Comments on: What is Leadership?

By: Jane

Jane — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 10:21:19 +0000

Hello Patrick! Thank you for your appreciation. Finding the answer to the responsibility beyond selfish profit and beyond the own organizationone is one of my objectives in the leadership peogram. That is also why I am so attracted by this program. It is really nice talking with you here!
We WILL come back to this nice little planet in some certain way. I believe in this.

By: Patrick Breitenbach

Patrick Breitenbach — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:22:56 +0000

Hi Jane,

it always starts “within”. But I like your thoughts about responsibility beyond selfish profit and beyond the own organization.

I think it’s time that the economy learns that “maturing” is much more important than just “growing”. Our society is full of selfish “Peter Pans” without a sense of acting like grown-ups which take care for their children, families and the following generations.

We all have to grow – but I think it’s much important to evolve.

Sometimes I wish that much more people believe in “karma” and “reincarnation”.Some people would behave much more different when they “know” that they have to come back to this nice little planet. ;-)

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:39:15 +0000

Hi,Patrick , I understand what you mean. “Concealed talents”, I really like this expression. It is one of the main area that a leader must explore in other people. And about the “making mistake part”, I definitely agree with you.
What I mean is if management should, in reality, do good to the whole market. For example, Wall Street. I think some of the leaders in the investment banks or institutions DID know, what they were doing is help making and enlarging the “Housing Bubble”, but they kept on issuing the bunds combined with the housing market, just for the short-term interests and their own Benefits package. Say, if they really cared about the future of UA financial market, would they make the same decision?
Maybe we are just from two points of view, you are “within the organization” and I am “out”.

By: Patrick Breitenbach

Patrick Breitenbach — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:01:36 +0000

You are so right Jane. That’s the reason why the leaders of organisations have to “let go”. They have to delegate responsibility to let the system organize itself and letting followers participate.

We are all leaders in a certain way, we have to encourage people to let them explore and train their concealed talents in leading.

To be a leader is hard today because nobody wants to be responsible for mistakes. And mistakes are seperated from the whole progress to success nowadays. But you have to make mistakes to learn, but you are not allowed to make mistakes as a leader, responsible for millions of people. This is a mad. We have to break the cycle and spread responsibility over many shoulders. You know what I mean?

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 06:37:03 +0000

You are welcome, Patrick :) Sometimes I am just wondering how hard it is for leader to really take other’s interests in to consideration.

By: Patrick Breitenbach

Patrick Breitenbach — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:22:25 +0000

Jane, you put it in a nutshell. Thank you for the comment.

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 04:54:20 +0000

Regarding the difference between management and leadership, in my opinion, is that management’s goal is maximizing the organization profits, and the view of leadership is maximizing the benefits of the whole environment, it can be a community, even the whole society. A real leader must take all the current and future impacts of his/her decision into consideration. Is that what we are doing making the society a little bit better, or not, it is only benefiting ourselves. Balancing the interests of all groups is an art as well as a “MUST” for leadership.

By: Patrick Breitenbach

Patrick Breitenbach — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:48:03 +0000

I think there are some aspects in leadership which are important and always the same. “Trust” is one of them. You only follow a leader when you can trust him. This is very important and complex. Trust is a construct of individual minds with different experiences. And everybody influences anybody inside an organisation.