Sponge Homer

Homer H. Hillis, Jr. sponges all kinds of information, business, political and trends. I've been seen on the Sally Jesse Rafeal show with noted trend spotter Faith Popcorn. My Blog will give you an over view of what I'm seeing and reflections on the same.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

My friend Dr. Phil Vardiman sent me this the other day:

LEADERSHIP & POWER

The problem with many organizations today is that they are over managed and under led. Managing means to bring about, to accomplish, and to have charge of. Leading is to influence, to guide in direction, course, action, and opinion.

Managers are people who do things right. Leaders are people who do the right things.

Manager’s activities consist of mastering routines. Leaders’ activities consist of using vision and judgment.

The perspective of all effective leaders is “vision-oriented.” They spend their time not on the “how to’s” but rather on “doing the right things.” These are people creating new ideas, new policies, and new methodologies. They are “creating dangerously,” not simply mastering basic routines.

Effective leaders first create visions of potential opportunities for their organizations. Then they direct and empower their employees to translate that vision into reality.

Power is the basic energy to initiate and sustain action, translating intention into reality. Power is the quality without which leaders cannot lead.

Perhaps the best way to explain it is to use an illustration: That of Lee Iacocca at Chrysler. He provided the leadership to transform a company from bankruptcy to success. He created a vision of success and mobilized large factions of key employees to align behind that vision. Almost exclusively because of Iacocca’s leadership, by 1983 Chrysler made a profit, boosted morale, and helped employees generate a sense of meaning in their work. He empowered them.

In fact, Iacocca’s style of leadership is central to organizational success. This concept of power is modeled on the Iacocca phenomenon: Power is the basic energy needed to initiate and sustain action or to put it another way, the capacity to translate intention into reality and sustain it. Leadership is, quite simply, the wise use of power.

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