{"550031":{"#nid":"550031","#data":{"type":"news","title":"On Leadership","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ELeadership is like wine. A good wine needs good grape variety, good soil, good climate, good handling, and proper aging. Nevertheless, every vintage is different, and the taste depends on the food pairing. At the end of the process you know good wine when you taste it; but what one individual likes might not be as palatable to another. For leaders to develop they must have some inherent talents and learn some necessary skills. They need to operate in a nurturing climate, and they need experience. Leadership styles vary, and success is often based on the setting and how individuals receive and react to certain leadership tactics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech is blessed with extraordinary human capital of significant leadership potential. We are constantly developing programs to nurture students\u2019 leadership. I am pleased to announce that we just selected the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/2016-2017-emerging-leadership-development-program-participant-bios\u0022\u003Efirst cohort of 16 faculty\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;who will participate in a new nine-month\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/emerging-leaders\u0022\u003EEmerging Leaders Program\u003C\/a\u003E. Starting in the fall, these faculty members will participate in workshops, small-team teamwork, as well as self- and 360-degree assessments.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere are as many books written about leadership as there are successful or self-proclaimed leaders. Some are insightful and good, while many more are self-important and border on sounding like religion.\u0026nbsp;In these comments I hope to avoid falling into those traps as I describe characteristics of leaders I admire.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EConviction and Commitment:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;To be able to lead, individuals must believe in and love what they are doing, and be completely dedicated to the enterprise\u2019s success. That level of conviction and commitment inevitably leads to conflicts with life balance. While many of those conflicts are manageable, we are all human, and many times those conflicts are unavoidable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIntegrity and Honesty:\u003C\/strong\u003E The best leaders always have a group of inviolable principles \u2014 ideals that they will not compromise. Integrity and honesty must be among them. It sounds trite and obvious, but it is not. First, there are many so-called leaders for whom the end justifies the means \u2014 all the time. Second, all leaders will face temptations or difficult decisions where the \u201cright\u201d and the \u201cwrong\u201d are not always clear. Using a concept introduced by Georgia Tech alum Bill George, successful leader and author, it is vital to develop an inner compass that helps us find our \u201ctrue North.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EVision:\u003C\/strong\u003E Yes, all the talk about vision is true. The best leaders always look beyond the horizon and imagine what their enterprise should be; they go beyond maintaining or incrementally improving the enterprise\u2019s current state. There are good managers and good leaders. You need them both, and at times you find them in the same individual. In my opinion, though, management without the visionary element will lead to stagnation and ultimate failure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbility to handle ambiguity:\u003C\/strong\u003E Years ago I heard a great leader, V\u00e1clav Havel \u2014 leader of the Velvet Revolution, last president of Czechoslovakia and first president of the Czech Republic, writer, poet, and playwright \u2014 talk about the \u201cMyth of Objectivism.\u201d Nothing is ever completely clear or obvious. A good leader must feel comfortable with making decisions fraught with uncertainty and hence willing to accept sporadic failures.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEmpathy:\u003C\/strong\u003E It is terribly important for leaders to respect and try to understand the mindset of everyone they lead.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EComfort with empowering and delegating:\u003C\/strong\u003E No one makes it alone. Identifying key collaborative colleagues and empowering them is crucial for successful leadership. Identifying them is difficult and requires experience, as well as the study and understanding of human behavior. Underlying it all is the absolute need to respect each and every one of these individuals. So-called leaders who are abusive, disrespectful, intolerant, and dishonest are nothing but bores and bullies who sooner or later fall on their own sword.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn their book \u201cThe Innovator\u2019s DNA,\u201d authors Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen identify associative thinking as the overarching cognitive skill of innovators. I believe leaders must also be innovators and place high value on the innovative skills of others. Associative thinking refers to the ability to cross disciplines, observe, network, and learn from people, problems, and fields that on the surface may look different to you. That cross-pollination is what leads to breakthroughs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EService:\u003C\/strong\u003E The best leaders are the ones who can forget the \u201cI\u201d and talk about the \u201cus.\u0022 Poor leaders reflect and build only on their own accomplishments and fail to realize that they rely on the efforts and intelligence of many, whose ideas they typically usurp and do not properly credit. This type of self-centered leader forgets that what matters is the organization\u2019s success. In doing so, these kinds of leaders cut short their own path to achieving their maximum potential.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EEmotional Intelligence\u003C\/strong\u003E as a term first appeared in a 1964 paper by Michael Beldoch and was popularized by Daniel Goleman in his 1995 bestselling book, \u201cEmotional Intelligence.\u201d It is the most ephemeral and abstract characteristic of the best leaders and the hardest to acquire and learn. The best way I can describe it is as that sixth sense that allows you to connect at the appropriate level at the right time.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnyone can be a leader in his or her own realm. Many are naturals; most of us need to work at it through study, observation, and practice. \u0026nbsp;We had great interest in the Emerging Leaders Program that bodes well for the future of leadership at Georgia Tech. I thank the first cohort for their interest and look forward to their feedback!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E- Rafael L. Bras\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor leaders to develop they must have some inherent talents and learn some necessary skills. They need to operate in a nurturing climate, and they need experience.\u0026nbsp; Anyone can be a leader in his or her own realm. Many are naturals; most of us need to work at it through study, observation, and practice. Georgia Tech is blessed with extraordinary human capital of significant leadership potential.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"For leaders to develop they must have some inherent talents and learn some necessary skills. They need to operate in a nurturing climate, and they need experience."}],"uid":"27165","created_gmt":"2016-07-01 10:01:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:22:04","author":"Susie Ivy","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2016-07-01T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2016-07-01T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"550051":{"id":"550051","type":"image","title":"Leadership","body":null,"created":"1467727200","gmt_created":"2016-07-05 14:00:00","changed":"1475895345","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:55:45","alt":"Leadership","file":{"fid":"92665","name":"leadcloud.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/leadcloud.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/leadcloud.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":159008,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/leadcloud.jpeg?itok=12xKL51d"}}},"media_ids":["550051"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/emerging-leaders","title":"Emerging Leadership Development Program"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/updates\/inaugural-emerging-leadership-development-program-participants-selected-fall-2016","title":"Emerging Leadership Development Program Announcement"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.provost.gatech.edu\/2016-2017-emerging-leadership-development-program-participant-bios","title":"2016-2017 Emerging Leadership Development Program Participant Bios"}],"groups":[{"id":"131901","name":"Provost"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1738","name":"blog"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:susie.ivy@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESusie Ivy\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E404-385-3782\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["susie.ivy@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}