Management Perspectives

Good leaders are in more demand than ever. They must guide unprecedented global change amid a host of challenges. Today’s leaders face labour shortages, supply chain disruptions, inflation, and rapid innovation and converging technologies requiring smart, agile, and creative leaders from the shop floor to the C-Suite.

Baby boomer leaders are retiring at a record pace and demand for their replacement is high. So where do companies look for qualified leaders?

If we listen to public policy leaders, the expectation is that college is where we must prepare the workforce of the future; but is that truly the best policy? Amidst calls for free college for all, is there another option that we should investigate? Alternatives for developing leaders through specialised training and development are worth exploring.

In the United States, the adult workforce is roughly 165 million, and some 35 per cent have obtained a Bachelor’s degree or higher. The remaining 65 per cent, or around 107 million, have something less than a four-year degree. Meanwhile, the average manager’s span of control is eight to 10 people. This means that the number of employees managers need in the workforce is 16.5 to 20.6 million people.

Leadership at its core requires the ability to influence others to work together to achieve a goal. Good leadership is based on developing or adopting ideas, developing a plan, and communicating to others in a way that engages them to do their part to achieve the goal. This requires leaders to be both proficient and experienced in what they are advancing and to exhibit behaviours—some of which are innate, like patience, empathy, positivity, creativity, and risk-taking, and some of which are learned, like active listening, reliability, dependability, communication, team building, and the ability to teach and mentor.

Various myths exist about business leadership and how much is innate versus learned. Among the more common are:

• MYTH 1: Most business leaders are college educated
  The numbers would suggest that this might be true, with 58,000 degree holders in the workforce. Yet many of the 107 million people without degrees who mainly enter the workforce through entry-level jobs often learn on the job and work their way up to supervisory and manager-level (or higher) roles through their innate abilities, training, and leadership certification programs. Many of these front-line leadership roles involve supervising large groups of people.
  
  
• MYTH 2: Colleges train the next generation of business leaders
  It is true that colleges train many next-generation leaders and have done so for a long time. But not all college students are trained in leadership. Rather, it is mainly taught in leadership-specific courses that are not required for all degrees. Many of these courses train for problem solving and decision making, and developing an individual’s ability to analyse problems and develop solutions based on the data. The process presented is an entirely rational one. This is a good start, but it is not enough to be an indicator of innate leadership ability.
  
  Leaders not only need to analyse data and find a theoretical solution, they need to be able to translate their plan into action. In other words, they must read between the lines of analysis and planning and know the capabilities of the team and how to influence and support team members. They must rally the team to accomplish goals and also to look for opportunities to create more value.
  
  The dynamics of leadership revolve around getting things done — with the team, in the moment, and under pressure. Most business leaders are college graduates, but many aren’t and they learn leadership in the military, in building trades, in their respective industries, and in other settings, where their experiences enable them to develop into skilled leaders.
  
• MYTH 3: Business leadership is about control and power
  Business leadership is about delegating control and power within a framework of goals and objectives, along with marshaling agreement on the culture of the organisation and mobilising around a shared mission. With those elements in place, decisions and actions can be taken in a way that is consistent with the organisation’s values and ethics.
  
  What I have found as a leader is that the more responsibility I have, the more I need to use persuasive communication, an aspirational but achievable goal, and a good plan. Then I delegate the execution to the team, coach as needed, and take responsibility for the results.
  
  
• MYTH 4: Business leadership is complicated and hard to learn
  Business leadership is not hard to learn, but it is hard to practise consistently. Team members look to their leaders for clear goals, thoughtful strategy, and help with tactics.
  
  They look for a consistent and well-communicated vision that reflects the company’s core values, and they look to their leaders to live those values. When practised well, the team will align with the leader’s vision.
  
  I recently retired as COO at H. B. Fuller Company where I was responsible for three global business units with more than $3 billion in sales, that served 30 global markets with 38 technology centers and 69 plants in 35 countries. I have worked with great leaders from all walks of life, genders, ethnicities, and cultures from all around the globe. Each one had these things in common: they were guided by a culture built on winning the right way, they understood and exhibited the power of collaboration and the essence of courage, and they were supported by an executive committee willing to delegate responsibility to trusted team members who were closest to our customers.
  
  
• MYTH 5: Everyone can be a business leader
  This is only true if you add ‘who wants to’ to the end of the statement. Leadership is about taking responsibility to decide what to do and then doing it. It is learned through experience and can take root in employees at all levels who have a strong desire to influence outcomes, are willing to take responsibility for themselves and others, and enjoy being accountable for achieving results.
  
  Leaders need a balance of analytical, innate abilities and a desire to be successful. I am an example of an entry-level employee without the benefit of a college degree who rose to become CEO by using his innate attributes of curiosity, will, and self-directed learning. Because of my own experience, I believe that anyone who wants to, can become a business leader.