Exemplary leadership (2)

Last time we began looking at exemplary leadership. We saw that in life leadership is a critical issue. Far too many things depend on leadership. The consequences of leadership is always far reaching. We saw the fact that the exemplary model of leadership is the best. The exemplary leader is a leader who is worthy of imitation. He serves as a model. He is an example. He is a model not just in his words, instructions and directives but in his motives, intentions, actions and private life.

A leader worth his salt must be worthy of imitation. One of the problems we see these days are leaders who portray a different image in public to what they are in private. We have seen leaders promise heaven and earth to be voted into an office and on getting there either fall short or fail all together. The cases of moral failure of leaders are twelve for a penny.

A leader should be able to tell others under his influence to follow his example… he must be exemplary. It is not pride or over-estimation of oneself for a leader to ask his followers to follow his example.

An exemplary leader:

1. Has people following him (influence);
2. Is “followable” (model);
3. Knows where he is going (vision);
4. Knows how to get to the destination (strategy).

These four issues constitute the core of exemplary leader’s operational guidelines. The absence of or any deficiency of any of these issues is bound to adversely affect the leader’s output and longevity.

Most of the time emphasis is placed on vision and strategy at the expense of influence and modeling. The undue emphasis has produced leaders who are addicted to “results” at all cost by whatever means. The exemplary leader does not live by the end justifies the means but by ensuring the means and the end are justifiably executed.

One critical factor that determines the quality of a leader’s followers/influence and how long the people will be willing to follow him is trust and integrity.

Integrity is a critical leadership quality which is a foundational block to building leadership trust.

“The first job of any leader is to inspire trust. Trust is confidence born of two dimensions: character and competence. Character includes your integrity, motive, and intent with people. Competence includes your capabilities, skills, results, and track record. Both dimensions are vital.

With the increasing focus on ethics in our society, the character side of trust is fast becoming the price of entry in the new global economy. However, the differentiating and often ignored side of trust — competence — is equally essential. You might think a person is sincere, even honest, but you won’t trust that person fully if he or she doesn’t get results. And the opposite is true. A person might have great skills and talents and a good track record, but if he or she is not honest, you’re not going to trust that person either.” Stephen Covey

To be continued

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