Page 263 - The extraordinary leader

240 • The Extraordinary Leader

Compounding the demographics is the fact that the requirements for
leaders continue to escalate. In a study by the former Andersen Consulting
organization (now Accenture) titled The Evolving Role of Executive Leader-
ship, researchers collected data from 75 respondents, worldwide, regarding
the skills required to function in a leadership role in the past, the present, and
those they believed necessary to function well in the future. One dramatic
result was that, across 14 dimensions they analyzed, the differences between
the skills required in the past, those demanded at present, and those believed
to be necessary in the future were statistically significant. In short, the
demands on our leaders are escalating sharply. 1

Adopt a Model of Leadership

We have made the case that leadership on the one hand has been an
extremely mysterious concept and on the other hand has been highly con-
troversial. We have presented a model of leadership that allows people to talk
about the various elements with more clarity. Whether the organization adopts
our model is less important than the fact that there is some way for people to
talk intelligently about leadership.
It is frustrating to have a great deal of rhetoric from senior executives about
the need for “leadership” on the part of other people but to leave the concept
ill-defined and nebulous. The consequence is that people are both confused
and frustrated because they do not know what is expected of them.
Many memorable phrases have been coined on the subject of leadership,
such as:

Managers do things right. Leaders do the right things.
—Warren Bennis
Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of
management says is possible.

—Colin Powell
However, these catchy phrases do not fully satisfy the person who sincerely
wants to become a better leader.
Part of an effective leadership development process should require partic-
ipants to write a short essay on what leadership means to them and how they
have put theory together into a practical, living document to guide their own
leadership practices.