AS YOU read this, I am embarking on my second day as chief executive of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, the North-east’s leading business organisation.
Yesterday saw the First Minster Nicola Sturgeon “first foot” me at the Chamber offices, which leaves me wondering how to top that for welcoming distinguished guests.
Nicola’s visit was part of our Chamber’s Meet the Leader series of events, which allows our members to engage with political leaders and raise awareness of what is important to businesses in our region, as laid out in our recently published 2016 Scottish Parliament Election Manifesto.
Her visit followed that of Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie a couple of weeks ago and we’re looking forward to welcoming both Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale later this month.
The challenges facing me in my new role, other business heads in the region and those of being a senior politician, led me to ponder on what’s in the DNA of a successful leader.
Look at any of the greats from history – in business, government, sport or the military - and words like inspire, vision, and empowerment come to mind.
Are these, along with character traits such as determination, intelligence and eloquence, the key ingredients of success?
Surprisingly, little of this touches on results, outcomes and legacy.
To my mind, this is often the part that gets least attention when leadership is discussed but should in fact be the essence - working back from the desired end result and mapping out the best route to delivering it through your people and other resources.
Achieving great things that others might have suggested weren’t possible.
Perhaps the best and most relevant published definition that I unearthed was from Kevin Kruse writing in the New York Times.
He said: “Leadership is the process of social influence which maximises the efforts of others towards the achievement of a common goal”.
In my humble opinion, some of the key characteristics that define the very best leaders are:
- The ability to simplify and articulate aims; giving clear focus and direction
- Making big calls, not lots of small ones
- Identifying, trusting and empowering key allies
- Empathy and humility
- Audacity and readiness to (occasionally) court controversy or unpopularity
- Facilitating, not dominating, discussion and debate
- Calmness and confidence under pressure
- Obsessing about what they believe in
- Knowing what they don’t know
And, of course, self-awareness. Ach well, I’ve got a fair bit of work to do then…
So, how does this point us individually towards making our own organisations more successful and collectively to addressing the wider challenges and opportunities facing our region?
We must identify our common goals; those that will provide stability, legacy and a bright future.
We have to convince our key stakeholders to buy in to our vision.
And we have to stick our necks out, drag initiatives off the “too hard” pile and use the power of our combined resources to achieve those things that our critics said could never be done.