My Theory Of Leadership

My theory of Leader of Leadership

Courageous leadership

            My theory of leadership comes from my own observations of leaders in my life, and from my own experiences with being a leader. I call my theory courageous leadership theory, and as you might have guessed it has to do with courage. Courage has been called many things, some good, some not so good. It can be a herald virtue or it can be used as another word for stupidity. In my theory I chose to call it courageous leadership because I see courage as the ability to effectively deal with fear.  No man can be completely free from fear all of the time, even the greatest leaders had their fair share. I argue that to be a great leader and an effective leader one must learn to effectively deal with fear.

            Fear comes in many forms, it can be the fear of making a mistake, the fear of being caught, the fear of being thought less of by one’s peers, and even the fear that what one is doing is wrong. Whatever form fear comes in it has one underlying ability, it impedes clear and informed action. Fear cripples its host, taking away much of reason and vision, and replacing it with self-preservation. Its natural instinct is to hide, to cover, and to escape whatever is perceived to be a threat. I would argue that fear is the single greatest detriment to progress in a leader, and in the organization which he or she is leading. It can take a great leader and twist them into a selfish, and destructive leader. If fear goes unchecked it can demolish nations, companies, and worse cripple a man's soul to where he will not rise again.

            As I have studied leadership it seems to me that all the great leaders had many diverse traits. Somewhere charismatic, somewhere solemn, others where methodical, and some spontaneous. Some seemed made to lead, and others seemed unassuming.  None of these natural talents seemed to destine them for leadership. Traits or talent are innate, those are things you are born with, however skill or ability is something that is only gained through concerted effort and practice. As I studied more these leaders I found that each of them had gained one ability that others around them did not have. That was the ability to look into the face of their fear, and to deal with it effectively. To put it into its place and move forward for the good of their mission and the people with whom they serve. This may be God given, however I say that it is an ability, a skill which can be learned and practiced. A leader may possess every other trait and ability known to man, however except he learn to master his own fear, he will never have what it takes to be truly successful. Eventually he will fail, eventually he will give in to his fear, and that is when he will make the big mistakes. He will sacrifice the people around him, the mission, and his reputation to cover his fear.

            How does a leader gain the ability to overcome fear? That is the central question on mine, and hopefully your mind as you are reading. I would say the cure is faith, whether religious or not, faith is the key to overcoming fear. Faith is the essence of courage.  Faith is the ability to believe in what you don't have evidence for yet, however you hope will be. It’s the ability to believe in your mission, to believe in your people, and most importantly to believe in yourself. Now that might seem simple, however you put that faith to the test, and you’re in for a ride. Try believing in your people when they turn on you, try believing in yourself when you have failed time and again, and try believing in your mission when others tell you it’s false, and they claim to have evidence against it. The ability I am talking about, the crux of a great leader, is not some lofty optimism. I am talking about hard Knox belief in the face of uncertain times. This is what separates the great leaders from those who never make it. As MLK Jr said “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”  I argue that if a leader can develop the ability to believe, to have the hope for victory in-spite of the lack of evidence for it. Then that leader will have what it takes to lead his people and himself to accomplish whatever mission or task he is assigned. That takes real courage that requires the leader to go against the tide of uncertainty.

         I argue that an effective leader must learn to effectively deal with fear. He must have the courage to conjure up faith in his people, in himself, and in the mission at hand. Regardless of his traits, his other skills, and even his knowledge, if he cannot gain the ability to believe and courageously deal with his fear, he will never have what it takes to transcend himself and move on to great success.

Gender and Leadership

Something that has been on my mind lately concerning gender and leadership is how inconsistent it seems. I hear all of the statistics of men making more money than women. Stories of sexual harassment, and off comments toward women. Also I have heard a lot about women not being respected as leaders in the work place, you know the glass ceiling and the good old boys and all that. The funny thing is that for those of us guys who grew up with a mother, we know what kind of power and authority woman have. We love, and respect them as people of great knowledge and skill. Even to this day my mothers opinion holds more sway in my life than any other person (I am not yet married.) So the question I want to address in this post, is how is it that women hold so much sway in our lives out side of work, and then do not seem able to translate that power to gain authority in the work place.

The power shift in the work place I would argue comes from the fact that people have power in context. Power is something that is given by the people over whom the power is held. Usually because those under the authority  are dependent on those in power for something. Hence with your mother, you needed her for the necesities of life and for contiued love and support. However the  power women hold in the work place is diminished as we no longer need them in that role. I understand this is looking at a narrow aspect of one possible role a woman could have in our lives, however I believe it is very common.
Now we have traditionally given the entrepreneurial role to men, or the leadership roles to men, they usually end up on top of organizations. It is not customary for woman to have power in a business context. This is why I think they have not been given the advantage in the business, or leadership world.
On top of this I don't think most women are socialized to become leaders, or at least to embrace leadership rolls. So their idea of what it means to hold authority or power within a leadership role (especially in business) is not the same as another context in which they might find themselves. Hence they enter the world of leadership not equipped with what they would need. I have felt this within my own working experience.
The reason as to why I found the limits on women confounding was that I had not seen any overt or even subtle ill behaviors toward women in the work place. All I have witnessed are women who where not willing to lead. The women I have worked with often shirk the leadership responsibility or pass it on to others.
I am not at all saying that women are not capable, or that they shouldn't be leaders. I just think that more women need to consider themselves leaders, not only in their personal lives, but also in their professional lives. Being a leader is lonely and difficult, and if women want to be leaders, I think now is the time in history when they have the best opportunity.