Ex aequo et bono
Possibilities for Assessing the
Competence of Politicians
The socio-economic mainstream
of any state is determined by the internal and external policies pursued by the
ruling circles, while the development trend of the country is specifically impacted
by the actions of political leaders. In democratic settings, the influence of
such a subjective factor is regulated by mutual competition between the programmes
of position and opposition parties. The professionalism of politicians is
tested in accordance with the results of the implementation of the ideas, initiatives,
promises and reforms put forward by them that satisfy the electorate. If this
is not the case, the politicians of the ruling parties are replaced through
elections by those who are in opposition.
But does this principle framework
work successfully in real life? Do more respectable, more competent
representatives of people take the place of the politicians who have lost
confidence in voters?
4 Examples That Will Confirm You Were Born
to Be a Leader
Do you have a natural bent
for people and relationships? That's a good starting point.
By Marcel Schwantes Principal and founder, Leadership From the Core@MarcelSchwantes
Ever wonder if you're true
leadership material? Perhaps you've been told you are, but the
question is, by
what standard? Thousands of leadership books are
written each year, many of them with marketing agendas to rehash and repackage
what has been talked about for decades.
What is true about
leadership that will remain unchanged through the centuries is this: It's
about people and relationships. And that requires that leaders have
a natural bent for both. If you're not into either, you're not a leader.
And you can start with the
proven fact that great
leaders aspire to lead by serving the needs of their people. You
don't need flavor-of-the-month books and expensive formal training to learn
this concept.
But you do need to develop
and measure yourself against the standards of great leadership (which
I strongly propose to be servant leadership). Here are four top
leadership characteristics I have witnessed that float to the top. Do
any describe you?
1. You have an innate desire to make
people better at what they do.
A core element of intrinsic
motivation, as described in Daniel Pink's classic bestseller Drive, is being able to develop
mastery in one's work. Obviously, this requires hiring people with the ambition
and drive to learn and grow.
Once that is in place, a
sign of leadership greatness is creating a learning organization that relies
upon the knowledge of individual contributors, rather than the classical
hierarchical organization, which relies on the knowledge of the top of the
hierarchy.
Leaders who are looking
ahead to develop the skills, competencies, and leadership of others have a
distinct advantage. As they create the framework for people to
develop and progress in mastery, the intrinsic motivation that Daniel Pink
writes about is unleashed.
Robert Greenleaf, the
founder of the modern servant leadership
movement, writes in his classic book Servant Leadership: "When the business
manager who is fully committed to this ethic is asked, 'What are you in business
for?' the answer may be: 'I am in the business of growing people
-- people who are stronger, healthier, more autonomous, more self-reliant,
more competent. Incidentally, we also make and sell at a profit things that
people want to buy so we can pay for all this.'"
2. Your highest leadership priority is to
develop trust.
Nowadays, leaders can't rely
on positional authority alone to get things done. Work environments are now
flatter, decentralized, dispersed, and virtual. And yet, more than ever, they
are faced with business challenges that call for higher levels of innovation,
knowledge, and soft skills.
How can leaders ensure
that a team is staying cohesive, collaborating at a high level, and headed in
the same direction to develop great product and keep customers
happy?
The secret is trust. And the
foundation for trust is integrity.
When leaders operate from
integrity, they gain the trust and respect of their people. Leaders are
seen as dependable and accountable for their actions. People feel psychologically
safe in their presence, which increases their influence.
SAS Institute, voted one of Fortune magazine's Best Companies to Work For twenty-one years
in a row, didn't arrive there by accident. It's industry-low turnover is
merely 2 percent; the pillars of its culture are based on "trust
between our employees and the company," says CEO Jim Goodnight.
3. You rely on your instincts and
gift of intuition.
Great leaders can sniff out
the signals in the environment and sense what's going on without having
anything spelled out for them. They rely on off-the-charts intuition for timing
and the best course of action.
That's a paraphrase
by Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones after their extensive research that led to
their book Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?
They refer to these
inspirational leaders as good "situation sensors." In essence, these
leaders are keen on collecting and interpreting soft data, detecting shifts in
climate and ambiance, and reading the silences and nonverbal cues of others.
The authors found these
sensors have the capacity to accurately judge whether relationships are working
-- a gift of intuition not many have.
4. Your whole reason for working and doing
business is to change lives.
Richard Branson, billionaire
founder of Virgin Group, said, "There's no point in starting a
business unless you're going to make a dramatic difference to other people's
lives. So if you've got an idea that's gonna make a big difference to other
people's lives, then just get on and do it."
Even if you're not an
entrepreneur with a big dream, and find yourself navigating the
political corporate landscape, great leaders instinctively know how to
reinforce the mission of their organizations and make it jump out of posters
and plaques on lobby walls.
They use their company
mission to engage and energize workers; they structure and craft their
jobs in a way that allows them to tap into this energy; and they find ways to
inject more purpose and meaning into people's work that is aligned with
the mission.
Branson also says,
"With you and your employees approaching your work with renewed energy and
commitment, you'll find that there's little that you can't accomplish
together."
Now I ask you, the leader:
Could any of your team members accurately describe your mission? When was the
last time you had an authentic conversation about how their
work aligns with the company mission?
The practice of management
by Peter F. Drucker
Peter Drucker (1909–2005)
was the 20th century’s leading
thinker on business and management. He was amazingly prolific—he
produced 39
volumes on management and leadership
A classic since its
publication in 1954, The Practice of Management was the first
book to look at management as a whole and being a manager as a separate
responsibility. The Practice of Management created the
discipline of modern management practices. Readable, fundamental, and basic, it
remains an essential book for students, aspiring managers, and seasoned
professionals.
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