CHAPTER 1

No Hiding Place for Leaders

KEY TOPICS

* The key responsibilities and accountabilities of leaders

* The pressures on leaders

* Leading in turbulent times

Leading Is Tough

If you believe what you read in the multitude of books on leadership, then youwill know just how hard it is to be a good leader. The list below is by no meansexhaustive of the qualities and skills that, according to these books, arerequired to be a good leader, but it serves to demonstrate the complex anddiverse nature of a role that can at times seem overwhelming. Apparently, beinga good leader requires you to:

• Be a good communicator

• Have a clear vision

• Be a meticulous planner

• Make the right decisions

• Be self-assured

• Be a good people manager

• Instill belief

• Be inspiring

• See the big picture

• Be intellectually astute

• Show passion

• Be a mentor

• Have a high tolerance for stress and pressure

• Be a good listener

• Know the relevant detail

• Problem solve

• Remain calm in the face of adversity

• Be optimistic

• Know your people's names

• Have a high level of emotional intelligence

• Be a team player

• Learn from your mistakes

• Care about your people

• Be innovative

• Show empathy

• Be visible

• Let people make mistakes

• Balance the short and long term

• Address underperformance

• Command loyalty from your people

• Empower people

• Handle conflict

• Deliver the strategy

• Recognize good performance

• Delegate

• Recruit good people around you

• Be a good negotiator

• Ensure change

• Tell it like it is

• Be determined

• Have integrity

• Take risks

• Trust people

• Have charisma

• Be a good influencer

• Involve people in decisions

• Coach

• Be your own person

• Seek feedback

• Be able to give bad news

• Set goals

• Build team spirit

• Know what drives your people

• Make people accountable

• Role model the organization's values

• Set high expectations

• Deliver the results

And, by the way, while you are working hard to focus on and do all these thingswell, don't forget to achieve a good work-life balance!

No Hiding Place for Leaders

I know from my experiences of working with senior executives that being a leadercan be tough. Leaders are hired and fired based on their ability, or lack of it,to inspire their people to deliver the performance demanded by key stakeholders.There is no place for leaders to hide when the stakes are this high. At the mostfundamental level, as shown in Figure 1.1, their job is to establish aclear vision for the organization, business unit, or team they lead; theirpeople want to know where their leader intends to take them. Next,leaders need to formulate a strategy and plan so their people know howthe vision will be achieved and what is expected of them. The vision, strategy,and plan must then be communicated to the people who are being asked to deliverit. This is the point where leaders must exhibit a level of logic that isbulletproof if they are to secure their people's buy-in and engagement. Incommunicating the vision and strategy, leaders must also show genuine emotion,oozing a passion that will inspire everyone to follow. This whole process meansthey will be highly visible and vulnerable.

Many of the senior leaders I have worked with are so exposed that they sometimesfeel isolated and lonely. Everyone wants to be their friend. In fact, they haveso many "friends" that they are sometimes unable to identify who their truefriends and allies are.

Such visibility can weigh very heavily on the shoulders of leaders. Theexpectations of their people and of themselves can be enormous, to the extentthey may secretly wonder if they are up to it. Behind closed doors, I have beentold by a number of senior executives, "Graham, I'm waiting to be found out" or"Graham, I'm wondering how I got to this position; I don't feel comfortable init."

Take Ted, for example, who was the managing director of a retail company. Thecompany had enjoyed year-on-year steady growth in a niche retail market for sometime. Spotting the potential to grow into a wider market, a venture capitalistinvested heavily in the company. For Ted, the managing director role now becamea different proposition: he had to answer to new stakeholders who demandedsubstantial and rapid growth. He was responsible for establishing the newvision, formulating the strategy and plan, and then inspiring his people todeliver the goods. There was no hiding place for Ted....