Leadership and Parenting
Very few people I know have told me they were fortunate enough to be raised by perfect parents. I like to believe that most people are really working hard to be good parents. Good parents do not have to be great, or perfect to be valuable to families and society. Just as leaders within organisations don’t have to be perfect, or great. A good leader can add value to an organisation (or a country!). Conversely, bad leaders within an organisation can cause significant problems.
Leadership Characteristics
So what are some characteristics a good parent may possess? They may have a vision for their family. They may have the courage to say yes and no when it is not popular to say yes or no. A good parent has a sense of honesty. A good parent has a strong focus on trying to achieve what’s best for the family. A good parent can help their family reach their goals. They are not afraid when the time comes when their child begins to know more about a subject then the parent. A good parent can take pride in the accomplishments of their family members. They inspire. They instil confidence.
Being a parent is not always easy. Guiding how your family transforms through time can be challenging for many parents, but they often succeed.
Like parents, leaders of organisations don’t have to be perfect to be successful. Leaders require a vision for their organisation. They need the courage to make hard decisions about what financial and human resources will be allocated to what initiative. A good leader has integrity and is honest. Their focus is on doing what is best for the organisation. Good leaders listen to and consider the views of experts. They inspire. They instil confidence within the organisation, the community and their customers.
Leadership and Transformation
Transformation is taking a product, service, or business function and changing it fairly radically to something new and improved. Most organisations have to transform at some stage, or they may cease to exist. Major influential organisations in retail (e.g. Macy’s, Sears, Tandy), transport (taxi companies), airlines, automobile makers, computing companies are not immune to the transform or die concept. Good leaders need to understand how to change and transform their organisations. They need to consider current and potential threats and risks and have the courage to lead the change.
My PhD and Transformation
My PhD focuses on change and transformation. I consider leadership essential for successful transformation. Good leadership drives an inclusive vision, inspires staff, allows human and financial resources to be appropriately allocated, identifies and mitigates risk to increase the chances of a successful transformation.
As part of my studies I was surprised to learn that many transformation initiatives fail the first time that change is tried. Not having good leadership is one of the factors why these transformation aspects fail.
Parenting, Leadership and COVID 19
I believe parents do strive to be good parents. I also believe Leaders hope to be and want to be good leaders. The following is a brief examination of good parenting and bad leadership during COVID-19.
First let’s talk about parenting and the curse of COVID-19. During the pandemic of 2020, many parents have taken the necessary precautions to keep their family safe. The transformation between the pre- COVID-19 family life, to life during COVID-19 is pretty significant. Parents had to develop a vision focusing on how to manage family affairs in the time of a global pandemic. Many parents kept family physically close and friends at a distance. Family trips to the store, parks and restaurants were curtailed. Parents recognised they were working with the unknown and that unknown was deadly. Many parents put the family first and did what they could to protect their family.
However….within countries such as United States, I believe there was a failure of leadership when it came to managing an appropriate response for COVID-19. Like a bad parent, leadership let the kids out to play in a time the parent knew it was not safe to do so! Leadership ignored doctors, the advice of experts…and failed to inspire. Leadership even sought to deny the family healthcare benefits and put the economic needs ahead of the health of the family. The results are the loss of life.
Ok – That may be a bit dramatic, but the importance of leadership cannot be underestimated.
In conclusion…
The point I want to make is that to transform you don’t have to be perfect, but you have to have the desire to try to do the right thing. This is true if you are a leader, or a parent.
Leadership alone will not make the desired family or organisation transformation successful, but it is a vital ingredient. The other ingredients are culture, process, and technology. More about that in the following blog post.
© A Methodical Way 2020
Being Arthur 