Do You Have A Leadership Strategy?
Passion and serenity help leaders achieve their goals.
We love to believe that genius is a gift. We read stories about great leaders and their accomplishments. We talk about the characteristics that leaders have, as if they can be dissected, taught and learned. There certainly are benefits to start developing more leadership qualities, like presence. But do you have to fit a mold to be a leader? Or can you prepare for it differently?
When I took on a new role at a large financial services company, I participated in a training program for career transitions based on “The First 90 Days,” a book by Michael Watkins, who facilitated part of the program. His book walks you through 10 things to do to ramp up in your new role more quickly. These types of trainings are helpful. They are tactical — here’s what to do to be successful. They work because they provide a framework that you can use across a variety of scenarios to think about how to respond. But tactical trainings are generally managerial in nature — focusing on tasks and relationships.
So why isn’t there a playbook like this for leaders? There are at least a dozen different leadership theories and strategies — from autocratic leadership to servant leadership. Each of them provides different guidance on what a leader should be and do. Collectively, they may cover the gamut of…
