"WHERE KNOWLEDGE IS WEALTH"

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

“Are Good People Good Leaders?” - Professor M.S.Rao

“Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.” - Peter Drucker

Good leaders may not be good for all people and good people may not be good leaders. The statement sounds strange, right! Leadership is a blend of both bouquets and brickbats. It involves taking the responsibility, walking the talk, influencing others, and making tough decisions when the situation demands. A good person may be in the good books of all but may not possess leadership potential. The good people who want to excel as leaders must realize this bitter truth before undertaking their leadership journey. There are leaders who are basically considered good by many people but when they delivered goods as leaders they invited criticism thus becoming bad for few people. At the same time there are people who were considered neither good nor bad initially but proved well through their leadership qualities and excelled as good leaders. Hence, when you want to become a leader remember this truth and decide whether you want to become a leader. And, remember one thing: being good is a bonus and an asset but it doesn’t guarantee you the leadership success.

There were instances where good people turned out to be ineffective leaders as they wanted to please everybody. Remember what Sun Tzu said, “Leadership is a matter of intelligence, trustworthiness, humaneness, courage, and discipline . . . Reliance on intelligence alone results in rebelliousness. Exercise of humaneness alone results in weakness. Fixation on trust results in folly. Dependence on the strength of courage results in violence. Excessive discipline and sternness in command result in cruelty. When one has all five virtues together, each appropriate to its function, then one can be a leader.” To conclude, all good people may not be good leaders but all good leaders may be good people.

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr7@gmail.com

Blog: http://profmsr.blogspot.com

Where Knowledge is Wealth

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