Page 40 - The extraordinary leader

Demystifying Leadership • 17

Insight 5. Great Leadership Consists of Possessing Several
“Building Blocks” of Capabilities, Each Complementing
the Others

We have described the “building blocks” of:

● Character
● Personal capabilities
● Focus on results
● Interpersonal skills
● Leading organizational change

Each of these consists of several fairly distinct competencies or sets of
behaviors. These are described in some detail later in the book, but a key
insight is that possessing only one of them is not likely to have you perceived
as an effective leader. In fact, leaders possessing one competency as a strength
at the 90th percentile would not be rated at the 90th percentile in terms of
overall leadership effectiveness. Chapter 3 elaborates on this concept.

Insight 6. Leadership Culminates in Championing Change

The highest expression of leadership involves change, and the highest order
of change is guiding an organization through a new strategic direction, chang-
ing its culture, or changing the fundamental business model. Thus, change
is an important and ultimate criterion by which to measure leadership effec-
tiveness. Chapter 3 discusses this.

Insight 7. All Competencies Are Not Equal. Some
Differentiate Good from Great Leaders,Whereas
Others Do Not
There has been an enormous amount of money spent, mostly by large cor-
porations, to define competencies. The implication of these lists has often
been that all of these were of equal importance and that the wise manager
would devote time to being good at all of them.
Our research, on the contrary, suggests that some competencies tower
above others, and which ones are most important often depends on the