[September 17, 2021] Historically, the most critical factor of leadership is getting results. This is why, today at least, it is vital to have a leader who has an excellent moral foundation and can thus be trusted to do the right thing. Furthermore, the best leaders will never believe the end justifies the means to achieve a goal. That is simply unacceptable.
To leaders, the means (processes and methods) used to reach our ends (missions and goals) are just as important as the ways (resources available) to get there. This is why, in my opinion, Socialism is such a failure.
Socialism fails because the dream (the ends) of a utopian society has historically been achieved through the barrel of a gun and the gulag (the means and ways). When millions die because of the Socialist ideology, which occurred in the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and elsewhere in the 20th Century, it tells us much about the means to achieving a goal. The means and ways, therefore, are pretty darn necessary.
Some people will tell us that the “intent” of the leader is essential. Frankly, results matter more. In Western societies, we’ve been tilting toward the “intent” of a leader by which to judge them. However, this runs counter to the idea of a good leader. True, a leader must first believe in the cause, but then the leader must actually achieve the goal of that cause.
Furthermore, there are no excuses for failure. If a leader is senior enough, it is expected that they can foresee all possible barriers to success and have taken appropriate action. It is contemptible that a leader telling us something could not be done that they previously signed up to do. In the military, we are fond of saying, “the maximum effective range of an excuse is zero meters.”
Getting results also means getting those results even when the leader has no authority and must rely upon other subjective skills, such as persuasion. Persuasion and other social skills are essential. A leader will rarely possess all the resources and permissions needed to get things done. That is why developing relationships, creating trust and confidence in others, and influencing people to achieve greater things are essential.
Leaders get things done. They do it ethically and by taking care of people. They aspire to loyalty through tough times and good. They have, what we call, gravitas!
Get results – ethically – or go down in flames.
Yep, succinct.
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This particular sentence is very important. Please folks, don’t overlook it, “Getting results also means getting those results even when the leader has no authority and must rely upon other subjective skills, such as persuasion. ” That’s absolutely true. 😊
Hello everyone, good morning to all. I’m new on this blog and I hope to add something to the conversation. I’ve been around many blogs that are on leadership but they just all seem to want my money. It’s all about the Benjamins. Terrible (my way of thinking anyway).
Welcome Ursala. You will discover soon that this forum is darn good. BTW, where are you from? We hope that you read the leader forums daily and when you think you can add something, then please do comment. Comments help us all see what others are thinking and when needed, we can help develop ideas.
Welcome Ursala!
Thank you, sir. I look forward to it.
Gen. Satterfield, it is always a good thing to pick up new folks who are willing to step up and make comments in this forum. This is a place where we all can exchange ideas and develop our thoughts a little more than any where else. I like it because it is a polite, creative space too. Thanks for allowing us the chance to do this.
That’s what leaders do all right. But …. and this is a big but … great leaders achieve the right & moral results.
Yes, an important difference. 👍
Yes, good point Billy. And something never ever to forget.