Random Thoughts on Leadership

Man will continually aspire, seek, discern, define, and redefine leadership as long as he is a social being and so long as he dwells in a tribe or community of men. Leadership is one of the fundamental needs of man and society. It provides the direction and cohesion of the purpose of a community or an organization. Leadership concepts and thoughts are traced as devolution from different military leadership doctrines. The military as an organization of men is the oldest organized group of people designed for a definite purpose, governed by cadenced movement, and ruled by commands.

Forging of defined purpose, cadenced movements, and compliance to command is simplified in the Art of War’s Lesson of the Concubines. It is related that Sun Tzu acceded to the challenge by a warlord to train women into soldiers. Sun Tzu designated two of the favorite concubines of the warlord to be the group leaders and directed them to perform a simple exercise. He thoroughly explained what and how the simple exercise must be done. On the first try, the group failed to perform the simple exercise because everybody was giggling and nobody took the instructions seriously. Sun Tzu had the group leaders beheaded when the group failed to perform the simple exercise on the second try despite the warlord’s pleas for his favorite concubines. The group performed according to the instructions thereafter. Readily gleaned from these are four leadership factors:

            1. The leader must have a clear understanding of the purpose of his organization. Sun Tzu clearly knew what he was commissioned to do but the favorite concubines did not and so is the warlord who commissioned Sun Tzu;

            2. The leader must be competent to steer his organization in the performance of its task. Sense of Responsibility and Clarity of Purpose is concomitant attributes of competence. The favorite concubines failed to grasp these attributes;  

            3. The leader is accountable for the outcome of his organization. Sun Tzu performed the task that he was commissioned for. The warlord that commissioned Sun Tzu and the favorite concubines endured the consequences of failing to grasp the onus; and,

            4. The leader must be decisive. Decisions are crafted to attain the designated purpose. The warlord commissioned Sun Tzu to train fighting women and Sun Tzu made decisions for the attainment of the designated purpose.     

Leadership is simple. It twists, turns, and becomes a bit complicated because man is a dynamic being and man is the core of leadership. In contemporary times, a generic military definition of leadership or a derivative of which goes this way;

  ‘Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization.’  

Distinguishable in the contemporary definition of military leadership from the Lesson of the Concubines are;

            1. The contemporary definition utilized the phrase ‘… process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation…’. It demands that the leader must gain his people’s trust, conviction, and willing obedience. The leader must be able to rally his people toward a common purpose and direction. The rallying point or cause is impacted upon by its correctness or congruence with the people’s aspirations.

Correctness usually refers to the ethical and legal duty to rally to the designated cause;

            2. The attainment of the mission or purpose, as in the Lesson of the Concubine, must always be the ultimate end. The contemporary definition further considers the dynamic environment and the necessity for continuous organizational improvements. It deems that an organization must not be designed as a one-mission throwaway. It requires that the organization must continuously attain what it is created for; and,

            3. The contemporary definition recognizes the dynamism of man, his environment, and the impact of these factors on the attainment of the missions.

It is believed that a person may be academically and/or technically proficient to steer a group of people to perform a specific chore or task within a given time frame and specific cost and yet he may not be a leader. 

Influencing people requires more than academic and/or technical proficiency. Influencing people demands character, intellectual capacity, and physical as well as ethical confidence. Leadership imparts values, develops ethos, and strengthens empathy. 

As the oft-repeated saying goes, effective leadership is ensuring that people have the competence to believe in themselves and the strength of the idea that there is no unattainable objective. 

Note: This article was previously published in our printed issue of The Corporate, Guide and Style for Professionals Magazine.