Leaders

These leaders lead by pulling rather than by pushing; by inspiring rather than by ordering; by creating achievable, though challenging, expectations and rewarding progress toward them rather than by manipulating; by enabling people to use their own initiative and experiences rather than by denying or constraining their experiences and actions.

The leader is the major instrument an organization has for articulating its dreams, pointing the way toward their achievement and helping people work together effectively to create brighter futures.

This is perhaps the most damaging myth of all. As we have stressed with monotonous regularity, leadership is not so much the exercise of power itself as the empowerment of others. Leaders are able to translate intentions into reality by aligning the energies of the organization behind an attractive goal.

The leader’s primary responsibility is to serve as trustee and architect of the organization’s future, building the foundations for its continued success.

Certainly, few leaders will be able to survive without being able to create and sustain organizational cultures in which new technologies are embraced and implemented quickly—time after time.

In the new global, multicultural workplace where employees have different languages, values and loyalties, this may well challenge leaders to new heights of interpersonal sensitivity, understanding and commitment to the best that human diversity has to offer.

Since no organization can possibly be all things to all people, the leader will be constantly challenged to forge major alliances and partnerships with others to achieve mutual goals

They created a network of information that would not otherwise have been available.
They periodically forced operating managers to extend their time horizons and see their work in a larger framework.

They systematically taught managers about the future so they could better intuitively calibrate their short-term or interim decisions.
They often created an attitude about and a comfort factor concerning the future; that is, managers felt less uncertain about the future and consequently were more willing to make commitments that extended beyond short time horizons

They required vigorous communications about goals, strategic issues and resource allocations.