Commonsense Leadership

Preface

Who are you today and who do you want to be tomorrow? This is a question that you need to answer every day for both your professional and personal life. Even though leadership is the focus of this book, it is virtually impossible to be a leader until you conduct a thorough self-examination. Instead of having others define you with the theoretical stuff of leadership books or seminars, you need to define yourself.

Looking at most leadership guides today, it's easy to get so obsessed with counting things that we lose track of commonsense answers. What are the seven habits of leaders? What are the 14 tips for winning? I don't know the answer to either question. Structured theories like these rob people of their identifying characteristics. You must use a commonsense approach to every day, both professionally and personally, to determine who you are and what works for you.

If you want to be a leader, first define what a leader does and how a leader is defined by colleagues. We typically define leaders by position or title, but this is misguided. I think that the majority of CEOs, CFOs, COOs, and chairpersons are not leaders. They are coaches and managers who create environments in which leaders can lead.

Leaders are most often team members, and some of them are even reluctant to lead. They lead through performance. Remember the old adage “What you do speaks so loudly people can't hear what you say.” The most effective leaders understand this and lead by example. Others try ...