The Art of Leadership explained

It is interesting to consider whether Leadership is more of an Art or more of a Science.  Certainly lots has been written about “how” to be an effective leader. Much like the plethora of books on golf, they describe in 6 or 8 or perhaps even 12 steps to the fool proof approach to being a great leader. The problem is that life is just not like that. Leadership is not complex, but it is difficult… much like the game of golf.  And like the game of golf, just reading a book or going to a seminar is not going to immediately improve your game.

Let’s say that leadership is one part Science and one part Art.  The science part is pretty easy to acquire. Do some reading, take a workshop, assess your current skills and develop a plan to improve performance. The art part is a little more elusive… how do you move beyond the mechanical process of leadership and develop intuition and finesse?

A great example of leadership as a science is to hire based on past performance… I would suggest that this is like driving your car by looking in the rear view mirror. Works OK on a straight road with no curves, but can get pretty interesting if you encounter a few unexpected curves.  We no longer live in a static world… it is dynamic, complex, and unpredictable.  To extend the analogy, imagine what it would take to hire based on future potential.  But how do you learn to hire based on future potential? I suppose you could do some fancy math and connect some dots and extrapolate what the individual might accomplish… but wouldn’t that be looking at Art through the Science lens?

What is required is a totally different way of looking at your role as a leader. The science is important, but it is not enough. Our vision is to help you Advance the Art of Leadership, and no, we don’t have a 12 step model to do that, but we can help you on the journey to discover the artistic elements that your left brain may have suppressed.

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