How to Lead by Jo Owen
The definite guide to effective leadership
Jo Owen essentially as that anyone can learn to be a great leader and everyone can learn to lead better. This book shows you how. How to lead is about becoming an effective leader, not the perfect leader.
While building on wisdom from the previous editions of the book, the author additionally explores the final frontier of leadership: the mindset of a leader. After many years of focusing on the skills of leaders, it is becoming clear that the most successful leaders are not always the most skilled. Indeed, as people slowly emerge into the limelight of leadership, any modest flaws they had as junior managers become magnified and exposed in the spotlight.
Jo Owen looks at what leaders actually do. Day to day, they do what most of us do. They go to meetings, talk to people, deal with crisis, get fed up with emails and work long hours. In any one day, it is hard to see a pattern to their work. But when you look at what they do over a month or a year and it soon becomes clear that their apparently random or routine meetings and messages have a clear pattern.
The book is built around one central and simple concept: The IPA Agenda
The best leaders focus on just three priorities, which form the IPA agenda: Idea, People, Action.
First, leaders at all levels have a very simple idea. We can call it a strategy if we want to be sophisticated, or a vision if we want to be aspirational. The idea serves to focus the energy and resources of each firm/organization; it gives clarity and direction to staff and provides a viable way of competing and succeeding.
The second part of the IPA agenda is people. Leadership is a team sport. Leaders make things happen through other people. And that means that the best leaders, motivate and empower the best teams. As a leader you’re only as good as the team you build around you.
The final part of the IPA agenda is action. The author found that the best leaders separate the noise from the signal very well. They deal with noise but make sure they find time to keep pushing forward with idea through action and keeping a sense of priority. As a leader, you have to deal with the day-to-day battles but never lose sight of the greater goal you want to achieve. Think about your position: What will be different in one or two years’ time as a result of your leadership?
Jo Owen challenges you to raise you ceiling of success. Your success is limited by your ambition. You are unlikely to achieve more than you plan for, unless you hope to get lucky. But the author insists that hope is not a method and luck is not a strategy. When you have a clear agenda; you start gaining control. You have a basis on which to say no to work that is not important and you can start focusing time, efforts and resources on those things that matter most.
Once you have your idea; how then do you communicate it? All you need to be able to do is tell a story, and we call all do that. It should be a simple story, in three parts:
- This is where we are and why we must change
- This is where we are going and what it means for you
- This is how we will get there and how you can help us get there
The first test of any idea is whether anyone else believes in it and is ready to back it. So, how do you build you coalition of support? You need to create a team and network of people who have faith in your story. You need the secret of all great leaders and great sales people: you need two ears and one month. And you need to use them in that proportion. Listen at least twice as much as you talk.
On strategy and the art of unfair competition, the author points out that If you have to compete, then make sure you have a thoroughly unfair source of competitive advantage. An unfair advantage is one that earns a very high return and is hard for competition to shift or copy. You need to be earning far in excess of your cost of capital.
Throughout the book, Jo Owen insists on the key role of people: they make your network work. The best leaders do not even try to do it all themselves. They surround themselves with great people. The best leaders have the best teams. The right team is your dream team. It will turn mountains into molehills, it will turn crises into opportunities and surprises may even turn out to be pleasant. The right team will be a mix and balance of three characteristics:
- Right skills
- Right style
- Right values
On retaining relevant as a leader, the author urges you to never stop learning: master the art of success. As you progress, you have to keep on learning and adapting. This means that promotion is dangerous if you fail to learn and adapt. In practice, every time you get promoted, you have to learn new skills. In professional service firms, they talk about three levels:
- Finders are the partners who focus on acquiring and retaining high-level client relationships
- Minders are the managers who manage projects and teams, and are often the engine room of success
- Grinders are the associates who work all hours doing the donkey work and learning their craft.
As a leader, you have to keep on learning and keep on reinventing yourself. In the words of futurologist Alvin Toffler: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”
You do not need to be the perfect leader to succeed, because the perfect leader does not exist. Instead, build your strengths and be the best of who you are. Leaders come in many styles and flavors. Develop the style that works for you and then put the IPA leadership agenda to work.
Instead of seeking perfection as a leader, seek improvement. The best leaders are always learning and growing. You have to do this because what is expected of you to change at each level of the organization. This means leadership is a journey of discovery, not a destination. Treat it that way: take each new challenge as an opportunity to grow and shine.
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