|
|
|
|
LEADERSHIP FROM WITHIN
Conversations On The Leading Edge Of Knowledge and Discovery With Dr. Jeffrey Mishlove COPYRIGHT (C) 1998 THINKING ALLOWED PRODUCTIONS Reprinted with permission from Thinking Allowed Productions
MISHLOVE: It seems to me also that there is a balance that one has to maintain in any position, between maintaining the status quo, between getting the routine jobs done that need to be done, and at the same time challenging the status quo. KOUZES: And none of this ever suggests that we don't need people who manage well. Ideally, and this is a clumsy word, but we need both manager-leaders and leader-managers. The ideal world would suggest we need people who are good at both, because there are times when we want to maintain stability. While chaos be ever present around us, we also need some calm within it, some place for peace and relaxation, some time with our families, some times to personally relax and deal with the stress of the challenges that we're facing -- a shoulder to cry on, somebody who can make sure that the rules of the game are adhered to and people aren't unethical. We need those kinds of systems to create ease of communication, make it possible to get things done in an efficient manner, in a productive way. We need all of that, but we also, and particularly in these chaotic, changing times, need someone who's willing to say, "You know, the way we did it last year is not necessarily the way we ought to be doing it this year or next year or the year after that. Our direction is veering away from the destination we ought to be headed." Or, "The situation has changed; the wind is blowing from a different direction. We need to tack, we need to move." And leadership is required at those times. MISHLOVE: You know, we often think of leadership with adjectives, like tough-minded leadership, strong leadership. You've suggested in your book that one of the most fundamental qualities of leaders is love. It almost feels a little funny to be dressed here in suits and ties, and talking about love. KOUZES: Talking about love. There are some wonderful stories, and one of the things that was most intriguing to us was how frequently people would say, "Well, I love what I do." We would kind of dismiss it, and people would say, "Well, I really love these people," and we would dismiss it for exactly what you're saying -- this is a person in a coat and a tie talking about love, and we thought they were using it not literally but metaphorically. And in fact the more we heard it, the more we paid attention to it. I remember reading a quote from Vince Lombardi, of all people, who talked about that love and compassion are what make organizations strong. He said, "I not like everybody I work with, but I love them." He says, "Love is mental toughness." And here is a football coach of the Green Bay Packers talking about it. And then we hear a story from General John Stanford -- a general in the United States Army, two tours in Vietnam, helicopter pilot, weight lifter, can swim the Bay on the coldest of days. And he says, "The secret to success in life is staying in love." We had to pay attention when people were talking like that. Leadership is not an affair of the head. It's not something you do by thinking about it hard. You do it from the heart, and when your heart is in your business and your business is in your heart, when your heart is with your family or your community or the people who work there, then you get extraordinary things done. When it's a mental exercise, then it doesn't have the compassion. Leadership is about emotion -- living, breathing, bleeding human beings. And when we're with living, breathing, bleeding human beings, love is absolutely required if we're expecting extraordinary results. MISHLOVE: That's quite a powerful statement. I feel very touched. KOUZES: It touched us. It's the kind of thing that we didn't expect, but the most unexpected are the most joyous parts of the discovery, in this whole journey with the five hundred people that we interviewed, and the several thousand that we since surveyed. END Part Three
End Part II. Join us next month for Part IV of this interview
with James Kouzes.
|
  
   |
|
TMI US 8270 West Charleston Blvd Las Vegas, Nevada 89117 tel: 702 939-1800
Website designed by |
Previous
"Dolphin Relationship Lagoon" pages:
