part 2

People: make your network work

Introduction

Much of the leadership industry is based on the idea of the leader as a hero. Fame-hungry CEOs write their self-serving autobiographies. The speaking circuit is full of individuals sharing their inspirational stories. You can find endless books on the great leader heroes of history. This is misleading and unhelpful. It is unhelpful because most of us are not heroic and never will be. Even if Genghis Khan and Nelson Mandela are the right role models, we will struggle to copy them. Fortunately, you do not need to copy them and you do not need to be a hero.

The best leaders do not even try to do it all themselves, not even Genghis Khan or Nelson Mandela. They surround themselves with great people. The best leaders have the best teams. This then raises the obvious question about what leaders really do: if they have a great team, then what is the point of the leader? This is a simple question that even CEOs often struggle to answer – they know what their title is (CEO) but they do not always know what their role should be.

This section of the book looks at how you can build and lead the team that will convert your idea into reality. The art of building and leading your team includes picking, recruiting, coaching and motivating your team and managing their performance. These are core skills every leader must learn.

If you have built a truly great team that does everything you want, you are left with a surprising challenge: what is your own role? If the team is that great, is there anything left for you to do? That is not a riddle you want to leave to the end. Answer that question first and you will be clear about what you need to do and what sort of team you need to build. So, this part of the book will start by helping you solve this riddle.