The introduction of my flagship book which is entitled World-class Leadership Thinking reached a tipping-point last week when it provided the basis of re-defining leadership.
As I posited in my comment published last week, while the leadership philosophy which teaches that ‘As a leader thinks, so he leads’, makes leadership a fundamentally thought-based and thought-driven endeavor, the ‘seven questions that every leader must ask’ make it perfectly accurate and legitimate to re-define leadership as the process of continuously asking and answering the most important questions concerning an enterprise, community or nation!
It’s imperative to emphasize the fact that the this new definition of leadership corrects the wrong view held by many who mistake leadership to be synonymous with either a high position or a big office reserved for a privileged few. This new definition of leadership also implies that a leader is anyone who’s continuously asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning his enterprise, community or nation rather than a privileged big man or woman occupying the topmost office in an enterprise or a nation!
Thus, this new definition of leadership underscores the fact that anyone can provide critical leadership even without holding a high position or occupying a big office by simply being continuously preoccupied with asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning his enterprise, community or nation! The reverse is also true-one isn’t automatically a leader on account of occupying the highest office in a nation or an enterprise if he’s not continuously asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning that enterprise or nation!
The accuracy and validity of re-defining leadership as ‘the process of continuously asking and answering the most important questions concerning an enterprise, a community or a nation’ and re-defining a leader as ‘anyone who’s continuously asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning his enterprise, community or nation’ are conclusively proven by the difference between Robert Mugabe’s leadership as a pre-independence freedom-fighter (who asked and passionately sought the right answers to the most important questions concerning his country) and his leadership as the post-independence president of Zimbabwe (who’s obviously stopped asking or seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning his country) which is as stark as that between day and night!
The tragic decline of Mugabe’s leadership occasioned by his back-sliding from asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning his country underscores the radical extent to which leaders of teams, enterprises and nations can re-invent their leadership by becoming increasingly committed to continuously asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning their teams, enterprises and nations!
The ‘seven questions that every leader must ask’ are so pivotal to leadership transformation that if President Mugabe were to resume asking and seeking the right answers to them as he did when he courageously led the fight for his country’s independence, he’ll resurrect as a transformational leader who’ll be most passionate about serving his country’s best interest and doing all that’s needed to reverse its decades-long declension! As in Mugabe’s case, the fact that many are failing in leadership indicates that not many leaders are asking and seeking the right answers to the most important questions concerning their enterprises, communities or nations!
Howbeit, if the seven questions that I’ve identified to be the most important questions that every leader must ask are as pivotal and transformational as I’m presenting them to be, then the onus is on me to highlight how they are able to so phenomenally increase the influence and impact of leaders who ask them as follows:
1. What problem(s) am I solving to make my enterprise or nation better, more efficient and more productive? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more positive, pragmatic and responsive in their thinking, planning and actions than those who don’t. Leaders who ask this question are so positive, pragmatic and responsive because their topmost priority is problem-solving and they have no time for the blame-game and/or buck-passing which are the preoccupation of those who don’t ask this question!
2. What specific difference am I making to ensure that my enterprise or nation can become more distinctive? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more open to new ideas especially concerning opportunities to pioneer new products and services or about how to respond to any socio-political or economic challenge that everyone else is either avoiding or unable to deal with than those who don’t.
3. Am I a role model who’s consistently leading by his personal example? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more responsible and accountable than those who don’t because they typically choose to set their personal example as the moral high-ground from which they can authoritatively lead the enforcement of ethical conduct based on the entrenchment of corporate governance!
4. Am I building a knowledge-led enterprise in which continuous learning is a shared value? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more committed to the development of a competitive-edge learning environment and systems which can be continuously used to train and equip their people with the best business/industry/market-relevant knowledge and know-how than those who don’t.
5. Am I continuously building on my strengths and correcting my weaknesses toward effectively countering the threats to my success and optimally exploiting my targeted opportunities? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more committed to ensuring that the right strategies needed to optimize the performance and competitiveness of their teams, enterprises or nations are being crafted and executed than those who don’t.
6. Am I genuinely people-centered in my thinking, planning and actions? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more connective, consensual and team-based in their leadership approaches as well as more committed to developing the best people capabilities than those who don’t.
7. What future have I envisioned for my enterprise or nation? Leaders who frequently ask this question tend to be more future-minded and passionate about the pursuit of the future as well as committed to remaining vision-led and transformational in their thinking, planning and actions than those who don’t. Leaders who ask this question also tend to think and act more in anticipation of the future and to convey a compelling sense of mission and urgency than those who don’t ask this question!
The foregoing is the overwhelming evidence that each leader’s influence and impact flow directly from his commitment to continuously asking and seeking the right answers to these seven questions as they affect his enterprise, community or nation.
Therefore, the next time you encounter a leader who’s low on influence and impact despite his high office, you must know right away that the main reason for his lack of influence and impact is his refusal or failure to ask and seek the right answers to the most important questions concerning his enterprise, community or nation! And you know what? Lack of commitment to thought leadership is the main reason many leaders fail to either ask or seek the right answers to the seven questions they ought to be asking everyday!
