The Choice of Leadership

Originally posted on www.govlife.ca

I’ve been reading a lot about leadership lately, mainly thanks to George’s weekly roundups here on #govlife.

Earlier this week Scott wrote a piece on leadership as well, The New Government Leader. He talked about the behaviours that define tomorrow’s successful government leaders. The article he referenced suggested that future leaders will be those that can create connections, be adept at digital media, and tests assumptions about current and future trends.

This week I came across an article on the topic that really resonated with me. Before you have that deja vu moment, yes the article I highlighted last week was by the same author, Matt Cheuvront. I did mention that you’d be seeing more from him, I just didn’t think it would be this soon.

His most recent post The Choice of Leadership hit on a lot of great points about what he feels a leader is and the types of qualities they possess. Matt suggests that “follow-through is the most valuable asset to any leader” and that “Leaders understand that the right thing to do and the hard thing to do are very often the same.”

I suspect people you identify as good leaders do both of these on a regular basis. They constantly deliver on what they said they would and they make right (and tough) calls on behalf of the team.

This was my favourite part of his post.

“As creative professionals. As leaders. As human beings. We have one power that lies within our control. That power is choice. We choose how to act. We choose what to pursue. We choose when and how to follow-through. The only question, then, is “what will you choose?””

Do you see this type of leadership in your organization? If not, can you commit to help get it there?