Paths Toward Personal Progress [antikvár]

Understanding Leadership > Leadership is democratic if it provides each worker the maximum opportunity for growth without creating anarchy. By W. C. H. Prentice Attempts to analyze leadership tend to fail because the would-be analyst misconceives his task. He usually does not study leadership at all. Instead he studies popularity, power, showmanship, or wisdom in long-range planning. Somé leaders have these things, but they are not of the essence of leadership. Leadership is the accomplishment of a goal through the direction of humán assistants. The man who successfully marshals his humán collaborators to achieve particular ends is a leader. A great leader is one who can do so day after day, and year after year, in a wide variety of circumstances. He may not possess or display power; force or the threat of harm may never enter into his dealings. He may not be popular; his followers may never do what he wishes out of love or admiration for him. He may not ever be a colorful person; he may never use memorable devices to dramatize the purposes of his group or to focus attention on his leadership. As for the important matter of setting goals, he may actually be a man of little influence, 01* even of little skill; as a leader he may merely carry out the plans of others. His unique achievement is a humán and social one which stems from his understanding of his fellow workers and the relationship of their individual goals to the group goal that he must carry out. Problems & Illusions It is not hard to state in a few words what successful leaders do that makes them effective. But it is much harder to tease out the components that determine their success. The usual method is to provide adequate recognition of each worker's function so that he can foresee the satisfaction of somé major interest or motive of his in the carrying out of the group enterprise. Crude forms of leadership rely solely on single sources of satisfaction, i.e., monetary rewards, or the alleviation of fears about various kinds of insecurity. The task is adhered to because following orders will lead to a paycheck, and deviation will lead to unemployment. No one can doubt that such forms of motivation are effective within limits. In a mechanical way they do attach the worker's self-interest to the interest of the employer or the group. But no one can doubt the weaknesses of such simple techniques. Humán beings are not machines Reprinted from HBR September-October 1961, Number 61511. Copyright 1961 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College; all rights reserved