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Energising a whole organisation or large numbers of people is different from energising yourself or your direct reports individually, notes Rajeev Peshawaria in Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders (Free Press). For many, this is the hardest career transition because the rules for success at the enterprise level are different from the time-tested rules that earned them all their success and promotions until this time in their careers, he adds.
What can be worrying is that ‘the very actions and qualities that make a person successful until they embark upon an enterprise leadership position might actually become the reason for failure from this point onward,' because the most critical transition is the one from ‘I' to ‘we.' Cautioning that three in four careers derail at the point of this transition, the author urges wannabe leaders to take up the job only if they understand what is involved.
For, the job of a leader at the enterprise level is not her success but the success of others, says the book. “Rather than producing results herself, she needs to create conditions that enable large numbers of people to create the desired results. Often, she doesn't get credit for the success of the organisation, and she needs to be fine with that… What she needs to be clear about is whether she really wants to lead or to continue as an individual producer.”
‘Brains-Bones-Nerves': The author presents ‘Brains-Bones-Nerves' as the B-B-N framework that a leader has to create and sustain to enable people to be successful. The ‘brains' of a business, he explains, are the vision and strategy, which the enterprise leader must shape and set direction. “The bones are the organisational architecture, and here the enterprise leader must design the organisation in order to execute the strategy. The nerves refer to the culture and climate of the organisation.”
The author also takes up the oft-asked question — ‘Are leaders born or made?' Describing good leadership as a function of skill and will, he observes that the skills of leadership can be acquired if someone wants to learn them. What about the ‘will'? Yes, it can be acquired too, assures Peshawaria. “Thinking about and defining your purpose and values should give you the will for leadership,” he guides.
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