Page 128 - SKU-000506274_TEXT.indd

Achievement
Achievement drives us to insist on high standards, sometimes higher than
is necessary and since no one can achieve quite as well as we can, being
motivated by achievement is often the enemy of effective delegation. Psy-
chological research suggests that achievement motivation is the key to pre-
managerial entrepreneurial success, but that carried into management it
puts a severe limitation on the development of successful teams. This
research is frequently cited as the reason why successful entrepreneurs
fail to build or retain control of, major corporations.

The effective charismatic leader always knows when and what to let go
and how to make the best possible use of others. The less effective charis-
matic leader believes his or her myth of superiority and cannot let go. Gen-
eral Lee may be a hero to the southern states even today, but is it possible
that his belief in his own considerable ability led finally to disaster?

Affiliation
Nice people sometimes seek leadership responsibility in order to do
thoughtful and generous things for others. This can lead to situations
where a leader is distracted from the goal because he or she is overly con-
cerned with the effect that some necessary action may have on others and
fails to take essential and timely action. The leader driven by affiliation is,
at the extreme, paralyzed by the fact that they are so eager to please every-
body that they do nothing for fear of upsetting somebody. Such leaders
never bring their teams long-term success and invariably are side stepped
by the emergence of informal leaders who have their eye firmly on the ball.
(Whether it is the right ball is always open to question.)

No successful charismatic or pragmatic leader is mainly motivated by
affiliation. Most are effective in how they use other people. Not in some
manipulative way, but in order to use the greatest strengths of the best
people to get things done effectively and at minimum cost. (See Power
below.) This often demands that more kicks are administered than kisses
and those under them often perceive charismatic leaders as hard taskmas-
ters that they would nonetheless follow “to hell and back”. A nurturing
style of leadership seldom is effective in the cut and thrust world of busi-
ness.

Power
Research suggests and experience confirms that those who are driven by a
desire to understand and make the best possible use of power within the
organization for the attainment of organizational goals are most success-
ful as leaders in business. Charismatic leaders and the most successful
pragmatic leaders have this in common: they take the trouble to under-
stand power as it pertains to the organization and they use that knowledge
to achieve organizational goals in the fastest time at least cost. Then they
consider the key sources of power in the organization and assess their abil-
ity to strengthen those that they feel are most appropriate and useful in
helping to achieve business goals.

“Leadership is what leaders DO!” 97