LEADERS WITHOUT A LABEL

How does it feel when someone calls your name?

Depends on the name right? What if you like the name you’re being called like ‘geniuses or ‘natural leader’ How about when the name is not so flattering to you? Names like ‘idiot’ or ‘minion.’

The truth is we are all labelled overtly, covertly, formally or informally. Leaders however, must be very careful in how employees are labeled and how they are treated after the labeling occurs. 

What comes to your mind when you think of a leader? Probably a person who is bold, self-assured, and charismatic or has some of the other characteristics commonly associated with high-profile, successful leaders.  While self-understanding and personal development are important goals, there is a big problem with this approach. No one has ever figured out how people might go about acquiring a new trait, or whether attempts to develop such traits actually lead to more successful outcomes for individuals or their organizations. 

When you reach that point, you find yourself able to excel and create opportunities and to focus on what you can do, as opposed to what you can’t do. You create more opportunities and build momentum for constructive growth. You are able to reinvent yourself every day and organize your life around the world, instead of just allowing the world to organize itself around you. You are leading instead of being led. You are willingly expanding your horizons and becoming flexible enough to continue to grow.

THE LEADER STEREOTYPE

Substituting this label, ‘executive,’ for ‘manager’ or ‘leader’ might help us to internalize the understanding that everyone across an organization has the choice to engage in both types of behaviors: managing and leading. Manager, of course, is the companion stereotype to leader. When I ask students to describe managers, they produce another oversimplification, of a relatively boring person who meets targets and stays busy with tasks at hand. This manager has no grand ideas or visions. This manager will not disrupt the status quo.

In reality, there is nothing innate and fixed about the qualities that make someone good at leading. The behaviors involved can be learned, honed, and encouraged through practice.

When we use the word “leader” as a label, we do ourselves and others a disservice. There is substantial evidence that categorizing people creates biases in how they are perceived and distorts evaluation of their performance.

You may consider yourself a leader because you have big ambitions and grand ideas. You are unhappy with the status quo and are determined to do something about it. Once you label yourself a leader, you may discount the importance of your making this quarter’s numbers or neglect your important relationships. And if you do that, you may soon find you lack the capacity you need to engage in those leadership-type behaviors that create a different future.

USE ‘LEADERSHIP’ AS A VERB

To move past the limitations of our stereotypes, I suggest we start by adopting the more appropriate term: Executive. An executive is anyone who is responsible for actions and decisions that contribute to the performance capacity of his organization. In fact, a person does not need to manage people in order to be considered an executive. Substituting this label, “executive,” for “manager” or “leader” might help us to internalize the understanding that everyone across an organization has the choice to engage in both types of behaviors: managing and leading.

Then understand that leadership is a behavior and involves a choice. You will achieve more success if you embrace a more contemporary understanding of management and leadership as behavioral choices, not personality traits. Recognize that what matters is not whether you fit into some leadership suit of clothes or match up to some template of a leader personality. What matters is how you choose to behave. And unlike traits, our behaviors form the basis for skills, and skills benefit from practice.

LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE

Leaders always tell their followers if they want to change someone’s behavior, they should try to change the person’s situation, not the person. Executives have less control over others’ personality attributes than they do over various outside factors, such as rewards, peers, physical space, and so on and it shows the excellence and maturity of leaders globally.

The challenge for modern executives is to keep those situations in mind that may require behavior often associated with leadership, such as making difficult choices, taking risks, and tuning out naysayers. Other situations, however, may call for behaviors that maintain the status quo or execute a long-term plan, behavior that will earn you credibility, trust, and support of people whose trust and support you may need when you decide to make a different choice at a more critical situation.

Leaders encourage you to explore different cultures and their experiences to help you understand that everyone has had their own challenges and issues. You see that the process for growth and transformation are the same for everyone, and hard work, sacrifice, talent and self-motivation are the tools for the future.

You start by taking more control of your life and becoming more accountable to yourself. When you attain this, you will be self-owned, and that’s an achievement you can always savor because you earned it through your hard work and unique talents.