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“What makes an effective leader?”
By Catherine Kaputa, founder of SelfBrand (www.selfbrand), a brand strategy company that works with people, products and companies. Catherine’s new book, U R A BRAND, will be published by Davies Black Publishing in February, 2006.
I recently spoke to the Financial Women’s Association in New York City about self branding and career success for women. One of the questions posed to me was, “What makes an effective leader? And do women have to do things differently than men to assume a leadership role?
A key problem I find with my self branding clients, particularly women executives, is that they feel they are doing leadership things, yet they are not perceived as a leader. To be perceived as a leader, you have to lead with ideas and lead by example. Shakespeare has a line in Hamlet that says it well:
Suit the Action to the Word, the Word to the Action
As a leader, you have to have to be able to articulate ideas that are worthy of being remembered and you have to be able to inspire others. Ideally, you want to “own” a word or an idea in the minds of your employees (or whoever the target audience is) so they will know what the rallying cry is. Most important, you have to underscore your ideas with actions, preferably bold actions that demonstrate what you stand for.
Let me give you an example. One client, whom we’ll call Emily, had recently been promoted to president of her company. Emily’s first task was to rally the troops and unify the company, particularly the department heads. Emily had been promoted over them, and most were strong personalities with a tight grip on their individual fiefdoms. On top of that, sales were down and a major competitor was stealing some important accounts.
Emily wanted to introduce a new sense of “engagement” at her firm. One of the first things she did was articulate a management philosophy to all the employees. Her mantra became: “Everyone must be engaged with the business and with client needs, everywhere, all the time.” Emily asked each of the division heads for a five-page memo outlining key initiatives, including what the company should do to get employees more engaged in its businesses. Emily also created a dialogue going with all employees and solicited their ideas. And she implemented the best suggestions on “engagement.” The company’s focus became “full engagement” and Emily created a new dynamic spirit at the company and positioned herself as a leader.
As a leader, you must find your “big idea:” what’s different, what’s relevant, and something more - a point of view, a vision, a style or mystique even - that something special that sets you apart from others and helps you be more successful. Harness the power of words and slogans to burn in your “big idea” with your target audience. Then follow up your “big idea” with actions that demonstrate what you stand for.
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