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Book Review
"You Don’t Need a Title to Be a
Leader" As a child, nothing was more frustrating than receiving the explanation: “Because I said so,” from a parent. As a kid, it seemed intolerably unfair to be expected to obey a decision without receiving any reasons as to why the decision was made. As an adult, it’s no easier to accept the explanation: “Because I said so,” from a boss. We are irritated when managers pull rank without offering us insight into their decision-making. We are particularly suspicious of leaders when we sense they are trying to leverage their authority to manipulate or control us. In You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader, Mark Sanborn separates leadership from position. Instead of measuring leadership by location in a hierarchy, Sanborn adopts the simple phrase “positive influence” to define leadership. A concise text filled with leadership truisms, You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader doesn’t break new ground as much as it reminds the reader of the true essence of leadership. Sanborn’s view of leadership emphasizes relationships instead of rank, cooperation over control, and persuasion rather than orders. By divorcing leadership from title, Sanborn makes it accessible to the non-CEO. Leadership is not the realm of the elite executive, but the common medium of middle managers, line workers, mothers, teachers, and custodians. Much of the book has a motivational feel. Sanborn points out the tremendous difference made by each person’s daily leadership, and he dignifies the potential of every person to change the course of history through the positive influence they exert on others. On page 94, Sanborn endorses motivation as a basic tenet of leadership: “The first job of those who act as leaders—whatever their title—is to convince others of the significance of their actions.” In You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader, Sanborn doesn’t plumb the depths of any one topic as much as he overviews a selection of basic leadership wisdom. He touches upon attitude (see opportunity versus obligation on page 29), selflessness (page 16), and execution (read about visioning, page 72) in weaving his conception of untitled leadership. You Don’t Need a Title to Be a Leader has great appeal as an introductory text on the topic of leadership. The book makes an ideal gift for the individual who has always been taught that leadership is synonymous with the person in charge. Rather than embracing positional prestige, Mark Sanborn sets out a refreshing picture of others-centered leadership that radiates from relational influence. Previous Reviews Timeless Leadership Principles In the arena of leadership skills development, we’re daily bombarded with a cacophony of claims for “the latest and greatest discovery” that will revolutionize how your lead. “Just learn and apply these principles,” go the advertisements, “and you’re assured of success.” Ideas that have been around since the dawn of time are given a new name, clothed in the latest style, and sold as something recently discovered. For example, consider one of the most often quoted “new” leadership principles, “Begin with the end in mind.” What does this mean? It sounds a lot like goal setting to me. It’s important that we sift through all the noise and identify the principles that will give us the greatest chance of success. Here are a few of my favorites, the leadership principles I believe are the essential fundamentals. Know your business. This is so obvious that sometimes we may forget it. You can’t lead if you don’t know what you’re leading. Here I’m speaking of the business function you are leading. If you’re leading a production process you have to know that process. If you are leading the accounting function you have to know accounting. I am not suggesting that you have to be THE expert in your area and know everything. Your followers will have knowledge that you don’t have and that you can leverage to get the work done. Select the right people. Your followers are going to make or break you so they must be carefully selected and nurtured. Employee skills and knowledge can be developed. However, aptitudes and attitudes are difficult if not impossible to change in the workplace. Therefore, you must carefully select employees with the “right” attitudes and aptitude for your work environment. I don’t know what psychologists would say about this. But to me it’s evident. During my career I’ve seen it over and over again. If someone has the right attitude and aptitude, he or she can be taught the skills and knowledge to be successful on the job. Develop their skills and knowledge. To be successful your followers must be competent. How competent? Certainly they should know the basics and should be able to perform the work expected of them at a very high level. Why? Equipment and processes don’t run themselves. People make the difference. As has been said many times recently, people are the only competitive advantage. Performing at a minimal level of competence just isn’t good enough. Followers have to become experts so they can apply their knowledge to improve processes. Some leaders just don’t get this. I’ve known many who want to hold their employees back so that they will always be the most knowledgeable. What folly. In today’s ultra complicated world, one person cannot hope to acquire even a small fraction of the knowledge available to improve processes. It takes the combined brainpower of an entire team. Communicate the vision and goals (overall and each individual role). All followers must know the overarching goal and understand how they individually contribute to meeting the mission and goals. Successful leaders ensure that their followers not only know the goals and their roles, but provide constant feedback as a measure of progress toward those goals. Think of it as driving a car on a trip. For an employee to successfully make the trip, he or she must first know where the destination. Next, their part in the process must be clear. Are they the driver? The navigator? The mechanic? The back seat driver? Then, we have to provide constant feedback – the navigator must read the road signs to ensure we are on the correct road. Overall results will create pride in accomplishment and individual feedback will let employees know how they are doing toward meeting their individual goals. Celebrate Success/Reward Goal-Oriented behavior. Any behavior that is rewarded will increase in frequency. Reward the behaviors that lead to success. The greatest reward is your sincere thanks. Address poor performance. Poor performance must be corrected as soon as possible lest it infect the good performers. Addressing it could involve training, coaching, or discipline. Demonstrate conviction and constancy; stick with the standards. You can’t be wishy-washy. Maintain a constancy of purpose unless overwhelming evidence indicates otherwise. Walk your talk!
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