Ashley Goldsworthy
Indianapolis: Dog Ear Publishing, 2009. ISBN 9781598589795
This is a distinguished Australian's integration of two things: being a leader at the highest levels and being a professor of leadership at the country's first private university.
It is this combination of the practical and the theoretical that gives Ashley Goldsworthy's book its distinctive flavour.
He immediately puts his two key ideas on the table. The first sentence of the book declares that being a leader is "about getting people to do what you want them to do, even when they might be inclined to do otherwise". The third sentence declares his other key idea: "leadership is a process".
Twelve clearly written chapters spell out this two-step manifesto. There are chapters on the difference between leaders and managers, on vision, on power and influence, on communication and on motivation. In these chapters the practical is illuminated by the theoretical. In the other six, the recipe is changed and the theoretical is illuminated by the practical. These chapters are reflections on being in front, on being behind, on the situation, on strategic IQ, on leading change and on leadership in the 21st century. The book concludes with a firm plea for leading with integrity.
Because all the chapters are uniformly helpful and interesting, it is difficult to select a few for more detailed discussion. But perhaps the questions behind three that are more general than the rest should get a closer look.
First, what is the future of leadership? What may change and what may remain the same in the 21st century? It will still be a process rather than a position or a role or a set of characteristics. And it will still be about people. About getting them to do what a leader wants them to do, even when they might be inclined to do otherwise. And so it will still be about "encouraging, convincing, exhorting and motivating" them to do things they would not have done without a leader's intervention.
On the other hand, what will remain the same will be located in a changing environment. An environment in which "there will be far less concern with gender, religion, race or age" - leaders will have to have communication skills that can build and inspire multicultural and multinational teams - having effective communication skills will include knowing how to inspire people by using e-mail and video-conferences, as well as by using visualisations and simulations - the problem will not be the sheer volume of information, which will continue to increase exponentially - it will be not having technology driven tools for analysing, interpreting, synthesising and transforming that information into knowledge that can be used to do what must be done - an environment in which we still have to identify the problems leaders will have to deal with and the jobs for dealing with them have not yet been thought of!
Second, what does it mean to be in front? Goldsworthy begins his book with "a parable of the geese". It is about what happens in the V formation in which geese fly. It is an excellent summary of the chapter on what it means to be a leader. Being in the front is not a status position. It is hard work, because it means taking the buffeting of the wind. It is responsible work, because it means choosing the path the flock should follow. It requires intelligence, because it means knowing when to retire so that one's tiredness does not endanger the work that has to be done. And so, it means having an ego that is big enough and small enough. Big enough to step into a leadership position. Small enough to step down when one knows one has reached one's best-by date.
The chapter covers a point that is only hinted at in the parable. Leaders sometimes fail. More often than not "because they do not respond appropriately to a change in the situation". Either they do not recognise things have changed or they do not know how to respond to the change. Also worth reflecting on are Goldsworthy's examples of failure being a precursor to success. Two that stand out are Abraham Lincoln's two failures in business and six failures in state and national elections before becoming the President of the United States. The first children's book by Dr. Seuss - Theodor S. Geisel - was rejected by 23 publishers. The next one sold six million copies. In Winston Churchill's words: "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."
Third, what does it mean to be behind? To be a follower rather than a leader? Goldsworthy makes the interesting observation that good followers and good leaders have many of the same characteristics and skills. A difference that makes a difference is a different feeling for risk. Leaders like to feel it. Followers prefer to avoid it. Interestingly, good leaders need good followers more than good followers need good leaders. In other words, old-fashioned "can-do" managers are still as valuable as they are scarce.
So, what makes a good follower? As with leaders, integrity is not negotiable. Being street-smart is better than being book-smart. Best of all is a good combo of each. Good followers do not have to be driven. Instead, they sometimes have to be reined in: "They will take on extra work gladly, they will upgrade their skills and they do not have to be asked to solve problems."
Finally, an observation and a question that seldom find their way into books on leadership. Why do so few people aspire either to being leaders or to being followers? Goldsworthy notes that being a CEO - which is a status description - is not equivalent to being a leader - which is a job description. Strangely, he does not make the equivalent observation for those employed by the organization that employs the CEO. Being a worker or an employee - again, a status description - is not equivalent to being a follower - which, again, is a job description. And it can be argued that most people go to work, not to follow a leader, but to earn a living, preferably by receiving as much as possible for doing as little as possible. Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps it means that Marx and the Bible (Genesis, chapter 3) got it right. A workplace is a creature of alienation and sin, because there are more enjoyable things to do with one's life than to take it to work!
Be that as it may. Ashley Goldsworthy's love child of an affair between the theoretical and the practical is a thought provoking read. Although it was written primarily for business situations, it is for anyone - CEO, parish priest, school principal, vice-chancellor or dean or chair of an academic department - who wants to transform a status position into a leadership position.
James Moulder (plato@sims.com.au) is a retired teacher of business school academic who lives in Melbourne, Australia. His hobbies are theology and poetry.
