CAN LEADERSHIP BE TAUGHT?
Dr. Goldmeier was teaching international students in Tel Aviv, a Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard, and manages an investment firm. His book Healthcare Insights: Better Care, Better Business is available on Amazon.
Everyone
I speak with is aghast or depressed with today’s shirty, self-absorbed,
national political leaders across the globe. People yearn for sparkling and
inspiring leaders who once lit the horizons seeding hope. Can leadership be
taught? What are the differences between a great manager and a leader?
Carly
Fiorina speaking at Stanford defined a manager as someone who sees things as
they are and organizes to make operations effective and efficient. A leader has
a vision and sees things as they ought to be. And then there are provocative
leaders personified by Robert F. Kennedy who “See things as they are and ask
why. I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.” I find inspiring
leaders are able to instill ardor among the people with their “Follow Me”
clarion call. It is the title of a new book by IDF Brigadier General Gal Hirsch
(Gefen Publishing House, 2020).
Leaders
may be great managers or they hire them. Jack Welch, former CEO of General
Electric. Welch built GE from a company making light bulbs into a multinational
conglomerate. “Neutron Jack” didn’t hesitate to fire employees in cost-cutting
times. Characterizations of him are not always flattering; he was hard-hearted
and relentless in pushing for growth and maximizing shareholder returns. But
Welch, Hirsch, and other leaders share the commitment underpinning their
success that leadership is all about managing people first-and-foremost.
Leaders
reflecting on their careers evangelize with lists. Welch repeatedly told young
leaders to speak with candor and be insatiably curious. Warren Buffett, The
Oracle of Omaha, lists six qualities of leaders; he also advises them to “read
500 pages a day” because a key ingredient of leadership is knowledge and
knowledge must be built over time. It is knowledge that helps limiting
mistakes.
Gen.
Hirsch argues leaders succeed by first “not making mistakes, and…doing things
right.” But that requires friction; without learning, initiative, and taking
calculated risks, or “there is no progress, no change.” Leaders do not commit
to maintaining harmony. Hirsch lists 18 qualities leaders must hone.
I’ve
learned from my four decades in business and more than two decades in
government that leaders instinctively know their first task is to articulate
and sell their vision to shareholders, corporate employees, or military
personnel. Keep it simple. For Bill Gates, it is a laptop on every desk. Hirsch
makes the point that leaders must always have “one foot in the future (but it)
is arduous…one of the various prices a leader must pay.”
Hirsch
offers nascent leaders 18 qualities that must be translated into skills to
motivate people. And then, “Never forget
to be grateful and to express your gratitude.” Hirsch movingly pays homage to
his former commanding officer. Hirsch uses verbs to introduce each of the 18,
e.g., “Find Your Inner Voice;” Cultivate, Demonstrate, Adopt, Envision,
Inspire, Prepare, and so on.
Leaders
recognize the power of words. Share-prices rise and plummet on the words of
CEOs. Writes Hirsch, “The entire soul of a nation can be galvanized and set in
motion by words uttered by a leader during a moving speech.” “I have a
dream,” jubilantly rejoiced Dr. King. The soldier in Hirsch gets him to remind
the reader that Proverbs 18:21 warns leaders, “The tongue has the power of life
and death.”
The
omnipresent angst, anguish, discomfort, and skepticism we feel today are
exacerbated by the lack of positive leadership qualities among elected
officials and those trying to unseat them. All are more akin to what lovers are
to pornography than leaders to citizens. Except for fringe-element acolytes who
is willing to “Follow Me?”
There
is no unity in the war on the novel coronavirus; no common faith in science and
medicine. Perhaps the cause lies in the failure of national officials to
internalize Hirsch’s 18th commandment to “Display Humility and Reverence.” I
suggest putting Hirsch’s “Follow Me” atop the 500-page everyday readings.
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