On Becoming a Leader Reaction

According to Warren Bennis, there are many ingredients needed to be a good leader.

First is to have a guiding vision. I agree, you have to have an overall vision of where you want to progress.

Second is passion. I agree with Bennis that this is super important. If you don’t have a passion for something, than why bother doing it. If I didn’t have passion for sports or Bearcast, why bother being a part of it?

Finally, the third ingredient is integrity. He says you need to have self knowledge, candor, and maturity. I certainly agree, but I can boil it down into a more generic term. You have to be a nice person. You can’t lead if people think you are a douchebag, plain and simple!

Another part I found pretty interesting was the difference between managers and leaders.

For the GM position, I don’t want to be a manager. In some instances I’ll have to, but I want to be a leader. I want to innovate, I am original, I will develop (but also maintain), and I KNOW I will focus on people, I’ll inspire trust, have both long term and short term goals, I’ll ask what and why, and most importantly, I’ll do the right thing.

I’m not training for this job, there isn’t a GM of College Radio class I can take to learn how to do the job. I’ve had years of schooling and years of leadership experience to prepare me for this task. That’s what Bennis is saying. Leaders are born, not made.

Another interesting point is that good leaders, don’t spread the blame. Look. I’m a sports guy, I’ve learned this over the years. Good leaders always place all the blame on themselves. Don’t play the blame game.