Gene Kemp’s take
By Malaika Horne
For the St. Louis American
From time to time, I will be asking leaders about their views on principles of leadership. This week, Gene Kemp gives his views on the art and craft of leadership. Kemp is an executive in residence at the Executive Leadership Institute-College of Business Administration-UMSL. He has held senior-level positions as chief financial officer in public and private corporations, domestic and international. Below are his views:
Leadership is having the ability and willingness to lead. A leader must possess a vision of what the team is to collectively achieve. Willingness to lead is brought into play by eagerly sharing the vision and having the courage to accept responsibility for the ultimate fate of the team.
Therefore, the best leaders influence team members to willingly join in to help realize or bring about the vision. Those members who “buy into” the vision will be more motivated to accomplish the company’s objectives. And good leaders are resilient; they are doggedly determined to achieve a commitment to long-term goals and vision.
Many of history’s villains were leaders by mere fact of having a huge following – for example, Hitler and Stalin. Yet everybody didn’t buy into the vision, and the success of the organization was temporary. These leaders tried to motivate by fear and intimidation. Fear is not a good motivator. People have to want to follow the leader.
Leadership involves a positive attitude. People with negative attitudes – for example, those who say, “That’s not my job, we can’t do that, that will never work” – don’t make good leaders.
Leaders exhibit strength, grace and endurance. They develop a vision of the future, understand the underlying forces and have the courage to initiate action without fear of criticism. A vision is achieved by homework, listening and thinking. By gathering data and making detailed analysis, the underlying forces are understood, which reduces uncertainty and risk, leading to increased confidence and courage.
In one organization where I was employed, the company’s performance for several periods resulted in loss of customer market share and decline in shareholder value. To “turn the ship around,” management embarked on a massive fact-finding mission to first understand all the underlying forces affecting its current business environment.
When the customers were analyzed and grouped and purchasing habits understood, the company could then develop its vision of product quality; product cycle times and delivery schedules; pricing policy; warranty issues and competitive issues. There were no “sacred cows,” and efficiency in production was the top priority.
As a result, customer satisfaction, supplier satisfaction and employee satisfaction reached record highs. The company’s commitment to leadership paid off.
Malaika Horne, Ph.D. is director of the Executive Leadership Institute in the College of Business Administration at UMSL