Recently I was invited to speak to the Mississippi Federation of Republican Women about leadership. The purpose of my talk was not to tell the group what they need to do to lead their organization but what it means to be a leader.
Regardless of whether or not you are an elected officer or director in the AFRW or GBRW, you are a leader in your own right. You lead in your communities when you run for office or seek good conservative people to run for office. You lead when you support them by working in their campaigns and by influencing others to vote for them. You lead when you learn about the issues and share that understanding with others.
In preparation for my talk I thought of all the books on leadership I have read and the leadership classes I have taken because of my position as a manager at Protective Life. I serve on the Leadership Committee at the NFRW and I thought about how very proud I am of what we have accomplished. In the last two years we have developed leadership training modules that are easy for our members to use and are easily accessed on the NFRW website.
Then I thought about our organization and what we need to be effective leaders to support our mission to promote an informed public through political education and activity and to increase the effectiveness of women in the cause of good government.
I have studied all kinds of theories on leadership - Principle Centered Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and many others. Most, if not all, of the theories have in common four elements that are essential for leaders whether a leader in GBRW, in business, or our country.
The four elements that coincidentally are considered to women's strengths are:
1. Democratic approach to decision making
2. Ability to empower and develop skills of subordinates
3. Excellent Communication Skills
4. Excellent teamwork skills
Let's look more closely at the elements:
1. Democratic approach to decision making - is making decisions by being more consultative than directive. It is being able to see the whole picture; not just the way things are, but the way things should be.
I like to use as an example Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the aftermath of 9/11. He leads by finding the right people for each position, empowering them do make decisions, and sticking by them no matter what the consequences.
Mayor Giuliani knew he needed input from a host of people in order to help New York recover from the terrible tragedy. He also knew that indecision or slow actions could further paralyze the city. He also knew that he did not have all the answers. So, he set up a virtual command post practically in the disaster area. Each morning he met at the command post with the leaders of a number of key departments, the assistant mayors, and key advisors. They consulted and made fast decisions. Mayor Giuliani received his information from many sources to get the whole picture.
In our organization, the leadership should work together as a board where many individuals are invited to participate in making decisions.
A leader has to be willing to continue to learn. She can learn from other individuals in the group and from role models like Mayor Giuliani.
Amelia Earhart said a woman has to be twice as good as a man to make it in the world.
Sometimes women have a tendency to subscribe to the Queen Bee Theory. You know about the queen bee. She kills all the other females in the hive, so she doesn't have any competition.
True leaders seek input from their group to develop a strong plan of action and by consulting with the team to establish the best course of action. The leader then must be able to interpret and articulate the group's needs, aspirations, and feelings.
An organization rises and falls with its leadership. If you can help develop people for leadership roles, you will have a stronger organization.
2. Empowerment and Development- It is amazing to me that virtually every book on good companies, good teams, and good leaders describes the importance of mutual empowerment leadership. The true essence of leadership is training someone else to do your job.
General Patton said, "Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
Mentoring is the key.
Can you remember the person who brought you into this club? Is she someone you looked up to? Someone you consider a mentor? If not, find a mentor; and seek to mentor others.
Do not forget the organization is larger than one person. Each of us has different strengths. Leaders help find and develop the strengths in others. Everybody can do something in GBRW. Some can lobby, some can write letters to the editor, others have oratory skills, some can raise money, and others can bake cookies.
One danger we have to avoid as leaders when building teams is that we may have to contend with those who just want to sit at the head table and get all the glory without doing the work.
They want "To Be" instead of "To Do."
Robert Half said, "Delegating work works, providing the delegator works, too."
A very personal example of a developer of people is my former CEO, Drayton Nabers. He is one of the most brilliant, spiritual, honorable people I have ever known and I consider him my mentor. On his credenza you will always find a copy of a book by the son of the founder of IBM. Drayton says the greatest quote from that book is about the secret of the success of IBM. "It's simple- develop people."
That is why one of the cardinal principles of Protective is
"Equip, empower, and liberate people and trust their capability and willingness to improve quality." I absolutely never saw Drayton without him saying "Sallie, I appreciate you and what you do for our company".
