Business Quote - 2

This is the second of many Business Quotes that will appear over time on this blog: A Vision of Leadership. They will all be listed under the Business Quotes tab and appear every couple of weeks. The frequency is set to give you time to internalize each one before the next is published. Please follow or subscribe to this blog to get the latest updates. If you know of, or have a great business quote of your own please send it to me for inclusion.  Please include author or if it is your quote, include your complete name and contact if you want your name and organization published. When you use these quotes please give credit to the author.

Back to Business Quotes Tab >

Leadership

Leadership

What is Leadership? 

Leadership is a unique trait that only a few people possess.  Leaders are enablers.  They have the ability to see things other people don't.  They can see through mounds of unrelated data and see a path to success. They are looking at the big picture and want to help everyone achieve mutual success. They can 'read' people.  People want to follow them.  People want to learn from them.  People trust them.  They (the leaders) want to serve the organization and the people in the organization, not the other way around where poor leaders (not really leaders at all) think that the organization and people must serve the leader.

Good leadership in the 21st Century Company requires attitudes and behaviours that relate to humanity.  Of course leadership involves decisions and actions relating to all kinds of other things as well.  However it is unique in its special relationship to people - the people who follow leaders.  The leader is always serving these people and looking out for their welfare and the company's.  Leaders' followers trust and respect them (the leaders) rather than the skills they possess.  Skills are important but not the most important factor.

Leadership traits can be learned to make you a better manager - but only a few people actually possess the true innate ability to be leaders.  When you are going about your everyday work look for the people who seem to automatically become the team leader on any team they are assigned - they rarely possess any more skills related to the assigned task than most other team members.  So why are they chosen to or automatically assume leadership of the team?  Or  how about the person that you feel you can trust or that their organization seems to be always ahead-of-the-curve? Or the 'manager' who is more concerned with their people than with his/her standing in the organization? These are people in your organization that need to be sought out and moved into roles where they can feel comfortable helping people and the company succeed.  They are the visionaries.  They have a positive attitude that is infectious. They are the enables to success. They look for mentors that can guide them, not manage them.  They must enable, that is what they must do or they will move on to other companies where their rare talent may be used by your competitor to negatively affect the fortunes of your company.

Leadership is absolutely essential to the success of any company today!  There must be one or more leaders to lead the managers and every successful company will have, must have, one or more leaders in the C-suite.  A company led by managers will not be successful in the long term. Generation X and Y employees need managers with leadership skills and love to work for Leaders versus Managers.

Leading, Coaching, Praising - R. Hibbard

Lean?

What do you think of when you hear the word lean?  Lean muscle? Lean meat? Lean protein? Lean cuisine? Lean manufacturing? Lean leadership?  Since this is a blog about Visions of Leadership you should have thought of Lean Leadership. A lean body and lean leadership have a lot in common.  Like the guy pictured, this is how you should visualize your business - lean, muscular, agile, strong ethics, handsome.  This picture represents your customer's expectations of your business - value, stability, flexible, integrity, great image.

So let's look at how lean is being applied.

1. What is the meaning of the word lean?
2. What is meant by this term in business?
3. Why is it in use today?
4. Why associate it with leadership?

The word lean has a number of meanings.  It can refer to 'moving toward', as in she is leaning toward this candidate.  It can refer to something which is tilted, like a tree or building is leaning.  However in the case of business processes it seems to refer to thin, sparse, to-the-point, minimum, no waste, only what is needed, pure, like lean muscle!

The word lean would seem to take on the meaning - that only the essential elements are to be considered and utilized, that there is no waste, no fat in the approach to manufacturing processes or recently in terms of leadership.

It has become fashionable today ( and essential to stay competitive)  to think in terms of lean methods, or to adapt many of the processes pioneered in Japan to your business. The lean process used by Toyota Motor Company focused on the customers needs and desires, which in turn required a re-think of how things were manufactured to allow for more variety, lower cost, and fast changeovers. As with everything in life... overindulgence can produce unpredicted outcomes such as Toyota recently faced.  The focus on the customer must be maintained. As Toyota moved from total customer focus to a focus on becoming the largest car manufacturer in the world they missed the point.  By staying focused on the customer they would still have achieved the 'world title' it just may have taken a little longer.  Most car buyers want zero failure, stylish cars that meet their transportation and/or psychological needs. If you provide cars with the customer's need in mind better than any other car manufacturer you will become the the number one car manufacturing company. Toyota only went a little bit astray but it cost them billions to correct.

The lean concept has moved from the manufacturing process to the management/leadership process over the years due to the need for a new kind of leadership approach to business.  Lean manufacturing requires 'out-of-the-box' thinking to be successful.  It requires managers with special skills to see and effectively lead  a lean organization's ongoing changes needed to stay competitive. Lean in terms of leadership refers to a focus on the key elements of personnel styles, traits, and needs to effectively motivate personnel and maintain the focus on the company's goals.  It is a - 'just what is needed'; 'just enough'; 'at just the right time'; and  an 'agile and flexible' approach.  In other words a to-the-point, consistent, and supportive approach to leading.

Look for additional posts that provide more insight into each of the areas outlined here.  Follow this blog to obtain the latest posts on the subjects you need to incorporate lean into your business operations.