Your personality, style and philosophy as a leader will set the personality, style and philosophy of your company.

However, your company’s personality might not be a replica of how you see yourself---how you perceive yourself to be.

Often, it’s formed in reaction to who you are – not reflecting your intentions but rather, your unintended impact. That’s a frightening thought, isn’t it? So much of how people lead is intuitive.

Use this section to provoke your thinking about how you use your self to fulfill the requirements of the leadership role.

We’ve considered how to use the power of Storytelling to build business in spreading ideas and creating a shared understanding.

Stories have built shared values and drawn people together from the beginnings of humanity.

Storytelling in our culture has powerfully shaped the concept of leadership in the minds of many of this generation’s current cohort of CEO’s and leaders.

The movies from World War II through the ‘90s have consistently presented the image of heroes as larger than life.

Consider John Wayne as Sergeant Striker; there’s Gregory Peck on the bridge of his whaler chasing the giant white whale, and Gary Cooper defending the meek and helpless townspeople in High Noon.

None of his troops had the courage or savvy of John Wayne. None of the sailors knew the sea or understood the psyche of their prey, as did the captain.

No one in town had the courage or moral fiber of the lone sheriff, positioned by his role to single-handedly face the crisis without regard to the personal costs attached.

Regular people were smaller and often inept or lost without direction from the “boss.” These and many other mythical figures told the story of human triumphs and tragedies that communicated powerful assumptions to all of us on a subliminal level. In literature, we have stories of intrepid explorers and entrepreneurs.

We all have the image of the courageous leader holding his or her followers together by virtue of personal qualities that dwarfed those around them (think Joan of Arc).

The mountain men of the Rocky Mountain fur trade in the 1820’s and ‘30’s provide a romantic example of intrepid explorers and inveterate adventurers. They became the guides for the wagon train migrations of the 1850’s and ‘60’s.

They were qualified to lead because they had been there. They knew the secrets. They’d mastered the crafts. The embodied the spirit of manifest destiny – the drive of the United States to fulfill its potential as a super power.

Even in our business literature we are referred to Jack Welch and Larry Bossidy as CEO celebrities. These two men have outstanding records of success.

Consider them as representative of a class of iconic figures, looming over those around them by virtue of their drive, intelligence, and vision.

We also look to hard driving, successful sports coaches – again, painted larger than life as models of what it takes. Over and over, the message is that “real” leaders operate above and beyond the common masses.

It can be a challenge for you to think of yourself as a leader in a more regular, less heroic context.

Many people in leadership roles today still fancy themselves out in the lead, driving the organization to success, and having the brains and intuitions required to get the enterprise where it is going---the seasoned scouts herding the tender-footed migrants through the wilderness.

They may not voice that self-image, but most of us have worked with leaders who seemed to operate from a foundation based on these heroic archetypes.

Those around them are treated as bit players and character actors. As romantic as that image may be to some people, that paradigm will never supply the solution again---if it ever applied, as is inferred by the heroic stories.

In many situations in World War II, Korea or Viet Nam the life expectancy of second lieutenants was measured in minutes or hours rather than months and years.

When a leader fell, someone rose from the ranks to fill the gap. In real life, circumstances draw out the leadership capabilities in many people who do not think of themselves as heroes or leaders.

Consider the stories of people in crises or catastrophes, 9-11 being only the most recent obvious example.

Yet our stories, the ones that have become integral parts of our cultural mythology, have scripted the leader’s role in the minds of many of today’s business leaders.

How can you provide the best leadership that you are capable of providing within your actual (as opposed to some mythical) business context? Throughout this work we’ve talked about what has to happen, but we’ve not yet devoted much attention to the how. Leadership is all about the how.

The good news is that the importance of the role of leader is well appreciated today.

As a result, there’s a wealth of information, theory and supposition about what a strong leader does and what the necessary and sufficient elements of leadership are.

The bad news is that there is an overwhelming amount of theory and supposition, and the information that is provided in current literature can be confusing and contradictory.

There are easily a hundred “essential” leadership competencies that are offered by various experts. There are far more traits identified than anyone can readily focus on or consciously work toward.

It’s productive to focus on a few of the most commonly identified competencies that fit the requirements of today’s business environment.

As we present these competencies, take the time to deeply consider your beliefs about your leadership role in the context of the ideas we’re considering. Challenge your unconsidered assumptions.

Take a look at yourself, your vision and the ways in which your company could work in comparison with how it does work. How can you narrow the gap in that vision as you take your company into the future?

Discussion today abounds about leadership and what it takes to be a leader.

Just stand in front of the bewildering array of prescriptions and suppositions in the business book section of any modern bookstore.

Many people who think deeply on the subject have looked to Peter Senge’s work to provide a different, more productive perspective on leadership. In his opening remarks in The Dance of Change, Peter Senge wrote, “If you are an organizational leader, someone at any level concerned deeply about these challenges, then you face a daunting task.

In effect, you are engaged in a great venture of exploration, risk, discovery, and change, without any comprehensive maps for guidance” (p. 3).

“Business-as-usual” is becoming more of an oxymoron everyday. Recent leadership transitions at companies such as ATT, General Motors and IBM have vividly demonstrated that knowing and applying what used to work is insufficient today.

If you want the job, you’d better know how to lead, and lead effectively. However, as Senge points out, leadership isn’t about having the answers.

Leadership in the 21st century is not as much about telling as it is about hearing; not as much about knowing as it is about facilitating dialogue and inquiry; not as much about being in charge as it is about enabling the necessary capabilities and outcomes.