And what a worker Drayton Nabors is. After he retired from the company, he served our state as the Finance Director until he was appointed to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Friends of mine on the Court said he completely transformed the court system and made it one of the most efficient courts in the nation. It is just a shame he could not compete against "This Little Light of Mine" Sue Bell Cobb. Drayton Nabors leads by example, by empowerment and by encouragement. When I see him now, he says, " Sallie, I appreciate what you do for the state."
3. The third quality is Excellent Communication Skills- When your team has developed its plan of action, it is the leader who can keep everyone focused on that plan. Napoleon Bonaparte said, "A leader is a dealer in hope."
Pay attention to reactions and listen to your team. See what it takes to reach them to keep them really focused and ready for action.
Use all the communication tools you can - newsletters, meetings, e-mails, speeches.
Successful leaders practice the 2 "Ps"- passion and persistence.
Passion is showing enthusiasm. I think of President Reagan when I think of passion. When he became President the economy was terrible. We had high inflation. There was terrible cynicism and almost an anti-American attitude inside our borders. He knew that was a threat from within. Doesn't that sound like where we are now?
President Reagan passionately talked to us about the shining city on the hill.
He was also persistent.- the 2nd "P" - He made us envision the shining city through all his wonderful speeches. Do you remember how proud you were to be an American?
President Reagan just pulled us up by the bootstraps and he helped us turn our country around, both economically and patriotically.
We also had a terrible threat from without - The Soviets and the cold war. President Reagan started meeting with Chairman Gorbachev in November of 1985 and finally in June of 1987, he stood at the Berlin Wall and spoke these words, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Largely through his persistence, the wall fell in December of 1987. I have seen a piece of that wall. It is standing in the garden of the Reagan Library. Seeing it gave me chill bumps as I recalled watching the Germans tear down the wall that winter.
President Reagan has been called the Great Communicator.
Read his words in his farewell speech at the end of his final term in office.
"In all that time, I won the nickname the Great Communicator," But I never thought it was my style, or the words I used that made a difference. It was the content. I wasn't a great communicator, but I communicated great things, and they didn't spring full bloom from my brow, they came from the heart of a great nation from our experience, our wisdom, and our belief in the principles that have guided us for 2 centuries. They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I'll accept that, but for me it always seemed like the Great Rediscovery - a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."
Then he talked about his break through with the Soviets and he said, "and something else we learned; once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation and instead we changed a world. "
Reagan was so effective partly because he had the ability to interpret and articulate the country's needs, aspirations, and feelings and communicate them to the outside world. He grasped what people wanted and needed for themselves. He aroused optimistic feelings and enabled people to hold positive thoughts about the possibilities of success. He was a great example of emotional intelligence which is so critical for leaders.
4. And the final key component of leadership is teamwork. This is not where leaders give directions and the members of the team follow. This is truly working the plan together.
Recently President Bush spoke to the Business Council of Alabama. He talked frankly of the decisions he made as President and the people he chose to help him lead the nation. He talked about his faith in God and his reliance on His guidance.
I like the way Rich Galen describes President Bush. He says that George W. Bush was an A player. He was good; he was confident and he was comfortable within himself. So he surrounded himself with other A players - people that outshone him in their fields. Together they were stronger. He trusted them to do their jobs and he inspired them to focus their energies on their common purpose.
Contrast that to Al Gore. Simply put, he was a B player. To make himself look better he surrounded himself with C players.
Are you an A player? Are you surrounding yourself with strong people - other A players? Are you developing the leaders of the future or are you killing them, so you will be the Queen B?
We need to start looking now for the leaders in Greater Birmingham Republican Women who can do whatever it takes to defeat Obama. We need for Obama to be a one term President.
So, how can we Pump It Up to win elections and grow our organization?
1. Involve everyone in decision making. Involving each member is important.
2. Empower and develop everyone's skills. Tapping into the potential of each member is important.
3. Develop excellent communication skills. Reaching each member is important.
4. Exhibit excellent teamwork skills. Energizing each member is important.
I will close with this quote from President Reagan,
"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things; he is the one who gets the people to do the greatest things."
