I am a serious fan of the magazine, “Fast Company”. Its one of the best out there. There is a fantastic new book that is a selection of their choice of the top articles from the last ten years of the magazine. Highly, highly recommended. “Fast Company’s Greatest Hits: Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business” (get it amazon.com or kalahari.net).
The first article is entitled, “Everything I Thought I Knew About Leadership Is Wrong”, by Mort Meyerson. Here are some important insights about leadership (pg 12 & 13):
“In a world where the lines between companies, industries, and even nations get blurred, a leader builds an effective organisation around values and work style. And the leader learnt to define success in business as both producing financial strength and a generating team of people who support and nurture each other.”
“So what is my job as a leader? The essence of leadership today is to make sure that the organisation knows itself. There are certain durable principles that underlie an organisation. The leader should embody those values. They’re fundamental. But they have nothing to do with business strategy, tactics, or market share. They have to do with human relationships and the obligation of the organisation to its individual members and its customers.”
“The second job of the leader is to pick the right people to be part of the organisation and to create an environment with those people can succeed. That means encouraging others to help develop the strategy and grow the philosophy of the company. It means more collaboration and teamwork among people at every level of the company.” It means being a coach rather than an executive.
“The third job of the leader is to be accessible. I want to be open to people in a broad range of their experiences in life if they need it, and I want to be accessible for two-way communication that’s honest, open, and direct.”
Lessons in Leadership: Perot Systems
