Great question. My simple answer is that we are in great need of leadership now. I believe that leadership is a fundamental ingredient for success aka getting stuff done. Achieving success does not come easy. We all know this. If it did – all of us would be successful. We would see a thriving world – populated with healthy people, high-performing organizations, and strong communities. But, that is not what we find. Instead, we witness a world full of people struggling just to make it through another day, organizations failing to deliver results, and communities that are falling apart.
Not all is doom and gloom
Many people are successful, some companies are performing well, and there are plenty of connected communities. Rather, I am saying that sustained success seems to be the exception, not the norm. There has to be a better way. A world in which more of us experience success on a regular basis. I believe there is, and it starts with leadership.
“Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.”
— Vince Lombardi, American football coach, and NFL executive.
It all starts with effective leadership
It is difficult, if not nearly impossible to achieve great results without effective leadership. Sure – other ingredients are needed for success, especially in large organizations. Teamwork, respect, diversity, dedication, motivation, resilience, innovation, courage, and ethics to name a few. But, I am convinced that any organization can have all those other ingredients, and will still struggle to achieve real success without strong leadership. In the classic business book Good to Great, Jim Collins highlights the fact that great leaders populate great organizations. This was particularly true for high performing companies. I agree with Jim’s conclusions.
Leadership matters a lot
I first came to this conclusion while serving in the military. It was amazing to me the difference leadership made. Great leadership led to high performance. The opposite was also true. Bad leadership resulted in poor performance. For example, one unit I served in was performing well. We had a great reputation – well known for delivering awesome results. Everyone enjoyed working there. Morale was sky-high. We had a strong team and a great commander leading it.
The day that leader left was a bad day
He was replaced with an inferior leader and performance started to suffer right away. The situation did not improve over time. It only got worse. Morale plummeted and our reputation diminished. It was difficult to watch this degradation firsthand, especially for all of us who had been there during the peak performance years.
Leadership directly impacts performance
I also experienced the exact opposite scenario in a different unit. We were not performing well and everyone knew it. We had a really bad reputation. Morale was low. Mediocre was a good day for us. A new commander with better leadership skills arrived and we started to perform much better within weeks. No mystery to me why the sudden turn around happened.
The unit performed in direct correlation to the leader’s effectiveness. Leadership mattered. It made a huge difference.
All The Way Leadership!
It was that simple. I have seen similar scenarios play out in the business world, government agencies, churches, and charities. My guess is that you have likely seen the same thing happen. High performing organizations with an effective leader in charge. Or the opposite, bad leadership resulting in poor performance.
All The Way Leadership! will focus on training the next generation of leaders who will help make the world a better place. I do not think we will have one without the other. If we want a better world (I know I do), then we need better leaders and lots of them. In case you cannot already tell – it is a topic I am passionate about which I will talk about more in the next blog post.
ATW! is designed to make you a better leader
I hope you join me on this journey to raise up the next generation of leaders. The world is in desperate need of more great leaders. Women and men who lead with confidence, clarity, and creativity. It’s time to become the leader that your world needs. Let’s go All The Way!
