What kind of leader are you?
by Fred Roed on 14/01/08 at 10:02 am
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There are mostly two types of leaders: actors, and actioners.
Actors:
This is the politician’s skill. Think of leaders around the world. Chances are that the ones that you’ve brought to mind are ones that know how to use the publicity machine to their advantage. This is a consummate skill, and one which should not be discounted lightly. In our own country, the guys who remain top-of-mind are the ones that can act the part well. They know what the part demands, and they fulfill it with virtuoso performance.
Actioners:
Jim Collins, in his classic book Good to Great, talks about Level 5 leadership. He defines them as people who look in the mirror to appropriate blame, and at others to dish out praise. This is guy who listens, does the research, collates information and then takes decisive action.
There are, of course, those who combine the two. I reckon this is the consumate leader. I remember reading an interview with Shaun Pollock, our erstwhile cricket captain, who said the best piece of advice was one his mama gave him: "If you can’t yet do the part, act the part!" Thing is, he acted the part, and then did a fair good job of bringing it home on the field. Winston Churchill, for example, knew that to galvanise his peers, he needed to give a good performance – but then followed it up with decisive action. (On the flip side of the moral compass, Hitler was also a performer par excellence, and certainly acted on his promises – to devastating effect.)
Reading the news this morning, I reckon South Africa is crying out for some of the third kind of leader.
Fred Roed is the marketing guy in the Ideate crew. Fred is the CEO of web marketing company World Wide Creative and the co-founder of online learning portal Heavy Chef. Fred loves writing about people out there doing marketing right. Follow Fred on Twitter here. View more articles by Fred Roed.
