The most important decision is the the one an individual makes to become a leader
May 2023, Photo: Shutterstock
Peter Drucker discovered that there is a single critical factor which must come first for becoming a leader in any group or organization. Can you guess what it might be? It was true in ancient times, and it is still true today. It was true for Caesar as it for Presidents Trump and Biden. Is it having a good education? Having the right connections? Past actions or performance? Certainly, these plus many other factors play an important part. However, Drucker discovered that there is a single decision every individual must make even earlier if he or she is to become a leader.
Drucker’s Discovery of the Single Critical Decision that Must be Made
After an investigation Drucker found that there was one essential leadership decision which all eventual leaders make and on which all else that follows is based. What is this most important decision? It is the decision that the individual makes to become a leader. Without this potential leader’s basic, but crucial decision, a leader will never emerge. Yet as General Ronald Fogleman, who was at the time a 4-star general and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force explained, this decision was made entirely by the individual, no one else in the organization could make it. Fortunately, an organization always has the need for leaders for a variety of jobs such that General Fogelman advised the entire Air Force, “If you want to be a leader in your organization, all you need to do is raise your hand.” These jobs which you can get by just raising your hand frequently lead to promotions in rank and important positions in the organization.
How a New Engineer Became a Leader
A few years ago, a young engineer graduated from college and his first job was as an assistant design engineer at a large corporation. He had only been working a couple months when his boss, the department manager, called him into his office. His boss told him that once a year it was the custom of the company to have a Savings Bond Drive throughout the corporation and every department needed its own Bond Drive Manager, which was an unpaid additional job. The employee selected to run the drive was frequently the most junior employee in each department, but it was an important, but difficult, assignment. Most employees had already purchased bonds in the past and convincing them to buy more bonds was not always easy. The young assistant design engineer agreed to accept the responsibility and became the department’s Bond Drive Manager that year.
The other Bond Drive Managers of other departments simply got a list of engineers and other workers in their departments and called them by phone asking them to purchase additional bonds. That was the minimum that was expected. But this new assistant design engineer did a lot more. He made appointments and took the time to meet with each department member personally. He went well prepared. He read written available material from the government regarding the advantages of buying Savings Bonds. He obtained books on selling from the corporation library and prepared himself to use the sales techniques they described. He was always pleasant and enjoyed meeting and talking with his associates. He made friends with them, and got to know them, and most importantly he sold bonds.
There was a large chart in the company cafeteria which graphically compared bond sales in each department. His department’s sales were far greater than other departments’. Other department heads as well as other executives wanted to know why the sales in his department were so high. The answer the department head gave was straightforward. It was this new assistant design engineer who visited every employee in the department and researched and applied sales techniques that he hadn’t known previously. He also called every engineer or employee in the department that was traveling and talked with each of them by telephone. Sales in his department soared. He promoted their competitive spirit, and his department purchased more bonds than any other. His sales were so far ahead of every other department’s bond sales, that the president of the company noticed and called the department manager to find out what had happened. The bond sales campaign was over in a month, but it wasn’t forgotten, nor was the young engineer.
When an engineering project was started that required job overtime, hard work, and creative ability his department manager gave the job to him. As expected from his performance as a bond salesman, it was thought that he would a do good job in this engineering project, and he did. When the department manager was moved to a different job, he recommended that the young engineer be promoted to fill his position. However, the engineer was still very junior, and he wasn’t selected. However, when a new engineering department was formed, the young engineer was named acting Department Manager. Not long afterwards he was made permanent department manager of the new department. A few years later, he became the company’s youngest vice president.
Why More Employees Don’t Raise Their Hands And Become Leaders
Even though they may be attracted by the prestige and other benefits that may go with being a leader. Many new employees do not want the responsibility. They are afraid of making poor decisions, that they have too little knowledge and subordinates will not obey them, or that others will think their performance poor and they will be unpopular when they must make difficult decisions.
An article in the Harvard Business Review citeda survey that found that only about 34% of thousands of employees across many industries and corporations of all types really wanted to be managers or leaders of any unit in the organization. Only 7% really aspired to be a top ranked executive. A similar study of undergraduate students in England found a similar low percentage. Many wanted responsibility only within their specialty and not for responsibility for the actions of others. And many that were willing or sought to accept the responsibility of leadership, felt that they must wait until they were promoted to a position that identified them permanently as a leader and were sent to a course to learn to become one first. Most in both studies were also reluctant to accept additional temporary leadership assignments by volunteering for unpaid positions like the savings bond salesman.
You Don’t Need to be Promoted to be a Leader
Many that aren’t in leadership positions, but want to be, and are actively seeking promotion to permanently identified positions, have this backward. Although there are exceptions, many don’t understand that you must first demonstrate that you are a leader, or at least show the potential for becoming a leader before being selected for promotion.
Some start incredibly early even as a child by assisting parents or siblings by helping them in some way as a “big brother,” “big sister,” or as an official or unofficial leader within the family. In this way they demonstrate their potential to themselves, acquire self-confidence, and develop leadership skills very early. In speaking with Mary Kay Ash years ago, the woman who founded the billon dollar Mary Kay Cosmetics company and trained thousands of leaders worldwide, told me that she had assumed responsibility for caring for her invalid father when she was only six years old!
Frequently the Less Desirable the Job, the Easier to become Leader
If you have haven’t yet made this most important of leadership decisions, as General Fogleman said you can become a leader immediately by making the decision and volunteering for an unpopular, unpaid job that needs a leader and showing what you can do by doing the best job that you can. Make your decision to become a leader and take action by raising your hand as soon as you can. You may even be able to do this today!
*Syndicated and published internationally.
References
The Practical Drucker by William A. Cohen (AMACOM, 2013)
Consulting Drucker by William A. Cohen (LID, 2019)
Drucker’s Way to the Top by William A. Cohen (LID, 2019)
*הכותב ד"ר ביל כהן הנו מומחה בתורת המנהיגות. ד"ר כהן הינו מייג’ור גנרל בדימוס בחיל האויר האמריקאי, בעל תואר דוקטור בניהול מאוניברסיטת קלרמונט. כתב למעלה מ- 50 ספרים שתורגמו ל- 22 שפות בנושאי ניהול ומנהיגות. ביל כהן שימש כיועץ בעמדות בכירות וכמרצה באוניברסיטאות הטובות בארה”ב בינהן ביה”ס לניהול באוניברסיטת קלרמונט וב-UCLA. בנוסף, הוא מעביר הרצאות וסמינרים בנושא מנהיגות בכל זרועות הצבא האמריקאי ובאקדמיה הצבאית וזכה בפרסים על הרצאותיו בעולם. מעבר להיותו גנרל בצבא ארה”ב, ד”ר כהן הנו בעל דרגת רב סרן בחיל האויר הישראלי והשתתף בקרבות אוויר במלחמת יום כיפור. שימש בתפקידי ניהול בכירים במספר חברות וכיהן כנשיא של שתי אוניברסיטאות פרטיות. ביל כהן היה חבר דירקטוריון במספר מועצות מנהלים ומועצות סחר עירונית, ממשלתיות ושל תאגידים שונים.ביל כהן היה תלמידו הישיר לדוקטוראט של פיטר דרוקר אבי תורת הניהול המודרנית שאמר עליו בין היתר כי ” ביל כהן היה סטודנט אשר אני והקולגות שלי למדנו ממנו לפחות כפי שיכולנו ללמד אותו”.
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