It's a funny thing, leadership......
This week we've seen that mystical thing, leadership, front and centre across the globe. At home in Australia, the "inner Malcolm" bared his teeth in Federal Parliament, and millions of voters asked, "where did that come from?". Overseas, the new Twitter-in-Chief raged against the judiciary, corporate leaders, and even retail companies over their failure to acknowledge him and his tribe as the font of all that is good and righteous. And the Prime Minister of New Zealand threatened the United Kingdom that if the UK did not raise the quota of lamb imports from the Shaky Isles, any further tours of the Old Country by the All Blacks would be suspended immediately.
Certainly, the pit-bull attack on Bill Shorten by Malcolm Trunball (sorry....Turnbull) was a perfect example of leadership in action, something he has spectacularly failed to produce since becoming PM. For reasons that most are aware of, but I won't go into here, Turnbull has been in charge of his party and the country, but he hasn't been leading either. To the delight of his supporters (and I suspect of many who don't actually support him now but were excited at the prospect when he took charge) Turnbull demonstrated in a few short minutes that people want to be led, they want their leader to stand up and be the leader. It is reported from Canberra that the whole mindset of the Liberal Party has been uplifted and is more optimistic and confident following Turnbull's attack on the Opposition Leader, in spite of prevailing negative issues such as the same sex marriage debate, an unhelpful, even destructive right wing, and the defection of Cory Bernardi, to name just a few. The way forward is not easy for Turnbull, and a five minute roast does not win an election, however the message is, or should be clear; leadership is a verb, it is a doing thing, and for people to want to follow the leader they need to see leadership in action. No amount of psycho babble, sophisticated leadership models or books on how to be a great leader will greatly help; not when you are stuck in the trenches, the bad guys are charging your defences, and your team are looking at you asking, ":What do we do now, boss?". As Churchill said, Turnbull's attack might , "not be the end, it probably isn't even the beginning of the end. It might be, though, the end of the beginning" for the PM's leadership if he learns from what he has done, and keeps on, well, ......doing!
In John C Maxwell's excellent book, "The 5 Levels of Leadership" , he talks about Level One leadership. This is positional leadership, where the person involved is a leader only because he/she has managed to occupy a position. A Level 5 leader leads so well for so long that they create a legacy of leadership in the organisation they serve, and their influence extends beyond their reach and their time. Being a Level One leader does NOT make that person a leader in the true sense of the word. It means that in that position authority is recognised, and that the position really is an invitation for that person to grow as a leader. On the downside, leaders who rely on position to lead often devalue people by holding a high value on their position often above everything else they do. Positional leaders focus on control over contribution. The behaviour as demonstrated to date by Donald Trump is one of a Level One leader who, having nothing to fall back on apart from his position is actually running the risk of leading himself into a corner that might in time be very difficult to extricate himself from. The signs are that he does not have the emotional intelligence or the support of effective people around him to recognise this. In contrast to Malcolm Turnbull, Trump is demonstrating active leadership by "doing stuff" but he is executing this in a way that fails to meet Larson's and La Fasto's test of Principled Leadership. In fairness to the Donald, he is doing exactly what he said he would do, so we should not be surprised, and his hard core supporters, Trumps' version of Paul Keating's "True Believers" are loving what he is doing. If Trump could actually show that he can listen, can consult and take advice, and show consideration of other points of view he would in all probability reduce the division and controversy that his leadership has created thus far. He will always have his critics, but that's life. That's politics. However, the future will determine whether this type of positional leadership is what the United States and the world needs or whether it will be a catalyst to compound some of the profound issues that confront all countries today. Can Trump evolve into a Level 2,3 or 4 leader? Time will tell.
It's a funny thing, leadership. You've got to do it.
And the New Zealand ban on future All Black tours of the UK? Well, apologies. That was fake news. It would have made a great story though, don't you think?
References:
The 5 Levels of Leadership - Proven Steps to Maximise Your Potential. Maxwell, John C. 2011
Teamwork - What Must Go Right / What Can Go Wrong. Larson, Carl E. LaFasto Frank M.J. 1989
