Ottawa Business Journal
Published: Monday, March 10, 2008

Can you recognize a good leader if you see one?

This week's edition of the OBJ focused on executive education and leadership. It's a topic that hits home for this scribe as I consider what to do with respect to lifelong learning. Is it continued short-term enrolment in two- to five-day courses of interest, or is it a professional MBA or a full-blown EMBA that holds the answer to my quest for knowledge?

I am looking to pole vault my career to the next level, to be exposed to new ideas and ultimately, become a better leader in both my professional and community pursuits.

That is the bottom line for me on executive education - it's about becoming a better leader. And leadership, from the corporate to the political to the community sector, is all the rage these days.

To complement the formal education focus of this edition, allow me to offer some personal observations on some known leaders mixed with a few nuggets from the tomes on leadership that line my home office bookshelf.

The most notable and colourful local leader is Mayor Larry O'Brien. Speaking from some experience on this point, his leadership style now is one of a very public transition before our very eyes, or to borrow one of his terms, transformation. He is moving from his former corporate style of gut instinct, leadership through force of charisma and the "I'm the boss" edict, to a more nuanced, measured and consensual approach to implementing his agenda. It is a prerequisite for success in the mayor's chair.

The long-term challenge for the mayor is his CEO reputation. In her book entitled CEO Capital, Leslie Gaines-Ross notes that the capital (or credibility) of leaders who lead change is maintained and enhanced when there is little to no gap between one's stated intentions and one's actions. This will be the ballot question for Mayor O'Brien in 2010.

On the subject of a ballot question, the issue of leadership is front and centre south of the border in the run-up to this November's presidential tilt between John McCain and either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. And with due respect to other commentators who suffer from leadership envy and pine for an Obama-like orator in Canada, let's stop this superficial analysis. These same commentators would crucify such a speaker as too slick, devoid of substance and not reflective of Canadian humility.

What has attracted Americans (not to mention Canadian political junkies and observers) to the presidential leadership race - specifically the democratic contest - is what Andrew Razeghi calls "the voice of hope" in his book Hope: How triumphant leaders create the future.

The power of transformational ideas packaged in compelling and emotive words that paint a better and renewed future is what is driving the U.S. presidential election race.

What is really happening is that the presidential candidates are tapping into an aspirational vision that unifies factions and disparate voter groups. This is in stark contrast to the divisional and segmenting strategies being practised by most Canadian political leaders and parties.

Which brings us to the key test of leadership - execution. You can narrow the gap between intention and action and you can deliver words of hope to move the masses, but leadership is ultimately about getting things done through others.

In this respect, both The Productive Narcissist, by Michael Macobyl, and Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, are indispensable for today's aspiring leaders. Mr. Macoby blows apart all those gurus who preach emotional intelligence and inclusive approaches to decision making. Yes, these approaches have their moments, but all leadership is ultimately contextual. The trick is to choose the right approach (command-and-control versus team-based) depending on factors such as time, nature of the problem, personalities (read: egos) in the mix, etc.

Once you have chosen the approach, the objective and well-resourced - both with people and money - plan on which you can execute and be held accountable is essential.

Returning to the focus on executive education and leadership, these are the base elements that must be included in any program: a focus on maintaining reputation, communicating effectively and persuasively and learning how to competently plan for success are critical to leaders across all sectors of society.

Of course there are other skill sets to employ and learn, but every good program must have these key elements before you or your employer writes a cheque to further your knowledge.

For today's leaders, this is the way forward.

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Walter Robinson is a principal with Tactix Government Consulting. He is a former federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a former chief of staff to the mayor of Ottawa.