Why is good leadership important?

Summary

What is leadership and why should we care about it? What makes an effective leader? And can followers be leaders? 

Get answers to some of the most asked questions surrounding leadership.

Guest: Dan Gaken, director of the Sarah R. Opperman Leadership Institute at Central Michigan University.

Transcript

Chapters 

Introduction

Adam: What is leadership and why should we care about it? What's really at the heart of leadership and what's the greatest need for leadership today? Welcome to The Search Bar. You've got questions. Let's find some answers. Bypass Google and sidle up to The Search Bar instead, as Central Michigan University's amazing team of experts answer some of the Internet's most asked questions. I'm your host, Adam Sparkes, and on today's episode, we are searching for answers on leadership. Dan Gaken, the Director of the Sarah R. Opperman Leadership Institute at Central Michigan University, is here to help us do just that. Hi, Dan.

Dan: Adam, I'm glad to be here.

Adam: All right. We're gonna talk about your area of expertise today, which is leadership. Which is…it's a little esoteric, right? It's kind of one of these things where when somebody told me, "Hey, we're gonna talk about leadership with Dan, I was like, that's exciting. What the hell is that?" I think we all have like some sort of an idea of who is a leader, who's been a leader in our life, or who's a leader that we've seen on television or something, or who's a political leader or a sports leader. But like, when we start to like, dig down into that and how we value that in our day-to-day functions or professional functions, it's a thing that becomes more tangible or at least more studiable is sort of what I've come to. And I've been kind of being tutored on this by a 22-year-old who's been leading me in kind of my understanding of it at an academic level.

What is leadership? 

Dan: You're absolutely right. When folks say leadership, that can mean anything and everything depending on context. For some folks, that's very positional, that's their manager at work, that's the manager of a baseball team. That is, that folks people that see in those leadership roles. What I will tell you is that question you ask, what is leadership? And you said, you know said, "hell if I know” that's part of of our discipline is trying to narrow that down. There are more than 900 published academic definitions of leadership. What that should tell you is as a discipline, we don't know. And so at Central Michigan University in the Leadership Institute, what we always advocate is we want folks to find a model, a definition of leadership that works for them, that helps them create influence, make changes, and build the world that they wanna live in.

And so, when folks ask me what my definition of leadership is even in the Leadership Institute, we have not adopted one definition. We've adopted a definition of leadership education, right? We're helping folks create change in an ever-changing and challenging world. And it's to make this world better for others. And so when folks ask me, who's a leader? I don't know that I care about their title, or what profession they're in. I wanna know, is this somebody who's trying to make themselves better and make this world better for others?

Dan: Those, those models of leadership that try and help a leader balance that. There are two ways to look at that. Sometimes we put those each on an axis, right? About interpersonal relations or task-oriented behaviors. Now, I think we're in a world where we understand that those are not mutually exclusive, that we can both care for each other, get along, get to know each other, be respectful, and understand what that goal is. Now, as a leader, what I tell folks is there's nothing more important for a leadership skill than having emotional intelligence, right? And when I say emotional intelligence I think a lot of folks, right? They're very familiar with IQ, right? We know what IQ is, right? That one to 200 scale of how bright you are. And there's this belief, and I know there's some work in the psychology areas, different disciplines that's challenging this now.

But for a long time, we believed IQ was a fixed point, right? You are, you are born with what you get. Now, whether or not we live in a world where everybody has access to achieve that potential, that's a different story. But EQ, when we're talking about emotional intelligence, there's a benefit there, because that's a process, right? That's a growth area. That's something I can practice. And when I say EQ, I know some folks are less familiar. It's about how comfortable I am working with others. There are two halves to that, right? Me knowing my own emotions, right? What causes me to feel hope or anxiousness or fear or love and understanding that those emotions and how I show up impact my team. I get to decide how I show up now in our day-to-day lives, there are things that are gonna cause us to feel anxious.

I mean, there's a lot of lights in here, right? That's why I've always wanted to know about the podcasting world, is there's two of us in this room. Why am I wearing headphones? Right? You know there, but I have that choice of knowing, this is this is a bit surreal. You're in the lights, you're thinking about this. But then to think, how do I wanna show up? I can rationalize that and say, it's unusual, but it's just Adam and I having a conversation. I get to recognize that emotion and decide how I wanna show up. Now, when we take that to the other side of that equation to the interpersonal side, that's where that empathy comes in. Now, I'm not just thinking about my emotions, but I've gotta be conscious of how those make you feel.

To be able to connect with somebody on an emotional level to cause them to change a behavior or to vote a certain way, or join an organization or to somehow help my movement. I can't do that. I'll never be able to do that unless I know what matters to you. And so that level of empathy, of listening and listening to understand is at the heart of leadership one of the things I advocate with students or with professional clients is always to enter every space as both a teacher and a learner and to think about how can we create spaces where everybody brings value? When you've got folks that are excelling in leadership roles, what they're doing is they're looking around, they're making asset maps, whether it's a physical document or if that's something they're doing in their head of talent to know who excels at what, where can people thrive? The best leaders are the ones who are concerned with the folks under them, not above them, right? They're taking a look at how can I make the people around me better.

Adam: What does it mean to be a follower who is using leadership? What does that look like for somebody who's, I don't have charges in this organization that I have, I don't really tell anybody what to do, but I still need to lead. How is that different?

Dan: I think the folks that wherever you're at in an organization, right? If you are at the top of that org chart, or if you're the newest member of that organization, the folks that excel in those roles are the one that realized that leadership is always a continuum between leadership and followership. If you're at the top of that, that's about being vulnerable and being okay with that, that asking for help is not a weakness if you are that new person. If you don't have that positional leadership, if there's no authority that comes with the title or the job description, understanding that the attitude that you bring to that team changes the way that that experience for others, leaders create value for others. It's as simple as that. And so, wherever you're at in that organization, what can I do to make this work easier, more productive at a higher level for the people around me?

People notice that I don't care if you're the new person on any sort of work group or team. If you are making value for others, if you are creating accolades that that team recognizes your teammates value those contributions and understand that that is leadership and that that's reciprocated, right? If you are that person that's on that team that's creating value. That's, and I'm not talking about doing extra work or unpaid work. You know, those things, we wanna be conscious of, but are we able to be kind to others? Can we offer suggestions and help? Are you that person who protects voices from below where too often we see people in teams that either because of their identity or position or title or their seniority have fantastic ideas that the organization can't benefit from it because people aren't listening? Can you create space and say, "Hey, you know, I think Lance has an idea that we should all be listening to."