Rajeev Karki

Defining leadership and its forms:

Leadership is a set of qualities that people possess that allows them to influence others around them to the point that they want to follow his or her vision. Historically, leadership has been synonymous with power. People like Napoleon, George Washington, Ronald Reagan, and Winston Churchill were all great leaders with enormous power to change the world. But today in the knowledge and information driven world, “business is a war of ideas where the power to innovate and promote new products is the new basis of leadership” (Mitch McCrimmon).

Leadership qualities can come from birth, but they can also be learned through experience and practice. Sometimes we confuse a leader with someone who is extrovert. Being an extrovert can be a good asset for a leader, but it is not required. A person might be an excellent leader at work, but when they are in a social circle, they may step back and let others be the leader. So, a leader does not have to be leading 100% of the time. We can have an effective situational leader that steps up at the most opportune time and makes a difference. Oxford English Dictionary defines leadership as “the position of a group of people leading or influencing others within a given context” (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989), which I very much agree with.

There are various types of leadership styles. Throughout history we see heroic leaders that have fought and won important battles, or stopped nations from going to battle. They are usually the center of attention and power and people are drawn to them for vision and protection. Manz and Sims call this type of leaders “Strong Man” leaders. The other type of leader is someone who has the power to influence other people to follow their visions. They may not necessarily hold much power (Wray, 2008), but their charismatic qualities makes people emotionally connect to them, and want to follow. This type of leader can be categorized as the “Visionary Hero” (Manz & Sims, 1995, p. 215).

Strong man, Visionary, and Charismatic leadership all work to an extent. These leadership styles work great in an ideal situation where the market competition, the economy, and jobs are stable. Unfortunately, the real world is more chaotic. It is not uncommon for leaders, even at the C levels to change jobs every five years. If people are too dependent on one leader to provide vision, the absence of that leader might shake the foundations of that company. “A strong, visible and energetic leader may spur different psychological response. Some individuals may become overly dependent upon the leader, and in some cases whole organizations become dependent. Everyone else stops initiating actions and waits for the leader to provide direction …” (Nadler & Tushman, 1995, p. 111) A solution to this problem would be to raise up leaders within the company so that anyone can step up to the challenge when the opportunity arises. “A Leader should be like a boat with swimmers all around it. And the swimmers are the followers who balance the boat” (Shivkumar, 2008). In this analogy that Shivkumar uses, the followers are the ones that provide stability to the boat. The swimmers can still stay afloat until another boat arrives.

In his essay titled Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu talks about leaders being like a Midwife where “the wise leader does not intervene unnecessarily. The leader’s presence is felt, but often the group runs itself” (Lao-tzu, 1995, p. 70). By allowing the followers to lead themselves, when a job is done, there is a sense of confidence instilled upon them that makes them strive for more.

In my opinion, a leader should not just passively let other people lead when the situation arrives. The leader should be proactive and intentional about trying to build other leaders. According to a survey done by John C. Maxwell during a leadership seminar, he found 85% of respondents attributed their leadership skills as coming from the influence of another leader. Only 10% of the participants said that their leadership skills were a natural gift for them, and 5% said that they came from working through a crisis. Even though this research was done on a small scale, it shows us that the most effective way to develop leaders is for other leaders to help them through the process. By raising multiple leaders, an organization breaks free from its dependence on a single leader figure. Empowering employees in this manner allows even people in the lower organizational structure to operate beyond the phenomena, facts, and data level in the scale of knowledge and work towards understanding the information and eventually gain wisdom (Gillette, 2002, p. 12).

Leadership tools:

Having a great leader is only a part of the puzzle. A leader also needs tools and resources that help him or her make the correct decisions and lead the group in territories that have never been charted before. One good way to gather this kind of information needed to make informed decisions is through Competitive Intelligence (CI). Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the ethical process of collecting, analyzing and applying information about the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of competitors in competitive arena (Miller, 2001, p. xi). Competition in any market is inevitable. Having already assembled the information about the market and your potential competitors gives you the advantage to succeed.

CI can be gathered through various means. The World Wide Web is a great resource for starting the initial research as long as the information comes from a reliable source. Even the competitor’s corporate website, press releases, prospectus and annual reports can be of great value. There are also paid services through companies like Lexis Nexis, S&P, Dow Jones Hoover’s that provide invaluable information for competitive analysis. When possible, the CI should be gathered and distributed proactively instead of on a per request basis. In order to do this, there needs to be a proper method for storage and retrieval of intelligence information. This is where the process of Knowledge Management comes into play.

