The subtle art of good leadership

The subtle art of good leadership

By Jonathan Duffy
BBC News Online

How not to do it: Strong-arming is no longer acceptable

When you say jump, do people jump? Or do their feet stay rooted to the floor? With Leadership Week upon us, it may be time to hone your skills.

You only need a passing interest in politics to realise sometimes a leader's lot is not a happy one.

Take Tony Blair, for example. Much mocked for being a slave to opinion polls, the British prime minister has gone out on a limb over Iraq. How has he been rewarded for this effort to lead? With a thumping revolt in Parliament and the scorn of ordinary voters.

It's no better for his opponent, Iain Duncan Smith. The Westminster air is thick with talk of plots to depose him.

But you don't have to be a politician to be a leader. The call for leadership is heard in all walks of life and after the caring-sharing 1990s, it's said leadership is back in vogue. These are five qualities you may wish to consider.

1. Have strong purpose
Leadership is about influence, not strong-arming. But while you don't have to be a hulking figure to be a good leader, you must have a robust belief in what you are doing.

Leadership is the ability to influence what goes on in a social system

Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology

Gandhi is a good example in this case, says Ian Lawson, who is in charge of Leadership Week at the Work Foundation. "He was a small man, insignificant looking, who preached passive resistance.

"But he also had a very high level of self-belief and a very strong sense of purpose."

His view that "we must be the change we wish to see in others" is a statement of leadership by example.

But consistency of vision is not to be confused with decisiveness. "You can have a leader who makes decisions and keeps changing direction by making other decisions. That just confuses the followers," says Mr Lawson.

2. Delegate
He may have been the embodiment of evil, but a new BBC series starting next week argues that Hitler's initial success was down to his willingness to delegate.

Obviously, the delegation tactic has its limits

Hitler was "work-shy" and believed in working no more than two hours a day, says historian Andrew Roberts, who presents the Secrets of Leadership series.

His trick was to appear charismatic while leaving his skilled underlings to do the hard graft. So when it came to invading France in 1940, Hitler gave the green light to his general, Erich von Manstein, who had a smart plan to by-pass French defences and cut through the unprotected Ardennes forest instead.

Although Hitler's laziness wouldn't win him any plaudits among modern-day leadership gurus, the point of delegation is that a leader can spend more time thinking about the bigger picture.

3. Get stuck in
While delegation is crucial, "it can be extremely inspiring and motivating seeing a leader roll up their sleeves and getting stuck in on the shop floor," says Mr Lawson, "even if the practical impact is actually quite small".

Be prepared to get your hands dirty

A leader's ability to do the job he or she is overseeing is not crucial, but it is important at least to understand what that role demands.

The trend for job swapping, where a white-collar worker trades places with one of his blue-collar colleagues for a day, is underpinned by the theory that the best way to learn about a job is give it a go.

McDonald's hamburger chain is a champion of this approach - every autumn 1,500 office-based managers go back to the floor to flip burgers and man the tills.

4. Find your feminine side
In current leadership theory, women have the upper hand. The Work Foundation identified 38 individual key behaviours of a good leader. Thousands of employees were then asked how their bosses matched these.

In a time of turmoil, Giuliani's leadership was widely praised

In all but one of the categories, staff rated their women bosses higher.

Sometimes called "emotionally intelligent" leadership, it seems the skills people respond to today are those such as listening, creativity, passion and vision. Former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, is credited with good emotional leadership in the aftermath of the 11 September terrorist attacks, by quelling the anxiety of local people.

According to American leadership guru Daniel Goleman: "He was in touch with his feelings - and our feelings."

5. Get spiritual
Publishers are falling over themselves to re-interpret the writings of spiritual leaders in a self-help context.

Jesus CEO is one of the biggest sellers of recent years, but it seems Buddhism has a definite edge in this sort of philosophy, especially anything with the words Tao or Zen in the summary text.

Top titles include the Book of Five Rings, by a 16th Century samurai swordsman, Sun Tzu and the Art of War, and the rather less cryptically titled The Way of the Samurai for Millennium Executives.

"Know the ways of a variety of occupations," is just one of the nuggets of wisdom contained in the latter. Tony Blair, IDS, are your reading?