the art of leading

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I keep hearing and reading that there is a tendency towards leaders having to be “technically proficient”, against being merely “charismatic”. I partly disagree with that, and I’ll try to explain myself in this post.

Charisma isn’t the cure-all anymore

A “charismatic” leader will not be automatically successful just for being “charismatic”. That, I think, is a given. What I don’t necessarily agree with is the “technically proficient” part. The CEO of a car manufacturing company doesn’t have to know how to work the assembly line. Granted, she should know about the car industry. She should know about the tendencies, disruptors, external and internal factors, and other highly relevant information.

That’s NOT called technical proficiency… it’s called benchmarking proficiency

But here’s the thing: knowing those things does not make you technically proficient. In fact, those are things that a true leader could learn during the job. Knowing those things make you benchmarking proficient. Technical proficiency, in my mind, refers to nitty-gritty details. Benchmarking proficiency, on the other hand, refers to knowing how to measure success.

So what does measuring success mean?

The true modern leader should be a master at interpreting data about past, present, and future tendencies. He should be a master at reasonably predicting trends in the industry, and developing action plans to participate in those future trends. He should be a master at establishing trends and becoming a pioneer of those trends.

So, today’s leader doesn’t have to be a technical genius, although that may sometimes be a boon. But today’s leader should know how to create benchmarks. He should know how to compare, contrast, and predict. He should know how to place his organization in relation to competitors and the environment. He should know how to benchmark.

Categories : Benchmarking, Environment, General Leadership, Goals, Success, Systems //