LEADERSHIP by Krista Osborne, CPP
What Is Your Leadership Brew? W
hatever your chosen profession, regardless of position, title, or rank, you have a unique “Leadership Brew.” Your leadership approach will inevitably be comprised of a lifetime of experiences—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Your approach will be built from bits and pieces of people you admire from your personal and professional life, who you happen to have resonating chemistry with, and how they inspired you or made you feel. Your Leadership Brew is also roasted with the core beliefs of who you are as a person. You cannot separate them from the blend, and they are vital to the recipe. I am one of the fortunate ones. I work for a company that is grounded in a clear mission, with guiding principles to fulfill that mission, and real-life culture that mirrors my own belief in the quality of the human interface. The Starbucks mission states: “To inspire and nurture the human spirit—one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. This is accomplished through principles of how we live that every day.” In my experience the most successful Leadership Brew has passion, consideration, respect, and dignity at its core. As leaders with that foundation, you naturally empower others to lead by connecting with them in a genuine and meaningful way. Throughout my career the most impactful Leadership Brews I have experienced have a few characteristics in common— flexibility, adaptability, consistent delivery, and finally unwavering demonstration of dignity, respect, and honesty. It’s personal.
Adapt
Human beings are fragile, yet resilient, and amazingly flexible. If presented with stressful conditions, depleted resources, and points of deprivation, we can still survive and, in some instances, thrive by adapting. Genuine, consistent leadership in times of transition or change becomes a pivotal point between success, failure, and traction despite times of uncertainty. Leadership structure and delivery is part of an individual’s psychosocial DNA and, by default, his or her Leadership Brew. Attempts to change basic leadership DNA structure often result in failure or dysfunction, much like abnormal chromosome structures within a cell. If a leader tries some minor adjustment to her style and is successful, those new techniques will be incorporated into her DNA. That adjustment can make her Leadership Brew much more impactful because she is willing to adapt. These adjustments are typically minor, yet better suit the current environment.
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March - April 2012
Ms. Osborne is currently international director of loss prevention and supply-chain safety for Starbucks Coffee Company. Prior to joining Starbucks, she spent eighteen years in law enforcement in Washington State. Osborne earned both Master’s and Doctorate degrees in administration and management from Columbia Pacific University. She is a member of ASIS International, sits on the steering committee for OSAC’s Pan-Asia Regional Council, graduated from the International Security Management Association’s advanced leadership course at Georgetown University, and earned a certificate in terrorism studies from the University of St. Andrews. Osborne can be reached at 206-318-4639 or kosborne@starbucks.com.
Be Consistent
Generally, an individuals’ leadership delivery will be surprisingly consistent regardless of situation or setting. Just like any other pattern of human behavior, veins of leadership run deep. We often come across those who attempt to emulate a variety of leadership styles that they have read about in the most current publication or witnessed themselves. Most often it seems the attempts at leadership shift through this type of experimentation are not successful, recognized easily by most.
The most successful Leadership Brew has passion, consideration, respect, and dignity at its core. As leaders with that foundation, you naturally empower others to lead by connecting with them in a genuine and meaningful way. A secondary, not necessarily positive, impact to an attempt to significantly modify your internal Leadership Brew is the further dilution of exactly what the leader’s core style, or unique brew consists of. This will be demonstrated by awkward, not genuine, exchanges with those who are to be the recipients of leadership.
Keep It Personal
The most effective leadership styles I have been exposed to have been reflective of who that leader is as a person and are extremely personal to that individual. The way they connect with others creates natural capillary action. People are drawn naturally to them without effort. Their direction and guidance looks and feels natural because it is a mirror of how they are inherently. Each one of us has the unique opportunity to create our own blend, our own unique Leadership Brew, by simply being who we are. Much like a great cup of coffee, you recognize the quality through sensation—the smell, the taste, the experience—at times hard to put into words and impossible to replicate. Soak in the aroma of your own Leadership Brew, and share it with the world.
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