[Vnbiz] Leadership -- A little more on Honesty
AD Marshall
admarshall at gmail.com
Fri Jul 27 09:19:51 PDT 2007
Still a good list Shane tossed out there. I'd just suggest boiling it down
a bit.
A Hoanh's vision (defined, broken-down or qualified), compassion, competence
and honesty (qualified) still seem like a good core set of qualities.
I'd also stick to most of my own top-10, partly as a distillation of some
others' lists here, partly not. I'd also refine a few and maybe add a few
qualities that were discussed or came to mind later. To wit, this is how
i'd now cook it up to better incorporate the above:
Top Ten Prioritized Leadership Qualities, ver 0.2
---------------------------------------------------------------
00. Wisdom (somewhat ineffable, but likely comprised of the following
qualities, several of which overlap or are interdependent)
01. Wit
02. Grace
03. Kindness
04. Inspirational Active
Resilience
[ed - "Inspirational Active" added]
05. Visionary Intelligence temper by
Humility [ed -
"Vision" incorporated]
06. Open-minded Skepticism
07. Physical, Mental, Spiritual & Economic
Fitness [ed - needs
clarification; note, sane ethicalness implied]
08. Sufficient Awareness of Contemporary Domestic and Global
Issues [ed - "Sufficient" added]
09. Reasonable Degree of Contemporary Legal, Scientific and Technological
Savvy
I'd only add a reminder that the original topic was "What are you looking
for in your leader?" -- though it might have been or should be changed by
now, no? -- and suggest again that A Ba Thien's suggestion to (re)define the
context and kind of leader/ship -- ie, be more specific about scope of
debate -- might improve the, let's say, cost effectiveness of this thread.
Cheers,
AD
PS: A Hoanh, with all due respect, if a mailing list's environment were more
like that of a courtroom trial i'd definitely consider the advisability of
shutting up and sitting down much more seriously. Over to you... ;)
On 7/27/07, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
> Dear anh Shane,
>
> I don't think the discussion is falling apart though. That is the nature
> of discussion. More often than not, we come up with opinions so far apart
> that the only final agreement we have is "We agree to disagree." That is
> both the human nature (to be different from each other here and there) and
> the nature of democracy (trying to live peacefully and happily :-( with the
> jerk next door :-)
>
> Vigorous differences are a very good sign--the sign that everyone has
> opinion, and is willing to contribute his/her opinion, and is strong enough
> to take the stand for his/her opinion. That is the sign of intellectual
> vigor. Agreement is good, but agreeing all the time may be a sign of
> lethargy.
>
> As long as we don't hit each other in the head, let's quarrel a bit here
> and there to make life more interesting.
>
> Have a great day!
>
> Hoanh
> ___________
>
> On 7/27/07, Shane Wall <shane.wall at translingualexpress.com > wrote:
> >
> > [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
> >
> >
> > I agree Bro. Hoanh, it seems the discussion is "falling apart" and we
> > are no closer to actually finding out the qualities that we, as a
> > family, think are the qualities all leaders should have.
> >
> > To be very frank and honest, the reason that this discussion has not
> > achieved its original purpose and has gone a long way off from the
> > original is simply because THERE IS NO LEADER in this discussion!
> >
> > My CACE, I will "lead" this discussion if you would like me too, but
> > please be aware that I try very, very hard to adhere to the 10
> > principles/ideas I have previously posted (appended again after my
> > address block).
> >
> > Something that nobody has mentioned yet is the willingness of a leader
> > to "step-up" and voluntarily take responsibility for the situation. I
> > love it when somebody does that. I work extremely hard for them because
> > they have taken on the risk. Sadly, far too few people are willing to
> > "take the risk" and become a Leader.
> >
> > This is what I said previously and what I try to encourage, enforce or
> > enable in my own leadership situations:
> >
> > *1. Willing to openly canvass and listen to all opinions, including
> > ones the leader may disagree with.*
> > Only by listening to all views and perspectives can the correct one
> > be found.
