model the way, and ensure

accountability. You don’t take pride in doing something easy or in work

with no results. Leadership isn’t for people who are soft.

Just because you are busy and can get othersbusy, doesn’t make you a leader


11 Leadership means being willing to stand alone.

If you don’t stand for something, you won’t have anything to stand on

to influence people. And when you stand for something, you often stand

alone. It’s lonely at times being a leader. If you are comfortable being in

the crowd, where can you possibly lead people?

12 Be a good gardener.

I learned a great deal of leading from my mother who was an avid

gardener. Plants won’t grow because you demand that they do so or

because you threaten them. Plants grow only when they have the right

conditions and are given proper care. Creating the space and providing

the proper nourishment for plants - and people as well - is a matter

of continual investigation and vigilance. But another reality about

gardening is that you really don’t have much control over the harvest.

Despite your best efforts, for a myriad of reasons, some plants simply

won’t make it. You can’t engage, inspire, or get results from everyone.

Not everyone will follow you. It’s a reality we all live with.


Both are necessary to run an organization or a department. I once coached

a manager that was a great boss. He knew how to get the job done right

and produce results. But he wasn’t a leader. He was a passionate, committed

worker, but he didn’t know how to build a team, inspire his staff, or connect

with people. He burned people out, had a high turnover rate, and alienated

his employees. And over time, the results started dropping. It was helpful for

him to see the distinction between being a “boss” and being a “leader.” He then

could see that, while his ability to be a boss was important to the organization,

his inability to lead was a barrier. Although he made minimal progress in

leadership ability, our primary success was that he learned to be honest with

himself and his team about his inability to lead. As a result he could find - and

foster - leadership within his team. It doesn’t necessarily matter who the leader

is. What matters is that leadership is present.

The difference between being a “boss” and being a “leader” is the difference between being transactional and transformational.


Any role, from customer service to senior executive, has both a transactional

element and a transformational element. The key is balance. If you have ever

worked in an organization that was “over bossed” and “under lead,” you will

know the consequences: low engagement scores, a lack of accountability, poor

morale, distrust, and silos.

The following table helps to make the distinction between a “boss” and a

“leader.” Any leader with experience and wisdom understands that there isn’t as

clear a delineation as is outlined below. A great leader will also be a great boss,

and a great boss will also be a great leader. With maturity comes integration.

But we find it helpful to separate them to understand them.


Boss - Transactional Leader - Transformational

Position Presence

Facilitates Animates

Strategy Inspires

Enforces Vision

Manages Performance Mentors People

Administration Connection

Supervision Service

Policies and procedures Values and Principles

Bureaucracy Accountability

“In front of computer” “In front of people”

“Knowing” “Learning”

“Time Teller” “Clock builder”

CONTROLLING UNLEASHING


Take a look at the preceding table and ask a few

questions:

• How is the level of integration and balance in your organization between

these two accountabilities?

• How is the level of integration and balance in yourself?

• What are the consequences, both positive and negative, of your current

perception?

• If you would like to be more transformational, what is your strategy for

developing your leadership capacity?


Earning Credibility Through Character

Strategies To Develop And Strengthen Your Authentic

Leadership Presence

Ten years ago we began researching leaders as we prepared to write a book on

the topic. We asked hundreds of people in a wide range of organizations, one

question: “What do you want from your leaders?”

Their answers boiled down to a single response: “We want our leaders to get

past the gimmicks, the fads, the flavors of the month. We want our leaders

to be honest. We want our leaders to be real.” As we began writing a book

about “real leadership,” we discovered that “real leadership” is preceded by

being a “real person.” Then your leadership, your capacity to impact and

influence others, comes from the strength of that realness. It is about presence,

not position. Our writing then shifted from being a book about leaders to a

very personal book, a book about being a real human being. That first book,

entitled, Becoming Real: Journey To Authenticity, preceded the next book, The

Authentic Leader: It’s About PRESENCE, Not Position. In that book we found and

interviewed authentic, “real” leaders that were identified as such by their direct

reports and colleagues.


In our work developing leadership capacity and cultures in organizations

across the continent for more than 25 years, we have identified twelve

fundamental strategies for increasing your credibility and ability to influence

by strengthening your authentic presence. The good news is that you don’t

need a title to lead or to apply any of these strategies. You can begin to lead

where you are, with or without a title.

1 Earn Trust Through Accountability

We define accountability as the ability to be counted on. Accountability

makes integrity real, by doing what you say you are going to do, acting

ethically in accord with your values, and making your actions public.

Integrity breeds self-respect and self-trust, which in turn leads others to

respect and trust you. Leadership starts with being a credible person, a

person of strong character. Make it a point, from this day forward, to act

accountably by never making a promise that you don’t intend to keep.

