[Vnbiz] Leadership -- What are you looking for in your leader?

Fri Jul 20 17:47:29 PDT 2007

Wow, A Hoanh,

That was a truly impressive analysis, re-presentation (synthesis) and
enhancement of the lists posted.  I have to wonder at how you can afford the
time for as much.  Thanks.  You should work it up and publish it.

On 7/21/07, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Dear CACC,
>
> Looks like we have got all the volunteers for short list.  So let me try
> to go over everything from everyone so far to construct a short list.
>
> A.  First, let start with the most simple common-sense definition of
> "leader."  Leader is (1) the person who leads (2) a group of people (3) to a
> destination.
>
> So leadership involves you, your people and the goal.
>
> 1.  The goal is what we call "vision," some destination in the future to
> arrive, some purpose to achieve.   "Vision" always implies with it
> "the method to achieve the vision" (because without a method get to the
> vision, the vision is only a daydream).   So the first obvious element of
> leadership is the "vision and the way to achieve the vision."  Brother Thien
> mentioned this point abut goal (vision) in his message.
>
> Because "vision" always implies "the way to achieve vision," most people
> just use one word "vision" to indicate both.
>
> Please note: "The way to achieve vision" is usually very general. Say, Ho
> Chi Minh's vision is "Freedom, Independence and Happiness," which during his
> life time meant "independence from the French."  His "way" is that the
> entire people would fight the French, never stopping, never quitting, until
> we win.   This "way" is very general. It is not as detailed and
> concrete as the strategies and tactics used daily during the war, which are
> of a technical nature and are done by his lieutenants.
>
>
> 2.   Now you and your people.  As a matter of common sense, people follow
> you because they believe in you and your vision.
>
> They believe in your vision because, after listening to what you say and
> your vision, they agree with your vision and like your vision.
>
> They believe in you because (1) they believe that you are capable of
> leading them to your vision.  This is "competence" (or a more general term
> "wisdom", or a some more narrow terms-- "Intelligence," "knowledge").  In
> other words, They believe that "you know what you are doing."
>
> People also believe in you because they believe that you are honest, that
> what you say about your vision and your way is your honest words, that what
> you say about you is your honest words, and that they can trust your words.
> So, "honesty" is another core element.  Honesty can also be replaced by
> other terms, such as integrity, trustworthiness, reliable, dependable, etc.
>
> *So, from the point of view of your followers, your leadership has 3 core
> elements:*
> **
> *1.  Your vision (and they way to the vision)*
> *2.  Your competence (you know what you doing--also known as intelligence,
> knowledge, wisdom)*
> *3.  Your honesty (also known as integrity, trustworthiness, reliable,
> dependable)*
> **
> B.  The above is a look at leadership from the follower's point of view.
> Now let's look at leadership from the leader's point of view.
>
> 1.  First, of course, you, as a leader, has to have a vision (and the way
> to achieve vision).
>
> But, how to have a vision that your people really love?  The answer, you
> have to understand your people's heart and mind so well that you can design
> a vision that satisfies their heart's yearning.
>
> 2.  But how do you understand your people's hearts and minds so well?
> Having a PhD in psychology?  Having a crystal ball?  The only answer I know
> is that you have to truly love your people.  I don't know of any other way
> to understand someone other than you have to really loves them.  You may be
> a good communicator or good analyst, but if you don't really love someone,
> the most you can do is to understand a very small facet of her, not the
> whole of her.  You cannot understand someone so well and so deep without
> really loving him/her.
>
> (Note:  Many parents may say that they love their children so much that
> they force all they children to be doctors and lawyers to be better in
> life.  Sorry, that is not loving your children.  That is "loving your future
> image of your children" or "loving your own self, loving to be a parent of a
> bunch of doctors and lawyers." That is not loving your children.  Same thing
> with government that runs after its own idea of how its people should be,
> instead of truly understanding and loving the real people who walk the
> streets, who have real feelings and real struggles).
>
> Once you really love your people, you should be able to understand them
> well enough to come up with a vision that fits their yearning.
>
> So, from the leader's point of view, the second core element is "love your
> people"(also known as compassion, grace, caring, social responsibility,
> etc.)
>
> From a true love for your people, you will be able to love properly, like,
> as anh Shane said, loving everyone of your people equally, loving the
> entirety of "your people" and protecting it against the destruction by a bad
> portion of your people, only asking your people to do what you would do
> yourself, fair in reward and punishment, etc.  All these forms of loving
> measures flow naturally from true love.
>
> 3.  And if you really love your people, you will become competent in
> leading your people.  Say, if you really love your daughter and she is
> really sick, and although you are not a doctor, you would be able to do your
> own research to understand a lot about the disease and about available
> doctors and hospitals out there, to find the best, the most competent
> treatment for her.  Competetence is a matter of learning and if you really
> love someone you will know how to learn and to get the professional help to
> do the best job for them.
>
> (If you know that you, even with professional technical help, are not
> competent to be the leader, and if you truly love your people, then you
> wouldn't take the leadership position anyway).
>
> Thus, from the leadership's point of view, competence is a necessity, but
> a necessity that would flow naturally from true love.  We don't really need
> to mention competence separately.
>
> 4.  About honesty, I would also that honesty is the most natural thing
> that flows from true love.  When you love someone, you would be honest with
> him/her.
>
> *So, from the leadership's point of view, leadership has 2 core elements:
> *
> **
> *First, a vision (and the way to the vision)*
> *Second, Compassion for your people.*
>
> *If we put the two points of view together* in a list and do not
> distinguish follower's view or leader's view, *we have a list with 4 core
> elements of leadership: *
> **
> *1.  Vision *
> *2.  Compassion (love, care, understanding, grace)*
> *3.  Comptence (wisdom, knowledge, intelligence, effectiveness)*
> *4.  Honesty (integrity, trustworthiness, reliability, dependability)*
> **
> Please feel free to chip in.
>
> In the next message I will go over one important point in anh Shane's
> list:  Protecting the entirely of your people (by sacrificing a small
> portion of it, when necessary).  This is probably what brother Hien calls
> "toughness" and other folks call "Making the hard decision."
>
> Have a great weekend, everyone!
>
> Hoanh
>
>
>
> On 7/19/07, Hien Nguyen <hnguyen97 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear CACE,
> >
> > It's entertaining to see how social theories can be condensed into one
> > or two sentences. Thanks anh Hoanh.
> >
> > I'd like to volunteer three core elements; but before I list them out, I
> > explain the way to build up the concepts.
> >
> > From a mathematical perspective,  three "core" elements should be
> > distinctive, and complement others to make other elements, namely three
> > vectors. If we rotate all three vectors by few degrees, they will be another
> > three "core" elements.
> >
> > I select:
> >
> > LOVE
> > WISDOM
> > and TOUGHNESS
> >
> > as core elements.
> >
> > Have a great day,
> > Hien
> > --
> > Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> > Washington DC
>
>
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