Of Lighthouses And Leaders

Leadership is a critical aspect of success that involves inspiring and guiding individuals and teams to achieve their goals and reach their full potential. But what makes a great leader? In this article, we delve into the characteristics, skills, and strategies that effective leaders possess and explore the latest thinking and best practices in the field of leadership. Whether you’re a seasoned manager or just starting out, this article is your guide to becoming a more effective and impactful leader.

Leadership for many is about having people report to you, being the overall decision maker, and sitting at the top of an organogram in your organisation. This is more of a boss role to me. Leaders are a lot more complex than the example above. Leadership as a concept has gone through significant changes and is continuing to evolve as workplaces change.

Philosophically, leadership can be defined as a process of influencing and guiding individuals or groups towards a common goal or purpose all while promoting personal and collective growth and development.

Leaders are individuals who inspire and motivate their followers to achieve a common goal. They do so through their charisma, vision, and ability to communicate effectively. Leaders create a positive and inclusive work environment where employees feel valued and empowered. They focus on developing their employees’ skills and abilities, and are always looking for ways to improve their performance.

In contrast, bosses are individuals who hold a position of authority and use that power to direct and control their employees. They often rely on a top-down approach, making decisions without seeking input from their employees. Bosses may be concerned primarily with achieving results and meeting targets, rather than fostering a positive work environment.

Leading is not a role one is assigned to. It is more a duty that comes your way. Leaders do not point where to go. Instead, they are a light house, guiding you to safety and at the same time not steering the ship. Leadership in tech has evolved significantly, as has technology. We have seen the era of bosses being part of the server client era. The era of the boss seems to be fading away as we take to the cloud. The change in team structure allows for leadership to be an activity any team member can participate in.

My personal journey around leadership has had me rethink what it is, how it is used, what types of leadership are out there, why we fail at it, how we fail at it and when to stop leading. Leadership, for me, has, and continues to be, a philosophical topic and concept worth studying and experimenting with. There are several types of leaders, and most of them blend into more than one of the few examples listed below. A list that is not complete as there are so many styles of leadership.

1. Autocratic leaders: These leaders make decisions unilaterally and exercise control over their followers. They often have a top-down management style and expect obedience and compliance from their employees.

2. Transformational leaders: These leaders inspire and motivate their followers to achieve a common goal. They are charismatic and visionary and create a positive and inclusive work environment that fosters collaboration and creativity.

3. Laissez-faire leaders: These leaders provide minimal guidance or direction and allow their employees to work independently. This leadership style can lead to a lack of structure and accountability but may also foster innovation and creativity.

4. Servant leaders: These leaders prioritise the needs of their followers and strive to empower and support their employees. They are selfless and compassionate, and view leadership to serve others.

5. Transactional leaders: These leaders use a reward-and-punishment system to motivate their employees. They focus on achieving specific goals and objectives and expect their employees to adhere to established procedures and standards.

6. Charismatic leaders: These leaders have strong personalities and magnetic charm that inspire and motivate their followers. They are often visionary and confident and have a charismatic communication style.

Two schools of thought I love with thinking aloud leadership are:

1. Total ownership; leaders should be ready to own the faults of the teams they lead. Shielding them from the adverse consequences of failure, but not coddle them too much as there are valuable lessons from failure that should be experienced to make teams better.

2. Shared victories; history has always praised the generals that conquered such as Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Men who led their armies to conquering vast portions of the world. Victories should be shared with the whole team, as this builds strength within it. Words such as “we did” and not “I did” show this trait of leadership. Leaders need to find unique ways to show the value of their teams to feel part of the victory. This could be through allowing them lead, allowing them to challenge, showing them the impact, their work has at the final product or service the consumers get their hands on.

Evidently, leaders remind me of lighthouses. They share a philosophical resemblance in the way they guide and inspire individuals to find their way and reach their destination. Just as a lighthouse stands tall and shines its light, leaders also stand strong and radiate their influence, illuminating the path for others to follow. Both leaders and lighthouses serve as symbols of hope and stability, providing a beacon of light. They represent the idea that even in the darkest of times, there is always a guiding force to help us find our way. In this sense, leaders and lighthouses represent the human spirit, showing that even in the most challenging moments, we have the capacity to find the right path and reach our goals.

There is a common saying that people don’t leave a job; they leave their bosses. We should add to that and say people don’t stay for their bosses; they stay because of the leadership (lighthouses).

ARTICLE by KEVIN Namunwa