Our world needs energy from the sun. Your people need energy from you! Think your firm’s leader as the center of your business universe, the source of company energy. The leader sets your organization’s style, philosophy and tempo. Whatever the leader does, feels, or thinks is projected down through the organization. In a Harvard Business Review article, Thomas Levitt writes: “No organization can achieve greatness without a vigorous leader who is driven onward by a pulsating will to succeed”. To the end; this leader must set the company’s style, its direction and its goals.
The leader must continually create and share with the TEAM members a vision which will point the company toward the future. This is the center of the firm’s business universe and our most important contact. Each manager within the organization in turn is the energy source of his or her group and each group then becomes a collective energy source for the organization.
“Great leadership starts at the top of the organization and always trickles down through the management ranks”
In order for the trickle-down management style to be effective, you need great managers with these important management-leadership skills abilities.
- Recruiting
- Selecting
- Training
- Managing
- Motivating
- Quality Improvement
These six qualities are vital since natural qualities alone do not assure success. Successful managers perform these six skills exceedingly well. Marginal or failing managers are missing one, if not all, of these skills. It is also important that the executive charged with developing managers knows the art of management. “Good” teaches good practices; “bad” teaches bad practices. The leader must first learn the art of management personally.
How do you lead from the top down? Share your thoughts…
Looking for a good book on the subject, suggested reading;
- The Visionary Leader: How to inspire success from the top down.
- Susan Bagyura (Author), Michael E. Gerber (Foreword), Fiona Dempsey (Illustrator)
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