Make this promise to yourself and others, and you will earn credibility

through character, not title.

Leadership starts with being a credibleperson, a person of strong character.


2 Inspire Others With Ownership

Owners take responsibility for their lives and the world around them.

You’ll never hear an owner say, “That’s not my job.” Deflecting

responsibility is not in the repertoire of an owner. Beginning today,

decide to be an owner by deciding, once and for all, that all blame is a

waste of time. No one will ever think less of you for standing up and

saying, “I’m responsible for that.” Ownership turns you into a “force of

nature.” George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, philosopher, and co-

founder of the London School of Economics, described the power of

ownership when he said, “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a

purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature

instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining

that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”


3 Connect with those you serve.

Managers manage. Leaders connect. If you want to be a transformational

leader, you will need to connect. You connect by being committed to

bring value to those you depend on and those who depend on you. You

connect by being committed to serve those around you. You connect

when you listen, when you call people by their name, when you sincerely

show interest, when you treat people like people, not like a number.

You connect when you bring the best out in others, when you create a

safe place to take risks, when you are present. Make it a point to learn to

connect. You can’t – and won’t – lead without this capacity.

4 Connect with your voice.

You strengthen your leadership presence, your capacity to influence,

when you connect with your voice, and when you inspire others to find

theirs. Voice has to do with your passion, your unique gifts and talents,

your personal vision, your values, your commitment to serve. How often

have you been at work and realized that some vital part of you didn’t

come with you? What happens to your soul when your voice does not

find itself in what you are doing? Connection to your voice, to your

authentic essence, gets to the heart of engagement. Connection to your

voice gets you to true influence.


5 Seek Personal Transformation.

You cannot guide others where you have not been. You earn credibility

as a transformational leader by investing and engaging in your own

transformational journey.

Ways to set up transformational opportunities:

a) Set out on adventures. What adventures (either

internal or external) have you embarked on lately?

What have you done recently to put yourself in the

position of a “novice?” Where have you traveled to

unfamiliar territory?


b) Embrace challenges. People of strong character

find a special attractiveness in difficulty, since it is

only by coming to terms with difficulty that they can

realize their potential. Seek to find the opportunities

in all challenges. Victims and entitlement mind-sets

never inspire anyone.

c) Embrace the darker side(s) of your nature.

What worries you? What makes you anxious?

What upsets you? What gives you a strong negative

emotional reaction? Name it. Claim it. Learn from it.

Experience what you are avoiding. And… appreciate

your fullness beyond the darkness.


d) Make room for reflection and stillness. Make

time for daily solitude, silence, and the space to

attend to the voice within. Spend time in nature.

Create a sanctuary in your life. Take a sabbatical - a

time to step away and reflect - on a consistent basis:

annually, weekly, daily.

e) Build a community around you. Who leads you

to your authentic voice? Who supports you? Who

holds you accountable? How would you describe

your community?

f) Be willing to stand alone. Leadership means being

willing to stand apart in order to impart. You can’t

lead by being part of the crowd. Leadership is, at

times, lonely. If you haven’t felt lonely as a leader,

you haven’t gone far enough in your development.


We’re as passionate about personal development as we are about leadership

development, because we know that being a better person makes you a

better leader. Leadership is about inspiring others to be the best they can be.

Leadership is a commitment to fulfill your natural, authentic potential. People

will follow you when they are inspired by your realness and sincerity, by your

genuine caring, your competence, and by your character. This all adds up to

authentic presence. When you work on your presence, you prepare yourself to

be a credible leader. It’s a life-long journey.

Leadership is about inspiring othersto be the best they can be.


We began by asking what it means to be a leader and where you get your

power as a leader. We challenged you to examine why people should follow

you and what you are doing to be credible as a leader. After observing and

researching leaders for more than a quarter century, we have found that your

ability to lead does not necessarily come from pristine clarity about your

answers to these questions, but by your willingness to wrestle with the answers

in the spirit of inquiry, and in the acceptance of being uncertain. Your capacity

to influence and inspire others does not come from an illusion of certainty, but

from the depth of humility. Not knowing is being human, and vulnerability,

an expression of being human, is what gives a leader a degree of credibility.

By seeking substance, depth, and strength of character through the struggle of

uncertainty, your very presence becomes an attraction. Leadership then shifts

from being a destination to be achieved to a life to be embraced. It’s a journey,

not an endpoint.


If you need any support on the journey, regardless of your

title, we’d love to hear from you. Please visit:

davidirvine.com

© 2013 by David Irvine. Permission to reprint and circulate is granted.

http://davidirvine.com

of a leader - david irvine · the making of a leader | 6 5 after you get to people’s hearts, you...

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