The Third Rail of Leadership
I’ve written before that Managing and Leadership are different aspects of the work a leader does. Managing is that part that’s like a border collie barking at sheep to get them focused on doing their ‘eating grass’ job. Leading is like a racehorse in the lead down the backstretch. The horse is seemingly pulling all the others in the right direction setting both the pace and aimed at the vision.
Another aspect of a leader’s work is politics. By this I mean building their team of supporters. If you think about what politics means it’s really what a politician does to get elected and re-elected, they build a team of fundraisers, canvassers and other supporters, i.e. the team that works on their behalf to win the election.
A leader to be effective must do the same thing. Their supportive team can come from people who work for them, peers who have similar jobs, their own leaders or people outside the organization. It’s a wise thing for a leader to be conscious of building a supportive team and keeping the relationships healthy. Many great managers and leaders have failed because they didn’t work to create a political team to support them.
