|
 Leadership
is more than just a science. It's an art as well. The art of leadership
varies from leader to leader: Some leaders take a cold and analytical
approach to things; while others are aggressively emotional. Different
situations call for different kinds of leadership. While mergers
require a sensitive negotiator at the helm, it takes a more authoritarian
leadership style to effect turnarounds.
Most effective and successful leaders, however,
have one thing in common: they all have a high degree of emotional
intelligence (EQ). This does not imply that intelligence quotient
(IQ) or technical skills are irrelevant to leadership. IQ and technical
skills are the entry-level requirements for executive positions,
while EQ is an essential quality for effective leadership.
Successful leaders offer a strong vision of
where they want their organisations to go in the future. More than
that, they are capable of getting their people to trust them and
harness their energies towards the attainment of that vision. A
leader's vision should have the power to be able to infuse all levels
of an organisation with positive energy and motivate employees towards
its successful execution.
A leader's analytical skills also have to be
at the same time directional because that is what imparts momentum
to an organisation. Leaders provide vision, purpose, and goal definition.
Directional skills help leaders recognise the need for change and
identify the right time and approach to the change.
It is also important for a leader to perform
preventive maintenance on the organisation from time to time. Do
not believe in the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it." The people who do, go broke.
|
