Changing Lives
I
have not been a student in any school or university
where I did not know who the good teachers were. We all
did. Good teachers are born good teachers, and if we
are lucky enough to be among their students, they will
change our lives.
I
have never been in a company or an organization where I
did not know who the good leaders were. Every one
knew. It isn’t as if good leaders hide in the wings, or
do not display their talents. Good leaders are born
good leaders; those who are not, are different.
This is not meant as a criticism. Any organization
needs both leaders and followers. Too many of either
kind is not good for any company.
As for leaders, I cannot recall
any group that I have been part of where I had not
spotted the true leader of the group, and very quickly.
The leader is the one whom the others look to for
reactions, input and guidance. The leader is the one
who decides to continue or close the discussion. Dress,
manner of speaking and placement in the room may reveal
the leader; so may the placement of the others in the
room in regard to the leader. But it is the personal
and behavioral qualities that are key in identifying a
true leader.
Try
this experiment if you don’t believe me: Just listen to
the voices of the people in the room. How long will it
take you to decide who the leader is? Respect,
deference, humility, caution – all these qualities are
present in the human voice. I think you will know
within 15 minutes who the real leader of the group is –
even in a group of leaders.
Leaders come in all varieties, all colors, all ages and
all classes. There is usually an aura of self assurance
in a leader’s posture, an openness to suggestion, and a
humility that comes from decisions that should not have
been made. If there is one quality that most
characterizes a good leader it is integrity. A good
leader says what he means, and means what he says. A
good leader is trusted, and returns the trust.
It
is a pleasure and a privilege to be taught by a good
teacher.
The
good teacher is also a good leader in the classroom.
Like a CEO, he has a vision and a mission to accomplish,
and the class must decide if they want to go where the
teacher’s vision will take them. This is the mystery of
leadership: How do you achieve the consonance between a
teacher’s lines of sight and the student’s decision to
go there? The born leader has a thousand ways that
could be used, but only some of them will be used in any
one situation. A good teacher reads the class like an
open book – he divines the directions and the forces of
the students and sees where the resultant must go. And
that will be his chosen path.
Is
there a more important task than to find those who can
teach, and those who can lead?
The
born teacher, and the born leader, are a nation’s
greatest gifts.
An
educated work force that leads the world in its chosen
pursuits is the single most important asset of any
country.
Knut Kloster built a great cruise line many years ago:
The Norwegian Caribbean Line. He was the first to
envision the mega-sized cruise ships that later
followed, approaching the size of floating cities. He
was very interested in leadership. He didn’t think that
leaders could be made or trained. In fact, he was
convinced that they were born. He thought the qualities
of future leadership were visible in children, and that
they were honed in thousands of initiatives taken over
the years.
My
first university level education took place at the
Norwegian University School of Economics and Business
Administration in Bergen, Norway. There, the school’s
understood mission was to educate the future leaders of
Norway. During my second year I was elected president
of the Student Club and for the 17th of May,
Norway’s Independence Day, I was asked to pick a number
of students to participate in varying ceremonies around
town. I decided to pick those who had had at least some
experience with leadership tasks. “How many of you have
been class presidents?” I asked. A surprising number of
people raised their hands. I knew I had to add more
criteria. “How many of you class presidents have also
been Scout leaders?” Pretty much the same hands came
up. I ran upstairs and burst into the office of the
Rector of the school, the legendary Professor Rolf
Waaler. “You are admitting scout leaders and class
presidents!” I shouted at him.
He
laughed. “You have found me out!” He continued, “This
is a young school – we have been in existence for only
about twenty years. It takes time to put together a
superb faculty, so we have to make sure that we get
superb students. And since our mission is to educate
the future leaders of Norway, why not pick from among
those who already have proven leadership talents?”
For
many years the school supplied the CEOs of Norway’s
finest companies. Rector Waaler had met the
expectations of the founders of the school.
There is no law that says good leaders and good teachers
must be likable, kind, friendly or personable. I have
seen leaders and teachers who were hard to like,
unreasonable, difficult and prickly. But somehow they
caused the students to perform at their highest levels,
they brought companies to global leadership in many
industries, and they made everyone who knew them feel
privileged for having had the experience of being taught
by them, or of working for them.
These are the teachers, and leaders, who changed my
life. They are not many in number, but enormous in
influence. Due to them, my world is immensely better
that it would otherwise have been. Due to them, I have
been privileged to live a good life. This is my message
to them:
Thank you! It was the best gift I could have received
when you became my teachers. And it was the most useful
education I could have received in later life, when I
went to work for leaders like you.
I
remember my teachers, because when they taught,
lightning flared through my mind; for one brilliant
moment I was transported by the sudden understanding
they created in me.
I
remember, too, the leaders who took me to places where I
never would have gone by myself.
And
that is why, when we are asked about those who have
transformed our lives, teachers and leaders will always
come to mind.
And
each time I see them again – those who are still here –
my day is made.
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