from the heart of the team

There exists a paradigm that the decision to be a leader does not lie within yourself, but essentially with your colleagues or team members who will decide if they want to follow you, and if so, they will most likely follow you due to the respect your actions command.

Quite a compelling statement, and yet not many people understand the concept of being a true leader and the practice of effective leadership.

The key to your leadership approach lies in Maya Angelou’s comment when she stated that: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

From the numerous studies on ‘Leadership’ it is evident that this subject matter is difficult to define, often misunderstood and frequently practised in an incorrect manner. Viewpoints on leadership are as many as the stars in the sky. I would like to think our angle on the theme is like a shooting star. In ‘Conversations with Chris’, Chris shares his theory on the soul-searching journey of ‘finding one’s inner voice’ in ones quest in becoming an authentic leader.

I’ll leave you with these eloquent words from our own Madiba, “I always remember the axiom: a leader...is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realising that all along they are being directed from behind.”

Green Greetings
Louise

conversations with chris

Becoming an Authentic Leader

It has taken us quite a long time to distinguish between Management and Leadership. The job of any manager mainly focuses on adding value to the work environment by helping others accomplish their tasks. The four functions of management are planning, organising, leading and controlling.

The above clearly gives the impression that management can be effective if one follows the prescribed recipe. I am of the opinion that this is what sells MBA programs. There’s clearly nothing authentic about a recipe.

With more than 1000 studies attempting to define leadership styles over the past 50 years, we find ourselves in an ever-increasing search to arrive at the profile of the ideal leader. According to George, et al. (2007:99) this could be seen as our saving grace; with a cookie-cutter model of leadership we would have created individuals forever trying to imitate; turning into personae; not authentic individuals. The crisp sound of the term “authentic” clearly indicates that we have entered into the world of Post-Modern leadership where the focus shifts from a predictable replica to unpredictable and unique individuals.

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