The notion of leadership is enjoying prominence in business. Like other popular topics it suffers from broad interpretation and careless misinterpretation. Just as we used to hear "you don't get it" with total quality, customer satisfaction, six sigma, outsourcing, branding, etc., we now have trouble with leadership. This is precisely because the concept of leadership has high perceived value and very low specific meaning. Let's try to fix that here.
The military have honed their definition of leadership over the centuries and may well be the most authoritative source for how individuals influence groups. For the last 50 years the U.S. Army has gathered up their best leadership ideas in The U.S. Army Leadership Field Manual (book or PDF 4.33MB). Excessively simplified, the premise comes down to this: "Be Know Do."
- Be refers to the leader's character and values.
- Know is the leader's competence in technical skills and people skills.
- Do is where the rubber meets the road: action. Good upbringing and good learning are useless if the leader doesn't act.
What's that spell? It means that the core principles of leadership are very straightforward. Maintain your integrity, know what you're doing, then do it. You're a leader. Of course, leadership is a lot messier than this. Some leaders are much better than others. 'Twas ever thus. But remember "Be Know Do" and you can be more effective with your group. Or lead a meaningful discussion the next time someone tells you that you don't get it. You also have the basis for the "thought leadership" proposal you're about to recommend to your company. If you hit the three points you'll advance your brand.
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