{"id":3039,"date":"2011-03-16T01:51:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-16T01:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/2011\/03\/16\/leadership-is-and-isnt-a-lot-of-things\/"},"modified":"2021-07-10T14:58:49","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T18:58:49","slug":"leadership-is-and-isnt-a-lot-of-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/leadership-is-and-isnt-a-lot-of-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership is (And Isn’t) a Lot of Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Today, I had the pleasure of attending an excellent leadership seminar led by former Purchasing.com blogger extraordinaire and current Tyco procurement executive, Lara Nichols. Through her well-structured presentation, Ms. Nichols did a fantastic job of helping the attendees to gain a better understanding of what is \u2013 and what isn\u2019t \u2013 leadership.<\/p>\n

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However, it was during one of the breakout activities that Ms. Nichols built into the agenda that I gained an interesting perspective into some additional characteristics that are and are not leadership. Let me explain\u2026<\/p>\n

The attendees were split into groups of about 8-10 people each. Each group was tasked to create a skit to demonstrate a leadership quality.<\/p>\n

I obviously have a leadership role here at Next Level Purchasing. Being a father, I naturally have leadership responsibilities when I leave the office. And even my recreational activities are organized types of activities that need a leader, so guess who that is? Yep \u2013 me!<\/p>\n

Therefore, when I attend leadership seminars, I like to sit back and give leadership opportunities to those who may not have current leadership responsibilities in their work. It helps me learn when I use this type of opportunity for \u201cobserving leadership\u201d moreso than \u201cpracticing leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, I sat back while my group mates started throwing around ideas. One of the characteristics of a leader is stepping up and taking charge. And one of the members of the group did step up.<\/p>\n

With all of the characteristics of leadership that Ms. Nichols covered, it was clear that, theoretically, leadership is not the presence of a single trait. And this was certainly obvious as this group member tried to lead us to a complete skit. He had the presence that communicated leadership, but couldn\u2019t really crystalize a plan that persuaded others to \u201cget on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Ms. Nichols gave warnings about the time remaining for our breakout, we weren\u2019t close to a solution. While I would have preferred to be in a group where someone else could pull everyone together, I couldn\u2019t sit back any longer and watch a disaster happen.<\/p>\n

I decided to step up after all. I diplomatically suggested a skit and everyone in the group expressed buy-in and excitement. We went with the plan.<\/p>\n

The takeaways I got from this exercise, which I now share with you, are:<\/p>\n