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beginning the cycle again to create a spiral of growing competence in a rap-
idly changing business environment.

n Enhanced vision.

n More challenging mission.

n Superordinate goals.

Part two

Score: 100–120 You are a remarkably charismatic leader. Are you sure
that you are balancing charisma with intelligent pragmatism that ensures
that those whom you lead with such enthusiasm are consistently doing the
right thing in the right way at the right time?
Score: 80–99 You have charisma, but is there a danger that those who
follow you will seek to become clones of your style when it is no longer
appropriate to the company’s needs?
Score 50–79 You appear to show a balanced style in which a little
charisma is enough to inspire your people while a good deal of common
sense leads to consistently making the right decision.
Score 49 or under Bear in mind that there are at least as many suc-
cessful leaders who are perceived as lacking charisma as there are those
that have it by the bucketful, but please go back over the two sets of
answers to ensure that either you have the key skills that are essential to
any and all leaders or you know how to acquire them.

The essentials of leadership are not really charisma or otherwise. The
nuts and bolts that hold a team together while bringing out more than the
best of which they are capable are a matter of getting your behaviour right
for the immediate and long-term needs of your people. Leadership
demands consistency as does marketing and, like marketing it needs more
than one form of consistency. Effective leadership requires consistency –
leadership style and behaviour must be consistent with the needs of the
task to be done, the people that are being led and the situation in which
the action is taken. Yet that is not enough. If you want leadership to be
effective you must develop in your people the belief that in any situation
they know what you would do so that they can get on with it when you are
not around. In short, your behaviour must always appear to be consistent.
But in the real world things change. Not only is the business cycle still
spinning, it shows every sign of spinning faster and faster. Meanwhile a
team’s attitudes, beliefs, expectations, ambitions and ability are changing
too. In a changing world with a changing team the job to be done is certain
to change. Everything is in a state of flux. As everything changes the leader
is expected to provide the stability and continuity that people crave. This
is the great leadership paradox: if you are to be a successful leader you have
no choice other than to be consistent and flexible at the same time. There
is only one way to do that. It is more than a matter of style. It is a matter

“Leadership is what leaders DO!” 109