Leadership Matters

There are two adopted definitions of leadership that have served our clients well. The first is that “leadership” is about setting direction and motivating people, whereas management is about speed, logistics, coordination, and efficiency in moving in the direction leadership sets (Stephen Covey). The second is that “leadership” is the capacity of a human community to sustain change (Peter Senge).

Most agree that “great leadership” is lacking in many organizations today. Whitecap focuses on addressing this issue. Too often, there is too great a focus upon management tasks at the expense of leadership tasks. We believe both are absolutely crucial. It’s not one over the other. It’s both working together in concert. People in organizations wear both hats everyday. Wisdom guides the effective person to know what degree of focus is needed in a given situation.

We have also come to believe that there are different types of leaders needed within organizations. As Senge says, “leadership is either everywhere or it’s nowhere”. In this context, there are three types of leaders within an organization: local line leaders, network leaders, and executive leaders. It’s important that we understand how these different types of leaders need one another in order for any real change initiative to be sustained in order to deliver results. They are dependent upon each other. All three are needed, it’s not a matter of simply picking one or the other. It’s the interplay with all three that triggers sustainable change. A deficiency in any of the three will ultimately limit the effectiveness of the other two.

We believe that part of a leader’s role is to release people into their potential and gifting. We’ve learned that managers tend to hold, but leaders release and wise leaders release people in the right direction and at the right time.