The Essence of Leadership

According to the late Peter Drucker, leadership is all about delivering results. The nature of these results may vary from one organisation to the next, but all organisations exist to bring about some form of desired result. As a leader, you have been charged with the challenge of delivering those results that truly matter within your organisation. And not just any result, but something extraordinary—something that pushes and passes the boundaries of normality. Drucker’s incisive insight into the nature of leadership can be quite empowering. As a leader, you have many demands on your time. If you are clear about the results you want to achieve, you can focus your efforts and limited time on those activities that contribute the most to delivering results.

Yet, while Drucker’s view provides focus, it fails to differentiate between a star individual and a great leader. To be effective at work, both staff and their leaders need to be focused on achieving the best results that they can. The best player on a team does not always make the best captain or coach. Why? Because leaders are concerned with delivering results through the impact they have on the attitudes and actions of others. Your success as a leader is all about your impact on those you lead. Understanding that leadership is all about impact is central to enhancing your leadership effectiveness. The central question becomes, “How can I have more of an impact on others?”

Leadership defined

“Leaders should not be judged by what they do personally but by what those around them are doing.”
—Dr Ian Fitzwater

Common reactions when we first introduce this idea to executives and managers are, “but I can’t control what others do…but I work with idiots…but why should my hard-earned pay be docked for the laziness and incompetence of others?” We do not actually advocate linking your pay to the behaviour of your staff and colleagues, but it is a useful hypothetical exercise to imagine what you would do differently if it were. You do not always have the power to hand-pick your staff, enforce compliance or fire troublemakers. Yet this does not absolve you from your core duty to deliver the results you are paid to bring about. While you may not have absolute control, you have more power to shape the actions and attitudes of others than you realise. A great leader is like a master chef charged with producing a delicious dish from a preset list of ingredients. Your job, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt, is to

” do what you can, with what you have.”