Alexy at Skov Homework 1
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Transcript of Alexy at Skov Homework 1
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Why Leaders Really Do What They Do
By Alex Yatskov
This is about my speculations in response to John Kotters article What Leaders ReallyDo, and the tips from John Kniffin my first and most amazing Leader-Manager, who
changed my life and became my mentor. It was interesting to compare the perspectives of
the Harvard professor and the executive, who excelled in his in the trenches knowledgeand spoke from his own guts.
What John Kniffin Told :
A good manager is a (Zen) master, leader, king and teacher.
A true master is not the one with the most students, but one who creates the most masters.
A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most
Leaders.A true king is not the one with the most subjects, but one who leads the most to royalty
the king being the person with power and who fosters power in others.A true teacher is not the one with the most knowledge, but one who causes the
most to have knowledge.
A manager is best when they are egoless. He or she can be no more effective thanfunctional (as a human being), as opposed to dysfunctional. What limits the effectiveness
of a manageris their ability to be a fine, caring human being and his or her ability to be
technical.
Not Leader Management
I agree with my mentor: a good manager should be a leader. It is hard to imagine howthe risk taking leader could be successful without administrative power to implement his
or her innovations. Interestingly, John Kotter also says: "companies rightly ignore the
recent literature that says people cannot manage and lead. They try to develop leader-managers".
Since both Johns (and myself) agreed that manager should be a leader, first of all I
wanted to explore why people become a not leader-managers.Why would people become a manager? Is it for money, ego (power, success,
recognition, rewards, control, for fun), or for something new? Most people want to
become a manager because they think it is the logical next step in their career and their
success (the sooner, the better).Most of the managers, who I met, viewed management as a promotion. I found it very
amazing that many young engineers, who had not achieved engineering maturity, not
even basic engineering skills, would strive to become a manager. I saw them turningdown basic engineering assignments to avoid being considered a worker bee. At the
same time they would love to be loudly present at the endless meetings and conference
calls, showcasing their readiness for management. After achieving their goal, the non-leader-managers would be trapped into a fairly boring life of corporate politics. Their
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engineering decisions are often free from risk and brilliance. I would call it the state of
the least resistance, status quo, a survival technique. After reading John Kotters article I
think that non-leadership is also the state of mind.
What Brings People into Leader-Management
What does it take to become a leader-manager? John Kotters article showed us the
methods, employed by real leaders, but did not explain how they became them in the first
place.Let me attempt to fill that blank. What I discovered two years ago, changed my life,
moved me and my family from the one coast to another, and set me at much higher level
of performance and satisfaction at work today.
Here it is: the only compelling reason to become a leader-manager is to direct and inspire
creative work at a higher level and with much less obstructions.
Leader-to-be candidate should have the following qualities: Rock solid technical competence and creativity
Ability to endure ambiguity and make decisions with insufficient information
Good balance of thinking and feeling
Broad systems thinking business, marketing, project management, trouble
shooting
Trust peoplekeeping track without hovering.
Passion. Never satisfied with the way things are constantly wanting better from
everything and everyone. Not 10% improvement, go for the 10X gain.
See everything as a project
Set goals that are ambitious and achievable Pragmatic
Like being around people and working with them
It is my belief that most of the true leaders do not do what they do for money, career,
ego, power, etc. They simply want to grow talents, and excel in their mission, no matter
whether its high tech business, education, charity, religion, etc.
They cannot achieve their grandeur tasks alone, but their uniqueness, emotional
intelligence and sense of true direction draws a lot of people to join them - to become
Masters themselves...
That outcome brings true leaders to the highest, possible for the human being, level of
accomplishment and ego-less satisfaction.