Commentary

Can you lead?

Just being able to motivate people isn't enough — leaders need to be empathetic and connect with people to be successful. A veteran vending/foodservice leader offers some pointers.

Image provided by iStock.

October 18, 2021 by Ray Friedrich

To execute a strategic business plan, as described in my previous article, one must be a good leader.

What makes a good leader?.

According to Brent Gleeson at Forbes, a good leader must do the following: "Possess a clear vision, is courageous, has integrity, honesty, humility and clear focus."

in addition: "Great leaders help people reach their goals, are not afraid to hire people that might be better than them and take pride in the accomplishments of those they help along the way."

Just being able to motivate people isn't enough — leaders need to be empathetic and connect with people to be successful.

A boss is not a leader

There is a big difference in being a "boss" and being a "leader." A boss can be anyone who has become proficient at something, having acquired certain "hard skills."

Being in charge of companies and people is one thing. But being a boss with "hard skills" and "soft skills" is the difference that makes a leader. It's the "soft skills" or "people skills" that make the difference.

I would even argue that a great leader does not need the technical or "hard skills" to be successful at accomplishing a common objective.

Have you ever worked with a manager who when you first met them you thought to yourself, "What does this person even know about the objective or department they are leading?" or "This person has no experience in this division, how can they be my boss?" I think we have all had these encounters.

A personal experience

Early in my career I was working in a hotel management program. My direct manager made a surprising move in management. He was the general manager and responsible for all hotel operations including front desk, accounting, housekeeping, food and beverage, catering and so on. He was responsible for everything that happened under that hotel's roof.

The general manager had moved a front-of-the-house hotel manager into managing the banquet department. This manager had virtually no experience in food and beverage and none in banquet operations. However, he was a great hotel manager.

Our banquet department had many challenges and weaknesses. It was missing set-up deadlines, service quality issues, poor reviews from customers and declining sales.

I asked the general manager, "Why did you move Bob into the banquet management position? He has no experience in that area and will fail." The general manager told me, "Ray, you are correct, he does not have any experience in banquet operations." He went on to say, "I don't have a problem with the team, I have a leadership problem."

Expertise not mandatory to lead

He explained to me that expertise in banquet management may be an advantage, but was by no means required. He explained to me that Bob was a highly effective leader and he needed a leader, not a boss. The general manager was correct. Bob turned the department around in a short amount of time. Bob was a great leader and I then understood why the general manager did what he did.

There are no bad teams, just bad leaders.

So what are the characteristics of great leaders? Why do some leaders achieve incredible results in the face of challenging odds and others achieve mediocre at best?

Historical examples

As a young man, Abraham Lincoln did not have much going for him. He was born in a remote part of the young nation, he was extremely poor and from a largely uneducated family. Nothing regarding this obscure man screamed, "Great future leader!"

However, as we learned in grade school he was one of the greatest leaders of all time. So what made Lincoln a great leader? He educated himself in the law and became a student of human nature along the way. He learned from an early age what made a person tick, what motivated them and how to use this knowledge to his advantage.

Lincoln went on to assemble one of the greatest presidential cabinets in history. Through his leadership the Civil War was won, slavery was abolished and the nation was preserved. The key to his success was he surrounded himself with people who were much smarter than he was in their specialized skill sets. He brought his political rivals into his inner circle, thus making them colleagues.

Lincoln's ability to lead a diverse group of egotistical, self-driven, intellectual rivals around the cause of preserving the Union was nothing short of miraculous. He was able to lead very powerful men with even more powerful egos who all wanted his job and lead them in concurring a common cause. This was accomplished through Lincoln having a vison to share. A mission to accomplish. He knew how to motivate and understood the power of teamwork.

Mahatma Gandh, was born an ordinary boy with a determination to excel at what he did. After completing his education in law in London, he became involved in the Indian freedom struggle against British colonial rule. His philosophy of non-violence and protest through civil disobedience eventually succeeded when he led his country to freedom from British rule in 1947.

Gandhi's main characteristics which made him a great leader that people wanted to follow were resilience, knowledge, people skills, motivational approach and leading by example. Interestingly, he defeated another great historical leader, Winston Churchill, in the process.

Are leaders born or made?

I am often asked by aspiring potential leaders, "Can I learn to become a great leader?" My first response is no matter your educational level, never stop learning. Continued education needs to be a lifelong pursuit.

There are literally hundreds of books pertaining to leadership and leadership development. However, I have found that one of the best ways to understand great leadership is to study great leaders from history. Some of my favorites besides those mentioned above are George Washington, Martin Luther King, Thomas Jefferson, Genghis Kahn, Winston Churchill, Alexander the Great, Dwight Eisenhower and Napoleon Bonaparte, just to name a few.

One of the key areas you will need to master is to concisely articulate your vision and mission. Everyone on the team, both above and below you, must clearly understand your vision and mission.

Establish your values and principles. This way everyone on the team will understand the rules you will play by. You will need to be personally motivated and learn what motivates others. Be a student of human nature and use it.

Constantly communicate with your team and continuously prioritize as events and conditions change or evolve.