IT Value Stack

Great Leaders & Stewardship

I am in full agreement with Phil's sentiments in respect of what makes a great leader. The leaders we read about in the press are by nature attention seekers. The model being that the leader espouses the values of the organisation they head. They are media savvy and getting positive column inches is part of the remit. Some CxOs fall into the belief that they are celebrities and so become more focused on the external nature of their role than the internal leadership elements. Possibly the king makers need to rethink the job specification in respect of 'leader as media magnet'.

The reporting requirements of most big organisations encourages a 'results by quarter end' mindset. Not only does this discourage strategic thinking it encourages the CEO to focus on 'quick wins' in terms of company performance. He or she is thus more likely to trade the needs of their people for the needs of the shareholders. Some might argue that this is rightly so. But it is a high risk approach, particularly if such an approach leads to key staff exiting the organisation (shortly followed by the so called leader).

For me stewardship is thinking beyond one's own ego. To be quietly focused on initiatives today that will benefit the organisation in the future, perhaps beyond their tenure. A subsequent leader will enjoy the benefits of this effort. But a true leader knows that and takes quiet satisfaction regardless of who takes the glory.

Decide whether to decide

'Three ways to make great decision's' highlights three simple ways to improve decision making. Their apparent simplicity however belies their complexity.  'Interpret information' is nothing less than knowledge management, one of the greatest challenges facing service based organisations across the planet. One's ability to interpret information determines what value one yield's from that information. Where decisions involve more than one person, perhaps a corporation, the interpretation challenge grows exponentially.

'Know your options' - again a knowledge management issue. Do you have access to the knowledge resident in your colleague's heads (perhaps globally distributed) to build a complete picture of your options? The same being true for 'Know your negotiables and non-negotiables'.

I would add a fourth point ' Decide whether to decide'. Often the pressures of business and life cause us to treat our responsibilities as a 'to do' list to work through. Smart people recognise when focused procrastination is the best course of action. A delayed response often has the benefit of recency value in respect of new information coming to light.

Those that make the best decisions(including the decision not to decide) win in both life and business. As more decisions involve  highly intermeshed globally distributed communities decision making becomes a boardroom challenge.