What Makes A Good Leader?

[IKE]

Originally Posted by woody

On a similar note, Tribal Leadership by Logan, King, and Fischer-Wright is a great book focused on creating a culture of excellence within organizations. The principles they discuss are immediately applicable to FRC teams. Maybe Isaac would like to go into a little more detail on this one : )

Tribal Leadership is one of the best Leadership books I have read as far as applicability to FRC and FIRST in general. I purchased several copies and have had our other mentors read it, and passed it on to people within the CD community I have a lot of respect for (there is much more to come). You can actually download the audio-book version for free by signing up through Zappos.com
http://www.zappos.com/tribal.zhtml
It in MP3 format.
Why is an online shoe distributorship offering free downloads of a leadership book? Oddly enough for many of the same reasons 341 won Chairman's this year. SERIOUSLY! the audio-book is missing the chapter on Strategy which in my opinion is one of the best views of general strategy I have ever seen.
David, many of the things you are asking about would be much clearer after reading (or listening to) this book.
************************************************** *******
There are a ton of different ways to lead, and what works for some may not work for others. Some leaders are quite vocal and charismatic. Others are quiet and more of the lead by example. What is important is to understand the different styles and find a style that works best for you, and the people you are leading. I don't think it is leadership to lead a group that you are the only one contributing. That is really just doing, not leading.

If you think of a team as a whole bunch of parts, a poor leader will have a mess. A decent leader will assemble and use this team in a manner that the sum of the parts seperate is actually more than them as a whole. This is underachieving, but nearly inevitable due to overlap of skill sets, timing, and budget constraints. A good leader's output will equal the sum of those independent parts. That means everyone is fully utilized to the sum of their abilities. A great leader is able to produce an output greater than the sum. That is because a great leader is able to get people to work beyond their ability and instead reach their potential.

SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) typically have trouble extending beyond good as they know things can be done better if they do it themselves. This takes them away from leading and developing others and often blocks the efforts of others (hey you guys sit back and watch a pro). A manager I really respect once told me, "The toughest part of being promoted to management was watching others get better at my area of technical expertise than me. Eventually, them getting better became the most rewarding part of my job."