l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 by j*[email protected] (Jon Harvey)
There is an old saying (and some dispute about who coined it first): Life is
not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take
our breath away.
This got me to wondering about leadership. Should leadership be breathtaking
or breathless? It seems to me that many managers spend their time trying to
be everywhere, support everyone, monitor everything and so forth. This is
breathless leadership. Whilst this may give the leader a warm feeling that
they are a ‘hands on’ influential leader, the chances are that others will
not be as impressed.
I suspect that London Heathrow, which is currently wrapped for Christmas in
very sticky snow, is full of breathless leaders right now, all seeking to
make something (anything, dammit!) happen and get passengers moving again.
This is commendable and necessary given the circumstances. But what were
these breathless leaders doing in the Summer? Were they still running around
in a similar fashion? (Latest news as I write here)
Perhaps what London Heathrow needs is a lot more breathtaking leadership.
This is the kind of leadership that listens, that empowers, that connects,
that plans, that waits, that assembles, that includes, that challenges, that
invests, that innovates, that focuses... that inspires.
Breathtaking leadership is easy to spot. It is the kind of leadership that
we have all felt once in a while when someone says or does something that
makes us do a mental or real double take. We hold our breath as we think
about what the person has just done. If it’s an exceptional moment of
leadership, we may even forget to breathe until our body kicks in and we
take short intake of breath. |
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