Corner Office, Adam Bryant, New York Times; Interview with Anne Berkowitch, co-founder and chief executive of SelectMinds, a social networking company: Learn to Lead From the Back of the Boat:
"Q. What do you think are the keys to effective leadership?
A. It’s really being able to listen to people. So much of leadership, I’ve come to learn, is about getting a team to work together. It’s not about being smart. It helps, but it’s not about that. It’s really about being able to bring together a group of people, get the best out of them and get them wanting to work as a unit toward some goal post. I think the building blocks that go into that are listening to people, really understanding what motivates them and getting them to push themselves beyond their comfort zones.
And all of that is really having a basic psychological understanding and genuine interest in the people you’re trying to build a team with. I think if you come at leadership with an attitude of, “I’m going to do this, and these people are going to follow me and be my support team,” you’ll lose.
Q. How has your leadership style evolved?
A. If you think about how you steer a boat, it’s always from the back, and I’ve moved toward the back of the boat. Initially, my sense of leadership was to be the military general out in front of the troops and the first one rushing into battle. You have to be a leader. You have to be visible. People have to know that you’re in charge and that you’re leading the charge, but I think it’s got to be almost more of a support role.
Q. How did you learn that lesson?
A. Before founding SelectMinds, I worked in management consulting for 10 years. And that culture is very much about being smart and being visible and making sure everybody knows how smart you are. So I was molded in that environment, and then, when I became C.E.O. of SelectMinds, I really didn’t have much leadership experience. I led the way I had managed consulting teams. It just took a lot of false starts to learn that being smart isn’t the same thing as being a leader. We were going down the runway but the plane wasn’t taking off...
Q. What other things have you come to understand about leadership?
A. Ask a lot more questions and make a lot fewer statements. Leadership is really about asking questions and letting people answer them. I think it’s the only way you get your team to think. If you’re constantly talking at them, they don’t have to think. So, it’s the way to put them on the front line. My job is to get the questions out and have people answer the questions."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05corner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
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