Where are the Leaders? The Everyday Leaders! – Part 2

I am sorry that some of you out there do not know of Alvin York or even Audie Murphy. Those of my generation grew up reading about them in our history books. They were leaders of the first order. Their actions inspired others around them and those that heard of them, to undertake actions that they would normally let pass. But, maybe not just let pass; they would not even consider. Look them up. Wikipedia has decent short pages on each; it doesn’t take long.

 

SGT Alvin C York

 

2LT Audie L Murphy

Let’s get back to what I started to say yesterday: skills versus talent. Skills are traits that can be taught in some fashion or another: seminars, role playing, and revolving positions come to mind as good methods of developing skills. Talent, you can not teach. You can have a hand in developing it, just don’t try to teach it. Talent is a factor of the environment where the individual develops.

How do you test for leadership? This is hard to answer. You can put candidates in situations, challenge them with tasks under some pretty difficult conditions and evaluate results. But, if you haven’t discovered the difference between skills and talent; how do you determine who passes the leadership quiz? Some need the challenge of stress, some need the challenge of thought, and still some need the challenge persistence.

Skills, especially skills honed over a sufficient period of time, will allow the trained to out perform the true leader sometimes. I have been in situations where groups have been tested, you know like in the ropes course layout; and having experienced some of these layouts many times, the answer comes too easy. This is an unfair situation to those without the experience or opportunity.

So, in the short space and time we have here; how do you test leadership. If you are a hiring manager looking for a leader for one of your subordinate units, departments or divisions; how do you go about selecting someone to fill that position? Will you settle for the best you have and try to develop over time. This is often the mistake that managers make. Even more often, they do not posses the leadership talent to do the development themselves. A bad situation all around!

Even worse, if you have to go outside the organization to find a leader; how can you tell that he or she actually posses the talent to do the job? This is a real conundrum that faces many executives today.

Think about the opportunities that will present themselves over the next two to five years. Assuming a ramp up post economic recession and the retirement of hordes of baby boomers leaving the workforce; how will management fill the coming opportunities with true leaders?

This is where we will go next.

Where are the Leaders? The Everyday Leaders!

How do you get to be a leader? Are you a leader already? Are you a leader or just a manager? Maybe you aren’t either, but wanna be! So, how do you get there?

You can’t train to be a Leader; but you can be trained to be a manager or supervisor. Leaders are products of their environment, not of some training school or academy. People can be trained in specific skills and behaviors; but leadership is a talent. Talent is the development of the environment and surroundings that have formed certain qualifications over a number of years and experiences.

Some leaders are easy to spot; you just can’t miss them. Then there is the leader who pops up outta nowhere. He//she wasn’t a leader before being forced into being one. The talent was always there; maybe simmering just under the surface. Military history gives us the two best examples: SGT Alvin York, and 2LT Audie L. Murphy. No one would have ever taken either of the first two to be the leader they demonstrated that they were until the exact right set of circumstances called them out. They then lead. Both were recommended for and awarded the Medal of Honor. Each also was the most decorated individual of their respective conflicts (WWI & WWII).

Recently in Afghanistan, SSG Salvatore A. Giunta, a team leader within his unit also met the right set of circumstances and SSG Giunta responded. He did what he had to do.

Products of their environment?

So, who out there is a leader. There has to be some around. Every leader isn’t in uniform—they exist in everyday life also. In the everyday world that most of us play our daily game in, it can be hard to tell a leader from those that aren’t. Oh yes, there are the CEOs, presidents, directors and the such of the organizations we each earn our daily bread from; but just because they have that title, it doesn’t necessarily make them a leader.

Look around and give it some thought. Where are the leaders of today?