Page 70 - The extraordinary leader

Great Leaders Make a Great Difference • 47

The research is clear regarding the impact of leadership on desirable out-
comes. Good leaders are substantially more effective than bad leaders, but
great leaders make a great difference.

The Proper Measure of “Greatness”
For the sake of convenience, we have selected “great” leaders by examining
the top 10 percent from a population of leaders from well-respected organi-
zations. However, we are the first to acknowledge that this is merely for con-
venience. The proper measure is against an objective standard, and there is
no reason why an organization could not have 90 percent of its first-level man-
agers or supervisors who were great, versus the arbitrary 10 percent that we
analyzed.
Indeed, our definition could probably be reverse engineered. When you
could identify a leader who produced

● High productivity
● Low turnover
● High customer satisfaction
● High profitability
● Innovation
● Positive relationships with suppliers

then you could, by definition, say this was an extremely effective leader.
Effective leadership is best defined and measured by the results produced, not
by simply taking a certain number from the top of a distribution.

The Organization’s Objective

The more “great” leaders an organization can develop, the stronger it will be.
This is true for multiple reasons, but some of those are the following:

● The contribution these leaders make to the units they manage
● The example or role model they set for the entire organization
● The cumulative impact their performance has in creating an entirely
new culture for the organization
● The elevated standard of performance that is set within the organization