Page 84 - ACAMS-Today-V20N3

[ CAREER GUIDANCE ]
Competence
A leader does not have to be skilled at working and fixing each moving part but needs to know enough about the machine to direct others in operating it. A competent leader knows enough about the job that they can assess team members’ ability, assign tasks accord- ingly and provide proper guidance. Competence is not simply measured by the time on the job. Competence often comes from embracing your mistakes and learning from them. With compe- tence comes decisiveness.
Before becoming the chief, Irey was a seasoned criminal investigator adroit at building cases sturdy enough for prosecution. This competence served him well in conditioning his agents to become so renowned at following the money and taking down big gangsters and corrupt politicians (otherwise thought to be untouchable) that the media nicknamed Irey and his agents, “The Giant Killers.”
The proof of Irey’s competence can be found in a retirement congratulations letter from James Bennett, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Bennett told Irey, “Things are going to be at a ‘pretty-pass’ for me when I lose my best talent scout. You’ve really kept us busy for so many years that I won’t know what to do when you actually go into that richly deserved retirement.”
Before leading others, one must ensure they have competence.
Courage
Leaders need to be courageous in all aspects of their job. They need to be courageous in letting employees make decisions and, when appropriate, promptly giving constructive, honest feedback. Courageous leaders do not pass the blame when their employees make bad decisions. Courageous leaders willingly take the heat when their employees try to do the right thing but fail.
For Irey, going after organized crime was not a simple and safe walk in the park. When Capone learned that Irey’s team was on his case, witnesses mysteriously turned up missing or dead. It was a dangerous assignment and Irey regularly received death threats. He was unfazed by the threats to his own life but worried obsessively about the well-being of his agents.
But with all the safety and career risk he faced, Irey still had the courage to avoid microman- aging. He empowered his agents to work independently and make decisions on their own. And he was always there to take the blame when things went wrong.
In a letter, Special Agent Harry Dangler told Irey, “You drove your teams with an easy rein which gave them more confidence in themselves and made all of them give their best to you.”
Be a courageous leader and people will give their best.
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Charisma
Leadership expert John C. Maxwell simply describes charisma as “the ability to draw people to you and make them want to follow you.”7 Leaders with charisma make others feel valued and special, as if they are the most important person in the room.
The mild-mannered and unassuming Irey was not a great orator nor media savvy like his contemporary, J. Edgar Hoover, but he had tremendous charisma. In a letter, Clifton Mack told Irey, “I have always had a very pleasant recollection of the number of young folks who stopped by to visit with you, and I noticed particularly that they invariably called you ‘Uncle Elmer.’
I soon learned that it was an expression of their attitude toward you, a feeling of close friendship, and a desire to feel free to discuss their personal problems with you.” Mack, who led the fight against several of New York’s top gangsters and then played a key role in World War II as director of procurement, was an accomplished leader himself. Mack told Irey that the encounter he described to him, “made a very strong impression upon me, for the reason that the best evidence, to my mind, of an individual’s success is the estimation and respect others feel toward him. There is no more convincing test than that.”8
People follow who they like. Be a leader with charisma and make others feel they are the most important person in the room.
Compassion
If a leader cannot put their own needs behind the needs of others, they should not pursue a management career. People deserve compassionate leaders, not uncaring ones. Moreover, uncaring leaders are often undermined by their subordinates. Being mindful of others’ needs can go a long way.
Be a leader with charisma and make others feel they are the most important person in the room