People need to know what their organization stands for and is trying to accomplish. In a time of ambiguity and anxiety, it seems everything is in a state of flux. First, leadership is the ability to manage for the organization's mission and mobilize people around that mission. Second, while strategy and tactics change all the time, the fundaments of leadership do not. We spend most of our lives mastering how to do things, but in the end it is the quality and character of the individual that distinguishes the great leaders.
Leaders succeed through the efforts of their people.
The basic task of the leader is to build a highly motivated, highly productive workforce. That means moving across the boundaries both within and outside the organization, investing in people and resources, and exemplifying personal commitment to the common task. The boundaries between sectors, between organizations, between employees, and between customers and other stakeholders are blurring. The challenge for leaders is to build a cohesive community within and outside the organization, to invest in relationships, and to communicate a vision that speaks to a richly diverse workforce and marketplace. Leaders today have to be healers and unifiers.