At some level, I am tired of talking about leadership, and am sure many leaders are sick of reading about it. This is an extremely over-talked about subject. I retired from doing speeches about leadership in general some years ago (I leave it to John Maxwell), but I do still talk about leadership as it pertains to technology. The reason for this is I am intrigued about the narrow slice of leadership that concerns technology because it has exploded in its impact on organizations. This translates in the fact that the leadership of those organizations has the potential to prosper or die based on how well they lead on the subject of digital.
The phrase “Dead Leaders Walking” is one that we use at FPOV to describe someone who has a leadership title, but in truth, barely have the ability to manage people. These are the paper tigers that all of us run into from time to time. They are generally older, have years of experience, but are clueless about how to lead the young generation, or apply technology tools and concepts to get an advantage in the market. They have budget control, but little vision to spend it wisely. They have authority over the strategy, but just repeat last year’s tactics because they made money last year, so why mess with success. They are dangerous because they can take down a formerly successful organization slowly – not overnight so as to attract suspicion, but over five to ten years they will allow it to fallow.
We recently partnered with one of the best spoken word poets in the country to produce a video on Dead Leaders Walking. Check it out when you get a chance because it is a very interesting take on leadership by a young up and coming leader. I was struck by his views on the difference between management and leadership, because I am sure from his viewpoint, he really sees the difference.
I am much older than David and I have the opportunity to meet, and work with, hundreds of executives each year. I see transformational leaders, and paper tigers, and then many in between. What pains me the most is that the world sorely lacks for the transformational leaders, the ones who have a vision, and the courage to take a team with them to that vision. I am not sure that the world needs 1200 new books a year on leadership. What we really need is for leaders to get serious about the role they have been blessed with – the honor of guiding, inspiring, and pushing those they lead towards success at a mission.
In a technology infused world, that means having the following characteristics:
The willingness to invest the time and energy to learn about technology and the new concepts for applying it
The vision of how technology will change your marketplace, and then…
The courage to make investments proactively in building technology capabilities before others in your industry, and always get a good return on investment for your investments.
The strength of character to hold their team accountable for doing the right things with technology
The ability to assemble a great technology team to help build and maintain the tools needed
This is the formula, and I did not need to write a whole book to deliver it to you. Five things a modern transformational leader must be able to do. Lawyer, pastor, teacher, banker – CEO, general, candlestick maker, if you choose to be a leader and put the title on LinkedIn… then lead.