Role of Knowledge management:

Knowledge management is the process that defines the proper methods for gathering, storing, and retrieval of information. In the field of Competitive Intelligence every piece of data about the competitor is valuable. This information must be stored in a database and easy access must be provided to it using a web portal so anyone that has the right privileges to view it may do so. The information must be kept current by updating it on a regular basis. Having a Knowledge Management (KM) system like this reduces the load of the CI analysts so that they can spend more time doing research.

The input for the KM systems should come from multiple sources. The leaders of the companies are great resource for gathering intelligence for the KM system because they are also the ones that are in contact with customers, competitors and other stake holders.

Strategic use of Information:

A good CI Knowledge Management system provides a great tool for the leaders of the company to make strategic decisions. This information can be used against the competitors to get ahead in the market. Other times it may be a more strategic move to form a partnership with the competing company, or even merge, for greater benefits for both parties.

It is much more common for businesses to find the weakness of a competitor and then attack it. Even though this is a valid strategic move, according to Roberts, this just makes the competitor realize their mistakes and come back stronger. A better strategy, according to Robert, is to find the strengths of the company and try to excel in those areas. “Attacking a competitor’s weakness only leads to marginal changes in the market position. Significant gains can only be made by attacking the heartbeat of that competitor’s strategy (Robert, 1997, p. 153).

According to Dr. Gillete, in the scale of Knowledge, information exists in 6 levels:

1. Wisdom
2. Understanding
3. Information
4. Data
5. Facts
6. Phenomena

Information starts out as phenomena, which is simply an idea. It then moves up the chain until it becomes wisdom, which is the ability to discern and make judgment calls (Gillette, 2002, p. Table 2).
One can separate a mediocre leader from someone that is outstanding by looking at what level of the scale of Knowledge they operate in. Knowledge workers tend to hover at the Data and Information level and sometimes at the Understanding level. Only a good leader can operate at the level of wisdom and guide the company’s future.

Conclusion:
Leadership comes in different styles and forms. There is not a single style of leadership that will work in every situation. Depending on the culture, ethics, and legal grounds, one should be able to practice various leadership styles. Even though there are differences, there are a few qualities that are common to all. An effective leader is able to build strength using the workers as the foundation. They are also able to use information strategically and make decisions that are based on wisdom and lead to ultimate success of a company.

References

(1989). Retrieved March 31, 2008, from Oxford English Dictionary: http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50130907?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=leadership&first=1&max_to_show=10

Breeding, B. (2001). CI and KM Convergence: A Case Study at Shell Services International. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H.
Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence : Lessons from the Trenches (pp. 45-68). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Gillette, J. E. (2002). A practical framework for understanding KM. In Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology (pp. 1-22). Boston and London: Arctech House.

Lao-tzu. (1995). Tao Te Ching. In T. J. Wren, The Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership Through the Ages (pp. 69-71). New York: Free Press.

Lunsford, S. (2008, March 5). Organizational Leadership: Group Accomplishment through Outstanding Culture. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/solunsford/2008/03/organizational_leadership_grou.html#more

Manz, C. C., & Sims, P. H. (1995). SuperLeadership: Beyond the Myth of Herioc Leadership. In T. J. Wren, Leader's Companion. Insight on Leadership Through the Ages (pp. 212-221). New York: The Free Press.

Miller, S. H. (2001). Corporations Get Smart. In J. E. Prescott, & S. H. Miller, Proven Strategies in Competitive Intelligence: Lessons from the Trenches (pp. xi-xv). New York: John Wiley & Sons, INC.

Mitch McCrimmon, P. (n.d.). What is Leadership? Retrieved April 1, 2008, from Leadersdirect: http://www.leadersdirect.com/leadership.html

Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. (1995). Beyond the Charismatic Leader: Leadership and Organizational Change. In T. J. Wren, The Leader's Companion. Insights on Leadership through the Ages (pp. 108-113). New York: The Free Press.

Robert, M. (1997). Strategy Pure and Simple II: How Winning Companies Dominate their Competitors . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Shivkumar, D. (2008, March 21). European Renaissance and the Information Renaissance: Derivatives of Leadership Part 2. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/dsivakumar/2008/03/european_renaissance_and_the_i_1.html#more

Wray, A. (2008, January 29). How Princes Should Keep Faith. Retrieved March 31, 2008, from CICS Weblogs: http://www.cicsworld.org/blogs/amwray/2008/01/how_princes_should_keep_faith.html

Wren, J. T. (1995). Leader's Companion: Insights on leadership through the ages. New York: The Free Press.