HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

My personal view on leadership

By

Tabea Hirzel, MBA

For

The local community of

Columbus, Ohio
United States of America

11 February 2010

1
 HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

Abstract
I was asked by Dr. Ted Sun for his Leadership study, to share my experiences with leadership and my view

on leadership before the audience of the local community at Columbus, Ohio (USA). Whit this brief essay I

will try to give a glimpse of insight into my perceptions, grown from my very personal life.

Index
Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 3
Self-management ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Forecast future (vision) .................................................................................................................................. 4
Make decisions (authority) ............................................................................................................................ 4
Take risk/ Risk management (strength) ......................................................................................................... 4
Lead in society ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Create trust (love/ empathy)........................................................................................................................... 5
Shared values (sensitivity/ perceptivity) ........................................................................................................ 5
Group identity (enthusiasm) .......................................................................................................................... 5
Leadership in real life ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Responsibility ................................................................................................................................................ 5
Empty values .................................................................................................................................................. 6
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

2
 HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

Introduction
Before we think about leadership, we should consider why leadership is required and often considered as a
very important role in society. The answer to this question will probably depend very much on the very
believes we have about society and the leadership role in concrete.
To understand how my ideas about leadership came to be, I shall enlighten briefly my own personal
background. I was born into a dynamic family with contrasting point of views. My father’s family belonging
to the old European aristocracy, mostly academics based in Switzerland, built an open and critical mind in
me. There religious orientation, even though politically highly influenced by Protestantism, was rather
humanistic and even animistic (believe in elementary forces). The highest goal in this family was to serve
society.
On the other hand, my mother’s family belonged to rather poor workers, midsize farmers and officers at the
court of the former German Kaiser. They were convinced Protestants with a awareness for right and wrong,
and an eagerness to do their job right. Law and justice were omnipresent in the ideas of my mother by the
time when I grew up.
I was educated in a very classical way (Latin, literature, piano playing, good behaviour) and I not only lived
in an international background due to family members abroad and visitors from foreign countries going in an
out in our home, I also have moved sixteen times (Switzerland, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, England) up
to date. This is how my ideas about leadership have grown.

I consider leadership in a rather Aristotelian view as “a process of social influence in which one person can
enlist and coordinate others in the accomplishment of a common task” (Wikipedia, 2010) in the benefit of
the whole group.
Speaking about leadership we can distinguish two levels; a personal level and a social level. On the first
level we usually speak about « self-management ». Everybody should have a certain ability to manage one’s
personal needs, but a leader should actually be an expert in this sense. But this alone does not convert
someone automatically into a leader. If you know the way from Columbus to Delaware, you know the goal,
the scenario to get there taking the I-70E and the I 470 E, you all know that better than me. Further you
know to drive a car, an important issue in this story. This is a perfect example for a good car driver, good
self-management. However, as long as it does not imply other passengers, we would not consider it
leadership, would we?

Thus, the second level of leadership could be described as « leadership » in a society, or « group
management ». There are certain tools a leader can use to make leadership more effective. However, I
personally believe the link between a person with high ability in self-management and a real leader is the
LOVING ENGAGEMENT with others and a high willingness to SELF-SACRIFICE.
3
 HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

In my opinion, when ever in real live leadership fails, it is in one of these two points.

Before going into practical experiences we’ll shortly define the basic abilities and tools a leader requires.

Self-management
A person with a high ability in self-management is a potential leader. This person is expert in the following
main characteristics :

Forecast future (vision)

He or she has a higher ability than others to forecast future occurrences, based in experience, analytical
technics, special talents or similar capabilities.

Make decisions (authority)

A potential leader is a person who knows to make decisions and dares to do so. She knows to imagine the
goals and create strategies to achieve them.

Take risk/ Risk management (strength)

The potential leader has a higher willingness and capacity to take risks, due to a more physical, spiritual or
psychological resources than others.

However, as said before, this is only a precondition to be a leader.

Lead in society

What really defines leadership is the leader’s engagement with a group or a society.
The real needs and desires of a whole bunch of people must be recognized by the leader and he should be
able to forecast how the future will influence this group and how to act in order to create the optimum
outcome for the group, independent on how the optimum is defined; in terms of a majority, of the elite or of
every single person in the group. Where to set the preferences depends on the group itself.

This is what makes leadership so complex. It means moving a whole group of people in the most efficient
way into the direction of the desired outcome.

4
 HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

In order to achieve this three major goals are aspired: trust, shared values and group identity.

Create trust (love/ empathy)

First of all the leader must be recognized as such and get the trust of the group in order to be followed. There
are many tools to do so, symbols, verbal and non-verbal affirmations, positive actions… you all probably
know them.

One important point I want to mention here is the ability and willingness of the leader to take responsibilities
of the outcome of his decisions. Probably, this is the most difficult part, but also the most distinguished one.
He needs to create the trust within the group in his figure and in the group itself.

Shared values (sensitivity/ perceptivity)

Once recognized as leader he must evaluate the values of each one the group in order to find possible
conflicts in interests, but also to define the shared goals of the group to lead. I will not bore you with the
details of this issue; you have Dr. Ted Sun (Sun, 2007), a master of value management in theory and
practice. We speak here about formal and informal communication, positive and negative sanctions,
storytelling culture and so on.

Group identity (enthusiasm)

The leader is known by the group, goals are defined and accepted. The last important point is how to
maintain it united and how to move as one body. The creation of a shared identity is essential at this point;
name the group (Colombo Football Club, The United States of America, Family Gonzalez). Further, he
might apply rituals, like eating together, anthems, hierarchies and organograms and similar tools. These all
are identity building affirmations.

In the creation of identity the most important issue is not so much who the members are today, but who they
will be one day if they stay together. This is the creation of an image of the future.

Leadership in real life

In real life leadership fails because of the simple fact, that almost never we as leaders fulfil all these
characteristics.

Responsibility
Main failures are to make mistakes in our decision process, due to missing information, knowledge or wrong
analytics. This in itself must not be a disaster, as long as we can correct our error and admit our mistake.

5
 HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP

Empty values
Another important failure is to miss the real meaning of SHARED VALUES. Nowadays, we speak a lot
about the importance of values. Often, at least in my opinion, this has degraded into a marketing tool rather
than a management tool.

Mechanical management
Another mistake I observed is that many managers are so much filled with theories, that they miss the most
basic tool a leader has HIS OWN BELIEVE and ENTHUSIASM in the future that she describes.

Conclusion
Leadership is all about people. You will easily understand that many of the CEO’s out there would not be
considered as LEADERS, perhaps rather as administrators. A leader is someone deeply concerned with the
wealth of the people and the ability to create passion for a vision in the people.

To describe the ideal leader in a few words I would use: passion, sacrifice, love (empathy), vision,
consciousness, creation, harmony, balance.

Remarkable is, that a leader is only as good as the people that follow him, since the ends of leadership is the
achievement of shared goals.

A wonderful example for a good leadership can be found in the Swedish movie « As in Heaven » (Pollak,
2004), where a famous orchestra director converts a church choir in the small town of his childhood into a
harmonious group; as singers and as human beings.

I believe, leadership is always transforming; the group and the leader himself.

Thank you.

References

Pollak, K. (Regisseur). (2004). As it in Heaven (Så Som I Himmelen) [Kinofilm].

Sun, T. (2007). Survival Tactics: The Top 11 Behaviors of Successful Entrepreneurs. Sta. Barbara, CA,
USA: Praeger .
Wikipedia. (2010). Leadership. Retrieved February 11, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership

6
HIRZEL – MY PERSONAL VIEW ON LEADERSHIP