"Leadership is not found in position; it is found in action and influence."

- Glen Martin and Gary MacIntosh in The Issachar Factor.

(In pdf format. Need Adobe Acrobat?)

Perhaps the cover of the December 2001 edition of the Harvard Business Review best sums up our belief about what makes a leader effective:

"Breakthrough Leadership - It's Personal: Why knowing yourself is the best strategy now."

Leaders of today are faced with many challenges, including globalization, a revolution in information technology, a transformation to a knowledge economy, and constant discontinuous change.

The top-down traditional nature of organizations that was in the past economically effective is increasingly being replaced by a more egalitarian structure. Consequently, productive and competitive organizations are now characterized by confident people performing as leaders at all levels.

The leaders of today and tomorrow must:

• Embrace change
• Be focused on the future and be secure and confident enough to guide their organization through the whitewater that is today's business environment.
• Understand how the business model is changing, have willingly let go of old behaviours and have embraced new ways of leading more effectively for the competitive organization of the 21st century.
• Be able to think strategically, be visionary, and have high integrity and respect for all colleagues.
• Operate with principles that include fairness, kindness, service, equity, honesty and trust.
• Be personally credible in habits, values, traits and competencies.
• Have perseverance and courage.
• Value the concept of lifelong learning and growing with the times and events.
• Have a commitment to self-knowledge.
• Live the values of the organization.
• Support humility, courage, impeccable honesty and empathy to the highest standard.
  

It is clear that organizations today, and in the future, require confident, secure, focused leaders. These individuals must be bold and courageous.

We believe that the behaviours of leaders are oftentimes a manifestation of their sense of self:

• How satisfied they are with life.
• How secure they are in where they are going - in life and at work.
• How congruent they are with their organization's vision and values.
• How confident they are in their business skills.
• How much they love their job.
• How balanced they are in life.
• How fulfilled they are at home.

It's different for everyone, but the essence is the same - is life a struggle, a joy, or somewhere in between? Those leaders who have accessed that fulfillment and self-awareness will be truly effective in leading organizations. Secure in themselves and their direction in life, they will handle the challenges they are faced with in today's turbulent environment. They will earn the respect of those around them. They will be content. They will not be afraid to speak up. And they will be truly exceptional organizational leaders and role models.

What we're talking about here is bringing the whole person into leadership. When individuals expand the way they see the world, they can handle complexity, ambiguity and conflict. They will be truly visionary, integrated, confident and selfless in their leadership.

What We Know About Exceptional Organizations