One of the most important characteristics of a good leader is the ability to find and appoint the right individuals to assume leadership roles themselves. A successful organization is not structured so that the CEO just leads a pack of followers. That’s the kind of human formation that seems more appropriate for a biblical story except even Jesus Christ chose 12 men to be his apostles.
Understandably, there will never be a concrete checklist of attributes and experience that make up a quality leader. It is only through our own attributes, experience, assessment, and intuition that we leaders will know a good leader when we see one and ensure that he or she is put in a position or on a path that will foster development. Their growth will directly affect not only the growth of the whole team and the growth of the company but our growth as the leaders above them as well.
To be able to lead the people at our client companies’ leadership levels towards becoming better leaders, we at entreQuest continually study historically significant leaders. Even if it wasn't our job, we’d probably read about them anyway just because their tales of their tenure at the top are so fascinating – regardless of whether society considers them to be good (i.e., Martin Luther King, Jr.), bad (i.e., Adolf Hitler), or extremely debatable (i.e., George W. Bush).
Whether you like the man or not, former President George W. Bush’s autobiography “Decision Points” includes a highly informative chapter titled – "Personnel" - which provides valuable insight on how he went about picking the leaders in his administration. What was really interesting was learning about the career paths of his cabinet members and other key individuals on his staff. Many of them were men and women who were enjoying incredible success in the private sector. Before he was put on the Republican ticket as the vice president candidate, Dick Cheney had left Washington long ago and gone on to find great contentment running a global business in the private sector – in fact he originally informed Bush that “he was happy with his life and finished with politics (page 65).” Fred Smith was twice considered Bush’s top candidate for the secretary of defense and he was the founder and CEO of FedEx – one of the world’s most successful businesses. Smith was very close to accepting the position both times only an issue with his health and then and issue with the health of his daughter prevented him from accepting. Bob Gates, who replaced Don Rumsfeld in 2006, had also left Washington in the past and rose to become president of Texas A&M University – a job he “loved (page 93)” so much that he actually turned down an offer to be Bush’s director of national intelligence the previous year.
Why did people like Cheney, Smith, and Gates who were leaders at the top of their fields – experiencing all the success and happiness an American could ask for – reach their own decision point to leave their current position (Smith excluded last minute) and join one of the most actively criticized administrations during a time of great challenge and much crisis for our country?
Because they wanted to play full-out. They are among those top 20 percenters that have the mindset to be great leaders no matter what type of team they are on. Further, they are not afraid to be humbled by being the new guy in a new field. They are confident they will rise to the occasion to learn new material, develop new skills, and reach new levels of leadership.
The job of the highest leader is to find these top 20 percenters and put them in the right positions. The job of these top 20 percenters is to know that the highest leader who is offering them a position is part of an organization that fits their unique needs (we at entreQuest use the acronym E.P.I.C. to describe an ideal organization as one that Embraces change, has Progressive leadership, is Innovative, and Culturally driven).
Read more about why the highest leaders should keep an eye out for top 20 percenters and especially why the top 20 percenters should drive themselves to higher heights of their own leadership capacity in an entreQuest article published in SmartCEO Magazine titled “Are You Playing Full Out?” available at this link: http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_Fullout_11.05.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.
Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.
(Information Source: "Decision Points" by George W. Bush. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2010.)
