Leadership is a skill, not a set of ideas or a subject of study. It’s not enough to have good concepts or frameworks. You must have practice.
Leaders define a believable future.
Good leaders produce good followers.
Good leaders don’t just make judgments, exert power, have titles, or dominate people and resources. Leaders must take responsibility for how they treat their people.
Similarly, when leadership creates a picture of the future and inspires people to envision it together, people naturally fall in line. A “follower” is someone who shares a leader’s vision and dedication.
Leadership is generative: something we can see, do, and take to a new level. However, our culture does not regard talking and listening as generative.
The strength of conversation is dependent on listening. In addition, what the leader listens to is vital. Their listening in turn produces listening in others.
Leadership is an art.
The art of leadership is in the impact of presence and behavior. Several parts of listening and speaking skills constitute leadership.
Above all, commitment shapes human action. Visible conversational behaviors such as requests and promises result in action agreements.
Care provides these agreements meaning and worth. What we care about inspires ownership and dedication. Therefore, when leaders pay attention to people’s concerns they inspire others.
In addition, conversations inspire action and excellence. Leaders establish shared futures with others by sharing commitments, interpretations, behaviors, and stories. These stories have the ability to inspire positive emotion, dedication, and ambition.
We are all already leaders at some level. Our current leadership talents are revealed by how we relate to our future, others, our stories, and our commitments. We can take leadership to a new level by focusing on these characteristics of “what” leadership is. We may develop new skills and new abilities to imagine and explain a valuable future.
In addition, we can learn to connect to others’ caring and commitment. We can coordinate action, establish trust, and elevate our leadership.
Leadership has levels.
Leadership has levels and times for most people. The way we see the future and relate to it changes with each level of understanding.
The first level is the realm of the solo performer. They want to improve their results and performance. Top performers typically struggle in management jobs since the skills and conversations of a manager are different than those of top performer. Moving from performer to manager requires leadership.
In addition, performer, manager, and executive levels and skills vary. Those who grasp the role of manager or team leader learn to make commitments. They do this based on the actions of others, not simply their own. They are accountable for promises they cannot fulfill alone.
Instead of doing more or refining present achievements, the next level of leadership is to create new value and new outcomes. This is the executive function.
This is the level of imaginative thinking and value creation. It’s a challenge to establish new frameworks for value generation, invent new games, innovate, and develop new strategies for the future.
The opportunity here is to re-imagine the frameworks in which value might be created, rather than just creating new value.
Our culture lacks practice in these dialogues, making this a difficult change. Most managers are focused on output, not redefining the future. Invention and innovation dialogues may be talked about and practiced. This, therefore, allows leaders and companies to improve their value creation skills.
Leadership levels are based on larger impact.
There is a level of leadership that looks to grow other leaders and establish whole cultures of value creation. There is also a degree of leadership where a radical new vision is realized.
In addition, historical innovation leadership focuses on changing the cultural flow of common sense to create new possibilities from a new perspective.
These leadership levels are all founded on how we observe our world, listen and connect with others.
In addition, it comes out of our ability to see and explain new possible futures, and engage in discussions that inspire commitment, caring, and shared ownership. Transitions from one level of leadership to another each share the challenge of fresh learning, new conversations, new practices, and new talents.
The tendency to rely on the skills and conveniences of the previous level can impede our progress to the next level.
Developing your leadership skills is a journey. This journey requires a map. We need a guide to leadership skills and views. We need practices in order to embody them. In addition, we need a roadmap of transitions to take our leadership to the next level.
In conclusion, each new level of leadership involves new knowledge and skills. A willingness to embark on an unfamiliar adventure with others helps you to succeed. Therefore, curiosity for new fields of action, and the confidence to face a new future are vital tools in this adventure.
