Page 239 - The extraordinary leader

216 • The Extraordinary Leader

How Individuals Improve Themselves

In the book Results-Based Leadership, 14 suggestions are made regarding the
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way people can improve their leadership outcomes or results. In this book, we
are focused on developing the attributes and skills of the leader. Following are
25 suggestions for ways in which leaders can improve the attributes or behav-
iors that are vital in producing those results. The key thing to remember is that
improvement you make on any one dimension spills over to many others.
There is no such thing as working on only one leadership quality or attribute.
When you improve one, you will invariably be improving several others.
1. Decide to become a great leader
This is actually two decisions. First, most people do not think of “leadership”
in the same terms as other roles in life. At a young age a person may aspire to
become a physician, a lawyer, a molecular biologist, an astronaut, or a rock
star, but chances are you have never heard of someone saying, “I want to grow
up to be a leader.” We think of leadership as an adjunct or frosting on some
other role. Someday that may change. For people inside organizations, how-
ever, the first decision is to see that being a leader in an organization is impor-
tant and worthy of your continued effort.
The second decision is to be exceptional rather than just mediocre at this
role of leadership. This is the decision to go way beyond the ordinary or aver-
age and make a huge difference in the organization.
One positive element of this decision is the fact that it is not a zero-sum
game. Becoming a great leader is something everyone can aspire to, and one
person’s effectiveness in no way detracts from others’ success. In this game,
everyone can win and one person’s winning actually helps others to win. To
become a highly effective leader requires a real dedication to that task and a
willingness to act with the intensity and focus.
2. Develop and display high personal character
The leader walks a difficult line between two seemingly opposing forces.
First, the leader must be willing to take the role of leader. That means call-
ing the meeting to order, pushing the agenda along, drawing some people
out, and toning others down. It means saying “no” to a budget request that
can’t be funded. It also means having to terminate a long-time friend who is
not performing effectively. Being a leader means being willing to take charge
and make certain that the group performs well.
We have observed a newly appointed dean in a university who wanted to
maintain close ties with former colleagues on the faculty and, in fact, did not