Leadership A Dialog on Understanding and Application

1. LeadershipA Dialog on Understanding and Application Kelvin K. Droegemeier University of Oklahoma NCAR Undergraduate Leadership Workshop 9 June 2014

2. We’re Bombarded with Material on Leadership but do we Really Understand It?

3. What Does the Word “Leadership” Mean to You? Do You See Yourself as a Leader? If so, in What Ways? What Individuals Have Been Important Leaders in Your Life? Why?

4. Leadership: Searching for a Definition

5. Leadership: Searching for a Definition

6. Leadership: Searching for a Definition • Powerful/influential • Intelligent • Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal • Effectuate positive change • People of high values/standards/ethics – role models • Well known/famous – leave a legacy • Operate with a mixture of formal and informal authority

7. But What Makes Them Leaders? • Money? • Pedigree/education? • Beliefs? • Actions? • Personalities? • Looks? • Connections? • Work ethic? • Chance?

8. "Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." - Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf

9. Leadership: Searching for a Definition

10. Leadership: Searching for a Definition • Powerful/influential • Intelligent • Mobilize people and resources to work toward a common goal • Effectuate positive change • Role models • People of high values/standards/ethics • Well known/famous • Operate exclusively with formal authority, usually by coercion

11. What Other Adjectives Work? • Demagogue • Dictator • Madman • Control Freak • Other….?

12. According to Webster… • Leadership is the position, office, or term of a leader • A leader is one who • Directs • Guides • Is in command • Has influence

13. That’s Sort of a Useless Working Definition! • It ignores values/ethics • It does not describe the work of leadership • It does not distinguish between a shift worker at a restaurant and 4-star general!

14. Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership is inexorably tied to values, morality, and ethics

15. Key Facts About Leadership • We shape our values early in life, and thereafter our values shape us • Respect cannot be demanded, it must be earned – by giving it away.

16. Do You Buy This?? • Look at how long these people have been in power or the influence they have! • Do you think they ultimately will succeed?

17. What Does History Tell Us?

18. Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership seeks positive outcomes to benefit others – a servant viewpoint

19. The Servant Leader - Humility • Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less

20. “We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

21. Key Facts About Leadership • Leadership is called forth by crisis and challenge and helps shape it, but is not produced by it

22. LIFE: Is Difficult!!LEADERSHIP: Is Difficult!! • “This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

23. What is our Response? • “…[we] moan…about the enormity of [our] problems…as if life should be easy. [We] voice [our] belief…that [our] difficulties represent a unique kind of affliction...visited upon [our] families, tribe, class, nation, race, or species…and not on others.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

24. A Dose of Reality • More than 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day • 6 million children under the age of five die each year from malnutrition • More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day; 300 million are children • More than 40% of the world’s population does not have basic sanitation or access to clean water

25. The Good News • …It is in this whole process of meeting and solving problems that life has its meaning. Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.” - Scott Peck (The Road Less Traveled)

26. Leadership • In a nutshell, that’s what leaders do – they solve problems • But they do so in a way fundamentally different than what you might imagine

27. Two Words that Often are Confused: Leadership and Management • Leadership and Management are very different, though some confuse them as being nearly synonymous • Few people are effective leaders and managers

28. Leadership and Management • Management • is about coping with complexity • brings order and consistency out of potential chaos • applies knownsolutions andstrategies

29. “Leader” of a Baseball Team??

30. Leadership and Management • Leadership • is about coping with or planningchange, especially if it’s sudden

31. The Generals Managed Our Troops into Battle???

32. "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." - Stephen R. Covey

33. "Management is doing things right…Leadership is doing the right things." - Peter Drucker

34. Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal • Management • Creating a plan • Defining steps • Establishing astructure • Allocating resources • Executing the plan • Controlling situations and solving problems

35. Leadership and Management: Parallel but Not Equal • Leadership • Developing a visionand setting direction • Defining strategies • Aligning, motivating,and inspiring people • Testing reality • Delegating work

36. The Reality of Vision • The crucial feature of visions is that they must serve the interests of the constituency

37. Important Facts • Management controls people by pushing them in the right direction • Leadership motivates people by drawing them in a way that satisfies the basic human needs for • achievement • recognition • self-esteem • a sense of belonging

38. Are You a Leader?? • The role of the leader is to take people on journeys where they’ve not been before • By definition, you don’t know how to get there!!! • “Never walk the traveled path because it only leads you where the others have been” (Alexander Graham Bell) • Leaders hate, and instinctively challenge, the status quo!

39. Are You a Leader?? • You know you’re a leader if you… • feel you can do things better, and know how to do them better, without offending those in authority • are comfortable being challenged • are comfortable with being under authority • are comfortable with crediting other people for things you helped accomplish • How many of these fit you?

40. Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

41. Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

42. Producing Useful Change • Problems -- when circumstances do not conform to the way we think things ought to be • Two solutions • Apply a known technical fix (management) • Develop solutions that previously were unknown (leadership) – known as adaptive change

43. Examples • Someone doesn’t show up for work

44. Examples • Terrorism threat in the United States

45. Major Tenants of Leadership • Leadership involves coping with or producing useful change in response to challenges, problems or opportunities • Leadership can be exercised with or without formal authority

46. Leading With Formal Authority • Conferred in exchange for protection, direction, conflict control • Based on a set of expectations or a job description • Essentially a formal contract – it can be revoked or walked away from • Pros and cons • Breadth and completeness of information • Must operate within specific bounds • Must operate at a distance from the front lines

47. Leading With Formal Authority

48. Leading With Informal Authority • Based upon trust, reputation, civility, admiration, creativity and availability • It can never be revoked, though the trust relationship can be broken and the reputation damaged • This is the most powerful type of authority • Can deviate from norms of decision making • Can focus on hard issues • Can get closer to the experiences of the stakeholders down in the trenches, where relationships are developed

49. Leading With Informal Authority

50. Authority is ALWAYS Present • If you don’t learn to lead “under,” you’ll have few opportunities to lead “over.” • You cannot have authority unless you are under authority (formal or informal) • President (Constitution, Courts) • Policemen/policewomen (Laws) • Professors (Chairs, Deans) • Students (Professors) • Children (Parents)