Leadership is not a bag of tricks - It depends on values, vision, and communication

by Richard L. Weaver II

For thirty years in the college classroom, I have always believed that I was teaching the future leaders of our nation. For this reason, in the teaching of speech communication, an underlying foundation for all the concepts and principles I taught was the belief that they would contribute positively to effective leadership. In addition, I tried to motivate students to not just take seriously the knowledge and information they were gaining but to constantly apply it to their classes, experiences outside the classroom, and their lives. What good is theory to students if it has no practical application? (I am indebted to Hastings and Potter’s book Trust Me (WaterBrook, 2004), for many of the ideas in this essay.)

The best place to begin looking at leadership, of course, is exactly at the point where students are beginning their college careers—when they are becoming effective and committed learners. The best learners are those who regularly seek criticism and feedback, possess an attitude of optimism and persistence, learn from other people’s failures and successes, have a wide range of interests and move easily into new endeavors, enjoy many different kinds of people, make it a point to tune into and pick up on what’s going on around them, and take time to pause and reflect as they think about themselves, their life experiences, and how the two intersect. They should learn from the old proverb, “We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” The more flexibility, the more they will succeed.

Even with the qualities above for being effective and committed learners, some students have erected walls within themselves that prevent the receipt, acceptance, and use of the very information that can help them. The first is pride, which is pure selfishness. It closes the mind to new truths, causes inflexibility, resists change, and gets in the way of asking others for help. The second is a judgmental attitude which creates a negative, cynical attitude. A third wall is stubbornness that is revealed in an attachment to personal, immediate gratification.

There are other walls that prevent the receipt, acceptance, and use of information, too. A fourth wall is stagnation. Those who have allowed themselves to stagnate become apathetic, purposeless, and their attention is scattered rather than focused. Insensitivity is a fifth wall, and results in lack of concern for others, no empathy, an uncaring attitude, and an inability to listen. A sixth wall is dishonesty. In addition to cheating, lying, or stealing, dishonesty happens when people seek to get ahead by deviousness—game playing, manipulation, and pretense. Finally, a seventh wall is those who are always seeking the easiest solution or decision. These folks avoid problems, responsibilities, and difficulties. Having lost the will to grow, they lack perseverance, endurance, and courage.

What are the qualities effective leaders need? There are three important qualities: values, vision, and communication. First, their personal values reflect what they consider to be important. Their values are motivators that give them reasons for why they do or don’t do things. They drive behavior. Right actions flow out of right values such as integrity, honesty, human dignity, service, excellence, growth, and evenhandedness. Second, they need vision—the ability to look farther than today, over potential obstacles, and beyond majority opinion. They are able to gaze across the horizon of time and imagine greater things ahead—the ability to see what is not yet reality.

Vision is difficult to cultivate. It comes, for example, from a strong belief that things don’t have to be this way. It comes from a vague desire to do something that will challenge yourself and others. It comes from a sense of determination. It forces you to clarify what it is that you really want to do. With a vision, you get a sense of what you want your target to look like, feel like, and be like when you and others have completed the journey. Having a vision affects your attitude, your optimism, and your beliefs. Your beliefs will sustain you through difficult times. Vision requires both commitment and endurance, and when you have a vision you don’t see difficulties in every opportunity but, rather, opportunities in every difficulty.

The third quality effective leaders need is communication. Rather than beginning with the obvious characteristics of verbal acuity, decision-making, and powerful delivery, the most important aspect of communication is a deep commitment to listening to others. How can an effective leader understand the needs of his or her listeners, let alone employees, customers, suppliers, or market without listening to them? They need to listen with an intent to understand—turning the focus from themselves to the other person.

Effective listening encompasses the all-important quality of empathy—identifying with and understanding ideas from another’s situation, feelings, and motives. When others know they are accepted, recognized, and understood for their special gifts and talents, they are more willing to listen and respond.

In addition to listening, communication involves persuasion—engaging others with the specific intent of changing their beliefs or actions. Effective leaders seek change through true compassion rather than by forcing compliance—to build consensus rather than to assert authoritarian power. To be an effective persuader requires the careful analysis of audience wants, needs, values, beliefs, and interests. It requires the prudent organization of ideas, amassing reliable and verifiable supporting material, and thoughtful and cautious examination of all related ethical issues and considerations.

If leaders want to persuade effectively, they must act with integrity. That is, they must act boldly—as one who has unshakable confidence. They must exhibit a great attitude—with a positive, encouraging, and uplifting mind-set. Finally, they must develop trust through a record that is dependable and consistent and a lifestyle that sets an example of integrity and competence.

Leadership is not a bag of tricks, a set of mechanical rules, or a rigid regimen of automatic methods. Leaders must see the goodness of people, appreciate their assets and abilities, and capitalize on their unique assets and abilities through energy, effective interaction, and empowerment. To do this, they need resourcefulness, initiative, imagination, and adaptation of their own best abilities and skills. With these assets, they will be able to diagnose situations, prescribe methods of leading from the reality of those situations, and understand that everyone’s reality is different.

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© Copyright 2007. All rights reserved worldwide by Richard L. Weaver II and And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.

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