The Path to Extraordinary Leadership

I recently attended a seminar by Michelle L. Buck, Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, titled The Path to Extraordinary Leadership.

In times of economic crisis leaders are now in the spotlight and scrutinized more than ever. While the history annuals remain littered with catastrophic leadership failures some leaders rise above the ranks to become highly successful.

Extraordinary leaders seem to generate synergy and infuse collaboration. They have a global perspective with the ability to span cross-cultural and cross-functional boundaries, with the energy and knack to seize opportunities at the right time. Moreover, these great leaders seem to have authentic life stories and core values.

So how can we develop our leadership abilities from good to great? Professor Buck’s research suggests the path to extraordinary leadership can be broken down into four main areas below.

Assessment & Feedback

• By constantly seeking feedback and performance data - to understand their strengths and weaknesses - great leaders develop a balanced and rational perspective of themselves. They then apply this information and knowledge to effectively leverage their strengths and improve performance gaps.

Reflection & Planning

• Extraordinary leaders make time for reflection to review and analyze their actions and decision-making. They assess their individual performance and the perceptions of others then look for areas to optimize and improve. With true inner reflection they can then move forward and create better plans for the future.

Knowledge & Insight

• Great leaders place importance on continuous learning and challenge themselves to understand the detail and inner-workings of their industry. They spend time networking and asking questions to learn from others. Since this learning improves their expertise, knowledge and thought-leadership in their field these leaders can then move ahead of the curve by seeing what’s next. So they can use their insights and to identify new opportunities, challenge the status quo and drive real innovation and change. 

Experience & Action

• While the media emphasises heroic individuals and turns them into celebrities, great leaders embrace the importance of teamwork and cultivate interpersonal relationships. Through these relationships the best leaders make an impact by rallying people to their vision for the future. Then using their experience they implement action plans to drive results, by collaborating and influencing across teams or organizations to accomplish goals.

Some might say that many leaders are extremely lucky in their careers. However one underlying pillar is a disciplined mindset to focus on these four key areas. This enables great leaders to learn from experience, show resilience when faced with challenges, and leverage their core values - with a sense of purpose that remains stable - while their strategies and practices adapt to a changing world.

An Authentic Story

But most importantly is that each extraordinary leader has an authentic story, ethical core-values, and a powerful resonating message. Valeria Maltoni has a great summary of Barack Obama's Social Media Campaign and how his authentic life story was promoted across different media to keep his supporters engaged. While Lorissa Shepstone has written a fantastic article on Anita Roddick who founded The Body Shop and inspired women by never compromising her core-values. Finally Guy Kawasaki promotes mantras that are meaningful and memorable, and great leaders have powerful mantras so their message is instantly recognizable.