Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The discipline of doing. “Leadership is demonstrated at the moment of need. You learn to be a leader by acting, by doing” – Carlos Ghosn
Business expert and professor Peter Drucker was once quoted as saying, “You can either take action or you can hang back and hope for a miracle. Miracles are great, but they are so unpredictable.”
Drucker was saying that you must take action in order to make things happen. Doing is at the heart of leading.
Leaders often try to model themselves after their mentors or predecessors. They talk like them, walk like them, and sometimes they even try to think like them. At times, this may succeed.
However, real leadership is the being and doing.
Being is a very important element of a leader. It mandates that a leader has command of who they are and what they stand for.
Being also means that a leader has to be their authentic self. While a leader must have knowledge of personal mastery, a leader must also possess four critical skill sets:
The ability to see trends of the future or create new trends must be a part of the skill set of a leader if they are to lead successfully.
The skillset that enables a leader to do this is called Visioning. By definition, Visioning means “having an unusual competence in discernment, intelligent foresight, and the ability to see mental images produced by the imagination.”
A leader must be able to see into the future and decide which direction to lead the organization. They must see the future landscape of products, services, and human capital needs.
One of the most important questions a leader can ask themselves during the “Visioning” phase is, “WHAT IF.”
The “WHAT IF” question opens a leader to a world of infinite scenarios to ponder.
The ability to influence another person is paramount in the life of a leader.
Whether the influence is direct or indirect does not matter. What matters is a person has been influenced to act as the leader needs and wants them to act.
Influencing is having the ability to affect, induce or persuade one to do something or not do something. Leadership is Influencing.
Without the power to influence others and to see and follow the vision of an organization, a leader is nothing more than a lame duck.
Influencing, inspiring, and motivating are part of the daily task of a leader.
The creation of a great vision and the implementation of the vision means nothing with the ability to effectively implement the plan.
One of the fundamental skill sets of a leader is the ability to implement their vision. Implementation is making it happen.
Implementing means to put into effect according to process or procedure, to fulfill. If a leader cannot implement, they cannot be effective.
The most important component of leadership is the leader’s ability to EXECUTE.
As Ram Charan, co-author of the book Execution puts it, “Execution is the missing link between aspirations and results. Because it must be part of the company’s strategy and its goals, it is the most important job of any business leader.”
Charan goes on to say, “The absence of execution is the single biggest obstacle to success and the cause of most of the disappointments that are mistakenly attributed to other causes. When a company executes well, people are not brought to their knees by changes in the business environment.”
To be an effective leader, one must possess or learn the four skill sets mentioned in this article.
We can discuss how technology is rapidly changing the landscape. However it is effective leaders who have the capacity to practice Visioning, Influencing, Implementing, and most important of all, Executing.
It is always about people. People create Products, Processes, and Profits.
What is the Discipline of Doing?
If you have ideas about discipline that might be helpful to readers, share them in the comments section below. Thanks!
Would you like to contribute a post?