Leadership, Love and Bosses / Liderazgo, Amor y Jefes

I have just read a book called “The Servant, A Simple Story About the True Essence of Leadership” by John Hunter. In this book Hunter says that true leadership is based on authority and not on power. And authority is the result of a behavior and behavior is a matter of will. Therefore, leadership is a matter of will.

He makes an incredible comparison between leadership as a service and the definition of love. (As defined by Saint Paul, (Chorintios XIII)). He says that the characteristics of leadership are the same as the characteristics of love. Love defined as Agape, a verb, an action, not love defined as Eros, an emotion, a sentiment. Leadership is service to your people; love is what you do for your people. (It is an action.)

Hunter is right but he is missing that leaders should also have a “Vision”, an ability to set and define objectives. And it also misses the capacity to “Motivate and generate commitment” to work for common objectives.

I believe that love (as agape) is not the same as leadership. But the approach is nevertheless very interesting. Love as agape, love as a verb, love as a behavior, as an action…. the sentiments will come later.

I recall Stephen Covey quoting someone who told him that his marriage was falling apart. He asked what he could do about it, and the answer was, “love your wife, go and start loving her again”, (as an action, not as an emotion or a sentiment).

By the way, I read a couple of days ago in La Nación an interview to Regis Debray. Oh! He speaks about “The Bosses”. He says, “bosses are needed, if not groups fall into dissolution”, well, I don’t agree with this statement. Back then, when we were lost in the Andes, we didn’t have a unique boss, we worked as a team and we managed to survive. He also says “the boss is someone who is loved, but is not allowed to love”. I don’t like this point, bosses should love their folks, if not they can´t be good bosses. He meanders with the idea of “bosses’ solitude” which is anyway an interesting concept. And he also says: “the boss is the encounter between a personality and a situation.” I like that, it is an interesting idea. Anyway I will definitely have to read more about these concepts.


Liderazgo, Amor y Jefes.

Acabo de leer el libro de John Hunter llamado “La Paradoja, una historia sobre la esencia del Liderazgo”. En este libro Hunter dice que el verdadero liderazgo está basado en la autoridad y no en el poder. Y que la autoridad es el resultado de un comportamiento, y el comportamiento depende de la voluntad. Por lo tanto, el liderazgo es un tema de voluntad.

El hace una increíble comparación entre liderazgo como servicio y el amor. (Amor definido según San Pablo en Corintios XIII). El dice que las características del liderazgo son las mismas que las características del amor. Amor definido como Ágape, como un verbo, como una acción, no definido como Eros, como una emoción, como un sentimiento. Liderazgo es servicio a tu gente, amor es lo que haces por tu gente. (Como una acción).

Estoy de acuerdo con Hunter pero creo que olvida que los líderes deben también tener una Visión, la capacidad de definir objetivos. Y también olvida la capacidad de Motivar y generar adhesión para trabajar en pos de objetivos comunes.

Creo que amor (como ágape) no es lo mismo que liderazgo. Pero el enfoque me pareció muy interesante. Amor como ágape, como un verbo, como un comportamiento, como una acción……….los sentimientos vienen después.

Recuerdo en el libro de Stephen Covey alguien que decía que su matrimonio estaba en problemas. Peguntaba qué hacer, y la respuesta fue: “ama a tu mujer, anda y empieza a amarla nuevamente”. (Como una acción, no como una emoción o un sentimiento).

Por otra parte, leí hace unos pocos días en la Nación, una entrevista a Regis Debray. OH! Hablaba sobre “Los Jefes”. Decía que los “jefes son necesarios, si no los grupos se disuelven”. En eso no estoy de acuerdo. Hace tiempo, cuando estábamos perdidos en la montaña, no teníamos un jefe e igualmente funcionamos como grupo y nos pudimos salvar. También dice que “el jefe es alguien que es amado, pero a quien no le está permitido amar”. No me gusta este punto, creo que los jefes deben amar a su gente, si no, no son buenos jefes. También da vueltas con la idea de la “soledad del jefe”. Lo que es un concepto interesante. También dice que el jefe es un encuentro entre “una personalidad y una situación.”

Como ven, es un enfoque diferente. Voy a leer más sobre estos conceptos.

Shackleton

I have just read a book about Shackleton. He and 27 more men tried to walk across the South Pole from one sea to the other. When they were getting to the South Pole in 1915 on their ship "Endurance", the freezing sea caught the "Endurance" in the ice until it was broken up by the enourmous pressure of the ice on the ship. Shackleton and his men lived for almost two years adrift hopping from one iceberg to another, feeding on seals and penguins. Finally, Shackleton and two more men sailed a small boat for more than 3000 miles until they got to an island from where all his men were rescued.

It is an amazing story, they all came back!. Shackleton died a few years later, but most of his men lived long lives, and many spent a lot of their time speaking about their ordeal.

Shackelton people chose to go on that trip, and they knew it was going to be dangerous and demanding, they even knew they would be talking about it since most of their adventure was well depicted by a photographer who was part of the expedition. Shackleton always led the group with handfist, he was a strong and dedicated leader.

We were not prepared for our ordeal, we didn´t have a strong formal leadership structure, we didn´t know where we were, we didn´t have any mountain experience, but as Shackleton´s people, we are very happy to have survived our ordeal, and we enjoy talking about it.

But I am sure that for every Shackleton and for every "Alive" experiences, there are plenty of other human ordeals of which their survivors don´t want to talk about it. Just think about war, on concentration camps, famine situations in Africa, or the most recent Colombian kidnaps, how many extreme episodes still do occur!! And those who survive them, do not talk about them, they just can´t open their heart and memories to others and simply look ahead.

Why is that? What makes our story so unique?