I've been studying leadership for over 35 years. It's interesting that many of the principles I learned in my leadership infancy are now being trotted out as new philosophy. Interestingly, the Greek author Xenophon, writing about the leadership of Cyrus, King of Persia in the 6th century BC (who humbly referred to himself as King of the World) espoused some of the same philosophies. The basic fundamentals of leadership are not that difficult; however, their application can vary greatly. I like to see the great comments and discussions on various forums, but I'm bothered by the prevalence of a few questions that just won't go away.

Here are five of the more common ones I see repeatedly with brief comments which are admittedly sometimes a little snarky.

1. What's the difference between a leader and a manager?

It's pretty simple really. A leader is someone who leads. A manager is someone who manages. Actually, this is one of the most dangerous leadership questions I see because many times the "expert's" answers perpetuate the myth that leaders only occupy executive level positions. In fact, if other people rely on you for direction or support, you're in a leadership position. What we ought to be asking is, what's the difference between good leadership and bad leadership.

2. Can women be as effective as men in leadership positions?

I've seen multiple versions of this but they all lead me to the same answer.

STOP ASKING THIS QUESTION!

There are good women leaders and bad women leaders just as there are good men leaders and bad men leaders. The more we keep beating this male-female drum the more this silly conflict will continue. Here's an idea. How about evaluating each person on their individual merits on not on whether or not they wear a bra.

3. Can you describe X (leadership, planning, strategy, etc) in one word?

No.

But I can describe the question in one word. Absurd.

We live in a world that seems to have the collective attention span of a gnat. Everything has to be expressed in very short and catchy sound bites or people won't hear or read it. The problem is, issues relating to good leadership are not sound bites. We are attracted to simple at the expense of comprehensive. Good leadership isn't complex but does require a little more thought than a single word.

A similar question is…

4. What's the one quality a leader must possess?

The ability to avoid getting sucked in by silly questions like this.

There's nothing wrong with determining what your top few values are. In fact I highly recommend it. But one good quality does not a leader make. Just like I mentioned above, we tend to get focused on one thing at the exclusion of all else. That's bad.

5. How do I motivate my people?

You don't.

It's amazing how many leaders still don't get this. You cannot motivate people. You can change their behavior and perhaps gain short term performance increase, but you can't motivate them. What you can do is provide opportunities for them to realize the motivation they already have.

Please don't misunderstand. I encourage questions and discussion about leadership. In fact, they are essential in the processes of discovering what will work best for each of us. Let's just keep the discussion to a higher level.

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I Learned About Leadership From That!

None of us are truly born with the ability to lead. Some may have more of the qualities that make great leaders, but most often great leadership develops from watching and learning from others. Here is a leadership lesson that I learned.

AUTHORITY OR COOPERATION

The National Guard is an amazing organization made up of truly fantastic people. But, for anyone used to a normal organizational hierarchy, the Guard can be a bit confusing.

Whether a military or civilian organization, (and the Guard is sort of both) a headquarters is usually known as the place from where direction and edicts emanate. I was quickly to learn that wasn't the case for the Guard because their "headquarters" has no direct authority over the individual Guard units. Every single unit person I worked with seemed to have a congressman or senator on speed dial and they weren't at all hesitant about explaining they worked for their state's governor and didn't have to answer to the headquarters. Up to that time my leadership experience had been entirely military so this required a significant shift in my thinking. I had to quickly learn two very important concepts.

1. Even if it's a benefit to them, people will reject your input if they think it threatens their position or authority.

2. Most people care less about your authority than they do about how you can help them.

Applying those concepts allowed us to accomplish good things, but the lesson went deeper than that. When I moved on to other positions where I really did have authority I found the same concepts applied: I was more successful, and more importantly the organization was more successful when we worked together. Even when I found it necessary to issue directives, those directives were more effective when they came from a collaboration of those who would be affected.

Since that time I've been in leadership positions with many organizations, both in and out of government. Even though there are still a few places where command and control leadership may seem appropriate, an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust, and cooperation will usually make it unnecessary.

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