> >
> > *2. Be totally committed to the welfare of the "entity" being led as a
> > whole, not just elements within it.*
> > If only one section of the entity is cared for, human nature will
> > quickly ensure that the entity disintegrates. This also means that
> > sometimes a leader must be willing to harm part of the whole in order
> > for the whole to become or remain healthy. A true example is the Ship
> > Captain whose ship has an uncontrolled fire in the engineroom. He knows
> > there are 4 sailors still in the engineroom and 195 others safe. He does
> > not know if the 4 are still alive or dead already. He orders the
> > engineroom sealed and the firefighting chemical Halon to be dumped into
> > the compartment. Halon is lethally toxic when it reacts with fire
> > (that's part of how it works). He knows if the 4 are alive, he has just
> > killed them. He knows if he does not extinguish the fire, he places all
> > 195 others in jeopardy. I know this story is FACT because it happened in
> > the Royal Australian Navy when I was still serving.
> >
> > *3. Not afraid to make the hard decisions, like the example above, for
> > the good of the whole.*
> >
> > *4. Able to be self-critical and honest about mistakes or errors.*
> > The member of a sports team who gives their all and is defeated by
> > their opponent because the coach put them in the wrong position or gave
> > the wrong task is not to blame for losing the game, the coach who put
> > there is. The coach must then be able to exonerate the player and take
> > the blame.
> >
> > *5. Never asks another to do what he/she would not do themselves*,
> > a.k.a. lead by example or leading from the front.
> > This does not mean the leader has to actually participate, but it
> > does mean that those being led must know that when placed in the same
> > position, the leader DID do exactly what he/she is now asking others to
> > do, so understands their plight.
> >
> > *6. Is cooperative rather than combative or manipulative.*
> >
> > *7. Honest, moral, ethical and upstanding with a sense of justice and
> > what is "right".*
> > Nothing loses the respect of the led faster than some misdeed by a
> > leader. Nonetheless, this does not mean the leader cannot have made
> > mistakes, (See 4. above), but just how they handle them. Another true
> > story. On learning that their team leader was simply writing his own
> > reports based on his own presumptions and perceptions and not analyzing
> > and compiling their results and reports as he should have done, the team
> > simply stopped collecting the information and writing the reports - not
> > a healthy situation for intelligence operators. When I took over the
> > team, they were the worst, most demoralized team and the laughing stock
> > of the Unit. Morale was deeper than Whale doo-doo!
> >
> > *8. Openly and equitably distributes and shares the benefits and
> > burdens.*
> > I've seen instances where everything is shared equally (a
> > Communist-style model) and others where things are shared according to
> > pre-determined criteria or systems (a Capitalist-style model). From my
> > (limited) experience, it doesn't seem to matter which method is used,
> > rather that it is open and mutually agreed upon (See 6. above).
> >
> > *9. Deep understanding of the aspirations, wishes, needs and desires of
> > the led.*
> > Without this understanding, no leader can ever hope to satisfy these
> > things for their followers.
> >
> > *10. Willingness to delegate responsibilities, reward success and
> > rectify the causes of failure.*
> > By letting people undertake important tasks, rewarding them when
> > they succeed and helping rectify the reasons they may have failed, a
> > leader builds trust. From mutual trust comes teamwork. From teamwork
> > comes success. Any team-building guru will tell you that, or something
> > similar.
> >
> > Finally, I don't remember where this comes from, but I remember a
> > definition of "Leadership":
> >
> > _*"The ability to make others willingly do what they otherwise do not
> > want to do."*_
> >
> > Let's get "back on track" here! We've wasted a lot of typing time,
> > bandwidth and contemplation, let's try to get something CONCRETE out of
> > this discussion!!!
> >
> > Shane
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > Mr. Shane Wall
> > Principal,
> >
> > Trans Lingual Express
> > 120/14 Mai Thi Luu St,
> > P. Dakao, Q.1, HCMC,
> > Vietnam
> >
> > Mail: shane.wall at translingualexpress.com
> > Web: www.translingualexpress.com
> >
> > Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753 (Anh) - Tel: +84 (8) 820 9143 (Viet)
> >
> >
> > --
> > Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> > Washington DC
>
>
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