Page 99 - The extraordinary leader

76 • The Extraordinary Leader

Our objective again is to find the simplicity that lies just beyond the neces-
sary complexity. We hope that by separating out the kinds of change that dif-
ferent leaders must bring about, and by separating them out by stage, we can
begin to discover that wonderful simplicity that lies just beyond complexity.

How These Five Elements of the Model Interrelate
with Each Other
As we have noted earlier, much of past thinking about leadership has been
the quest to find out, “Is the key to leadership having high integrity, or is it
ambition? Is it developing trust in people, or is it being a good problem
solver?” We hope that the reader will be permanently disabused of this think-
ing and will cease to view leadership in “or” terms, but will instead think about
it in “and” terms. We will attempt to describe why these leadership elements
logically go together and why development efforts in one area is like flooding
the pond and lifting all boats at the same time.

1. Character is at the heart of our model, and everything radiates out
from it. It ties strongly to Interpersonal Skills. A person of questionable
character is not usually effective interpersonally. In eyeball-to-eyeball
conversations, you cannot help seeing inside the other person. We
recoil from phonies. We do not enjoy being with toadies who butter
up people in authority and abuse everyone else. Most people avoid
those who are arrogant or condescending. Relationships with such
people are distant and strained. If someone has broken her word to us,
we deal with her in a cautious and tentative way. The link between
Character and Interpersonal Skills is an extremely strong bond. So is
the link between self-development (personal character) and
developing others (interpersonal skills). It is also clear that the ability
to inspire and motivate others is strongly linked to how people
perceive the integrity of the leader.
We return to the question, “If leaders can be made, then how do
you make them?” The linkage between character and interpersonal
skills is a good example. Social psychologists confirm that the easiest
way to change people’s character, as expressed via their attitudes, is by
getting them to behave in a new way. People make their attitudes
conform to their behavior.