The Pillars of Leadership
Organizations are uniquely human enterprises. While organizational success may involve an efficient utilization of various resources, and the meticulous administration of processes and procedures, the essential imperative for success lies in the effective collaboration among the people who comprise the organization.
Therefore, the essential component required to run the organization is leadership--the focus of which is on communication, influence, motivation, teamwork, strategic vision, culture, and ultimately, the reliance on people. Read more in my paper entitled, Leadership for the 21st Century.
Strategic Vision
Strategic vision incorporates a wide range of thinking and actions that provide the motivation and direction for the organization's future. Click here for more information.
It is a leader’s role to manifest strategic vision, in all its forms: thinking and communicating strategically, considering the long-term, operating both within and outside the organization, leading efforts to create and deploy the organization’s mission and purpose, and leading strategic planning efforts.
Relationships
Organizations are uniquely human endeavors. Therefore, for most organizations, a relationships-based approach is more effective over the long-term than a process-, technology-, or resource-based focus.
Strong relationships outside and within the organization facilitate communication, lead to opportunities, strengthen teamwork, and contribute to the interdependence and synergy among people and departments. Click here for more information.
Logic and Systems Thinking
Ludwig von Bertalanffy is considered to be the principal author of the interdisciplinary school of thought we call “general systems theory.” From this 20th century framework has sprung a wide range of practical concepts: systems engineering, cybernetics, learning organizations, feedback loops, and so on. A systems thinking concept that is essential to sound leadership is the notion that all organizations are systems, the components of which are synergistically interdependent. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Click here for more information.
Knowledge-Based Decision-Making
Leadership is both an art and a science. The art is the judgement and application of experience that goes into every decision. However, decisions are best when based on facts, truth, understanding, knowledge, and wisdom (instead of capriciousness and emotion). That is not to say that creativity is unimportant. It is to say that the scientific method, considering purpose, measurement, analysis, and a systems view produce the strongest basis on which to make important decisions for the success of the organization. Click here for more information.
Quantitative Methods
A significant component of knowledge-based decision-making is a rigorous use of the various fields in their entirety often called, "Management Science" or "Statistical Engineering." Included in scientific categories are the quantitatively-based fields of operations research, statistics, Design of Experiments (DOE), and other quantitative methods, tools, and techniques. Click here for more information, and for a collection of papers, illustrations, and websites related to Quantitative Methods. Click here for more information.