The most important thing a leader can do is to recognise the leadership potential in others. This is the view of Carly Fiorina, former chairperson and CEO, Hewlett-Packard, speaking at the Global Leaders Africa Summit held at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg this week.
Fiorina said leadership is a choice, first and foremost. "A choice to dare to do something different... to make a difference. Leaders know that their most important job is to unlock the leadership potential in others.
"Leadership is about changing the order of things. Not all managers are leaders. Management and leadership are not the same thing. Leadership is a choice to make a difference... and leadership is a choice because it takes courage and risk taking," Fiorina emphasised.
Leadership essence
To summarise her professional presentation, delivered live and in person from a stage at the event to a few hundred South African business leaders, Fiorina highlighted the following essence of excellent leadership:
- There are many people capable of leadership, but they don't always choose to lead, as leadership requires vision and leaders can fail.
- The most important job of a leader is to see possibilities others cannot see and build the capability of others.
- Leadership is not self-centred, leadership is about building long-lasting capability. No goal worth achieving can be accomplished without collaboration and teamwork.
- Leaders will also always be resistant, resilient.
- Leadership requires creating a set of possibilities even more compelling than people's fear of change. Natural inclination in any institution is to maintain status quo.
- Leaders need a set of values, objectives and goals that need to be followed through on.
- You have to walk the walk if you want people to live up to your values. And if they don't, you have to be prepared to take action. Some of the toughest decisions she had to make as a leader, was because people did not behave with integrity or respect, said Fiorina.
- A leader can talk about values all day long, but it is those actions a leader takes, that really broadcast to an organisation what matters.
- Leadership is about one's own capability and building the character of an organisation.
- Leadership is about collaboration - how to effectively collaborate.
Upskilling
"In terms of building capability, the most successful leaders I know, are those that never stop learning. Never stop building their skills. You can learn from everyone. Leaders are always learning and always helping others learn," said Fiorina.
Diversity
Fundamentally, diversity is a business imperative, she emphasises.
"When I look for an effective leader, I look at who they surround themselves with. If they surround themselves with people like themselves, they can get to an answer pretty quick. When people are all the same, they all think the same. You are missing something important.
"A real leader surrounds themselves with people who are different - they bring a different set of skills to a problem. When you have a diverse team like that, it is sometimes harder to get to the answer, but it takes time to build a common language."
Fiorina advises that if leaders at the top are not willing to take the risk and surround themselves with people who are different from them, most people will go to their comfort zone. "That is the basis of enduring prejudice in an organisation."
In conclusion, she said that leaders need to measure how many women and minorities are also represented in their organization to ensure diversity.
