My partners Kathryn Yap and Daniel Soh introduced me to Seah Moon Ming, President, ST Electronics Limited in Singapore last week. These are some of his thoughts on Leadership:
My perspective from trying to reconcile theories and experience is that, leadership style and philosophy evolve with one’s experience and are very often shaped by events. That is to say, while you may find leadership theories agreeable sometimes it is common-sense practical leadership that is far more fascinating.
As leaders, you face challenges on a daily basis, be it strategy, competition, crises or even seemingly minor problems brought to you by customers, partners and employees. Information you have will never be complete or perfect; you always have to juggle conflicting demands and there will always be obstacles, both natural and manmade. In other words, you are tested all the time. So if you are really doing your job as a leader, there will never be a dull moment, twenty-four by seven for 365 days.
Then how does one cope in practice? General Colin Powell once said, “Leadership is the art of achieving more than what management science says is possible.” I think he is right. It is sometimes an art of making things happen.
So, at the risk of over simplifying things, let me share three key aspects of leadership in practice.
Taking Charge
A leader must lead. This is opposed to managers who are supposed to manage. As a leader, you must have the guts to make difficult decision and take charge. Taking charge is more than management. Usually, a leader surrounds himself or herself with good and competent managers who then get all the tasks done. But the leader constantly clarifies the purpose of the enterprise, shows the direction for the business, and shapes its character.
A common misconception is that once you are appointed as a leader, you have the ultimate power and therefore can do anything you want. Well, life is a little more complicated than that because you are dealing with human beings. You need to care about your people more than yourself.
In fact, an article in the Harvard Business Review has summarized it very well. These include:
- Leadership is not about authority, but interdependency, in other words, 360-degree, multilateral relationship;
- Formal position and hierarchy is not the source of power, but through influence, a leader earns the respect, trust and commitment of others, in other words, not through control and compliance, but through empowerment;
- Leadership is about leading the team, not managing one-on-one, partly because you just cannot please everyone;
- A leader makes changes that will make the team perform better, not merely keeping the operations in working order, in other word, leaders go for breakthroughs, not just keeping things smooth.
Network
Next, I would like to discuss networking as a critical duty for leaders.
A leader or a business does not and cannot operate alone, but relies on a network. It has been said that very often know-who matters more that know-how. So networking is a powerful social and human capital.
My basic training was in communication engineering. And communication engineers like to tell you that the power or utility of a network is proportional to the square of the number of nodes. So as the number of node increases, the power of the network increases exponentially.
What I want to stress is that sometimes, you may never know in advance when and how certain connections or contacts you have will be useful. But when it is indeed needed, it is so vital and you will be glad you have it. And in my experience, the value of your network could come to you at the most unexpected time, in very unexpected ways.
The next thing I want to stress is that leaders not only need to connect in a connection, we need also connect the connections and in the process share and spread the network. In business, network of business leaders, network of operational people, network of networks, as a community of resources, can be a powerful force multiplier. So my Mexican friends today are working with my Malaysian friends, my Korean friends, and my China friends, in an amazing global business network.
I therefore see it as a critical duty of a leader to network, because networks serve as a strategic means to extend the company’s reach that can at times mean a make-or-break difference.
Courage and Integrity
The third aspect I want to talk about is courage and integrity as they go hand in hand. In practice and in layman term, courage means guts – guts to do the right things at the right time, guts to take risks, guts to be yourself. With integrity, a leader can be purposeful yet genuine and truthful. From there, the leader can then be bold in his goal and vision, decisive in judgement, sharp in seizing opportunities, daring in innovation, passionate in execution, fearless in facing adversity. Leaders never say die, because when guided by principles, setbacks only make them more determined.
To me, integrity is the most important virtue a person can possess. I believe that in business, your name and your integrity will be valued above all else. People need to believe that you will be able to keep your word and deliver what you promise. This is the foundation of business partnerships and personal trust and commitments.
With integrity, I believe in being daring. Dare to be different, dare to stick out your neck, dare to try new things and most of all, dare to be the best that you can be. If I feel that a project is worth trying for, I am willing to put my bets on the table and commit to making a project a success. While I must admit that this may not always yield 100% success, I have always learned valuable lessons along the way and more importantly, I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have dared to try. Sadly, I think this spirit of daring is lacking today as our nature may prompt us to tread a more secured and certain path. To fully commit to a career or to something important to you in your life, a leader needs to be willing to face failures and learn from them, while pursuing success.
Conclusion
You probably know by now that I am a strong believer in leadership. I think it was Peter Drucker who said, “Leadership is of utmost importance, there is no substitute for it.” I cannot agree more.
