The Quiet Balance of Leadership

The author is a former senior corporate executive, who is now a leadership and corporate culture strategist. He looks at the leadership displayed by Leader to Leader founder Frances Hesselbein, during her years as CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, in which she “held four leadership disciplines in motion simultaneously and refused to pick a favorite.” He asserts that he “would summarize those four disciplines, for fellow leaders, as four action verbs to keep in mind: direct, deliver, develop, and dignify.” He also writes of the importance for organizations of any type to keep these disciplines in balance. For instance, within Deliver: “If a leader is to direct a team with clarity, they must also balance the need to deliver.” Within Develop, a leader should balance “the responsibility to safeguard the team's skill sets for both the short and long term.” He cites examples of exemplary leadership within these disciplines, including that of Alan Mulally's turnaround of Ford Motor Company as its CEO.