Real Leaders Don't Boss (18 page)

How could the leaders in your life communicate more efficiently and effectively combining both e-methods and traditional communication tools? What can you do to communicate
more effectively and efficiently in your own life? What's stopping you from doing it?

Not only does face-to-face communication convey real connections, it can give you as a leader a better understanding of what's really happening in your workplace and in the marketplace. Use face time to complement extensive electronic communication and the more traditional forms such as faxes, printouts, and notes to give your company and employees the competitive edge.

As a leader, set up a company Facebook page and a blog to chat business and develop ideas with your staff; and Tweet the newest to stay connected with your employees and staff, too. Listen to what others have to say and be open to different viewpoints. Use e-mail, a note, and/or a bulletin board post to follow up, and then a face-to-face meeting to go over ideas and make sure everyone is in the loop. All these types of communication can help build that all-important genuine sense of community and an environment in which people want to work together. Remember: real leaders listen to all views, respect all parties, and then embark forward on a journey to make a difference.

Face-to-face communication enables leaders to really connect with employees and to better understand what's happening in the workplace.

Social media, e-mails, texting, and instant messaging do have a place in the workplace as long as they are not the only form of back-and-forth communication.

If a leader connects and communicates with his or her staff, confrontations or divisive issues generally end up less volatile, and it's easier to reach a consensus.

Real leaders know how to use humor to diffuse and to reassure.

Writing your own messages helps you clarify your vision and chart your strategic direction.

Real leaders need to learn how to listen to their employees, their markets, and their communities.

Connecting and networking with others—no matter their job strata—can help develop long-term, important alliances.

 Chapter 4 
Real Leaders Have a Unique Make-Up

Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leadership is not about the size of someone's paycheck or the length of his or her resume; it is about passion, guts, and the willingness to give back. Too often people confuse the need and desire to manage (boss) others or the craving to get rich with passion and guts. On the surface, these characteristics can appear similar. But closer examination quickly reveals how far apart they are when it comes to action, attitude, and reality. Bosses bully, whereas real leaders inspire by passion and guts, and rally those around them to follow and achieve greatness. Of course, we can't prove it scientifically, but it almost seems as if there's a “leadership make-up”—if not in the genes, then an alignment of certain traits that, if developed properly, can allow someone to flourish as a leader.

Passion in many forms surrounds us every day. But little of it translates into real business or community leadership that commits to helping companies, employees, and others so that everyone benefits from it. The brand of passion that infuses great leaders needs to be “fervor.” It is an infectious lifestyle that includes living one's ideals, having a clear vision for the future, and possessing a mindset that enables the achievement of success in the face of adversity. For individuals who have found their passion, invariably life becomes more exciting, rewarding, and enjoyable, too. In the workplace, that passion translates into creation of a strong corporate culture that can help drive an organization's success in good times and bad. Look around you at those companies that have remained strong through the current recession. Somewhere in their make-up there is probably a passionate, real leader.

Passion is the best form of PR and fuels the perception by others that a leader is, indeed, just that. People want to know that their leaders—in government, business, church, sports, and elsewhere—fervently ascribe to what they say. They want to know that their leaders' views will not be easily swayed or vanish mysteriously when times get tough. People want to believe that the actions of their leaders are motivated by a strong sense of purpose and by values encased in passion. Above all, leaders must lead by example, teach others how to lead, be willing to always extend a helping hand to people in need, and always be humble and compassionate in how they approach life.

Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino's Pizza, has had an enormously successful career. But he certainly didn't start out that way. His father died when Tom was 4 years old; his mother couldn't take care of him and his brother, so Monaghan ended
up in an orphanage and foster homes. He dropped out of college and initially failed at the pizza business. But he was driven to succeed and passionately convinced that his vision of pizza delivered fast and fresh for a reasonable price would fly. So he kept trying, listened and learned from others, and finally got it right. We all know the rest as home-delivery history.

Comebacks in organizational and political life are the stuff of legends. Americans identify with those who have been knocked down and bounce back to experience success. Many of Tom Monaghan's critics made the mistake of writing him off when he lost his pizza business. He has been variously described as wacky, grandiose, over-zealous, lowbrow, heavy-handed, and worse. I liked him, though, the very first time I met him, probably attracted to his “comeback-kid” quality. He tasted failure several times in business, only to rise triumphantly, surpassing nearly everyone's expectations.