Steve Shu's 21Publish Blog

A blog reader asked me to write down a few thoughts on leadership. I appreciate the request as it can be hard to come up with new topics to write about. Leadership is an interesting topic as a number of the business schools have programs related to the topic. As it turns out, I am also in the midst of adapting a blogging seminar around a leadership theme (for an MBA student audience).

My off-the-cuff on leadership. It is probably one of the most important things in business. People underestimate its importance.

But I don't think leadership can be taught in a few sessions or through reading a book. It's not something that can be learned quickly. It's something that has to be developed over many years through different experiences. And there are many styles of leadership. While MBA programs may not be able to teach leadership, they can foster an environment conducive to feeding leadership skills and knowledge.

For me, I had to develop and become more acutely aware of my own leadership style over decades. In the past seven years or so, I've become very aware that my leadership style manifests itself as that of a right-hand-man-type MO. I refined this style of leadership by developing strong analysis skills (important for advising) and doing skills (important for executing plans). Facilitation skills are also important for people with this type of leadership style. I thus developed a style that is flexible such that I can work with many types of people, yet my style is driven by pragmatism and a need to get things done at all cost.

My leadership style does not manifest itself as being a broad visionary, an area where some CEOs draw their strength. When I am "visionary" (for lack of a better word), it will likely be in a very focused area.

Where did I learn "my leadership"? I drew from all sources ... taking lead project roles on the job,  cutting my teeth in management consulting, reading books like "Killer Angels" and Chamberlain's efforts at Little Round Top during the Civil War, taking negotiation classes in business school, facilitating board meetings in non-profits and ventures, identifying professional mentors, and watching partner-level consultants in prior employers and asking them for their insights are just some of the ways that come to mind.

Real learning came from doing. Thus, true learning for me came from taking risks and either actively seeking out positions or creating tasks that would force me to lead. It could be as simple as publicly announcing a date when one will be running an industry/trade seminar - one then has to follow-through. It could be taking an active role to organize a board meeting. It could be taking on a lead project manager role of a visible project.

So put yourself in a position where "your leadership" must be born.

Update (7/28/05): Andy adds on to this thread and refers to some prior posts he's done on leadership that are also good.