Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Screaming

Posted By: Anthony Vlahos
Filed Under: leadership, anthony vlahos, vision, leaders

Comments (150)

Roller coaster, roller coaster, with your stomach-clenching drops, nerve-shredding loops and shriek-inducing jerks — why do we love you so?

You incite rollicking fear, make our hearts race, send our knuckles white, chuck us around unmercifully — and we keep getting right back in line for more.

Maybe because this amusement park ride is a classic it holds a special place in the hearts of fans. But there's more to its allure than that.

Look at their faces, just inches from the track. You can photograph the ride, but you can't replicate the screaming.

A roller coaster promises thrills. The screaming is genuine proof the promise was kept.

Similarly, authentic leaders do what they promise. Always and consistently. You can't do things different, �just this once,� and remain authentic. You can't be a true leader yet act like one only part of the time. You consistently have got to:

Stand up for what you believe
Reverse inertia
Make things go
Be fearless; face everything and avoid nothing
Take risks
Make brilliant mistakes
Not sugar coat your point of view
Be rare and special

In our connected culture, word hurtles down the track whiptastically fast. If you're not the real thing, people know it in no time. The moment you cross the line from bona fide to fraud, sorry, ride over. If you want to be authentic, plan to be authentic all day.

Yes, it's hard work. The payback: Taking people who follow you somewhere they'd like to go. Connecting them to something greater and to one another. Getting to the destination everyone needs to be. Knowing you're leading in a way you're proud of. The screaming.

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Anthony Vlahos's avatar Anthony Vlahos
Tony Vlahos is the Chief Marketing Officer at ExecuNet. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/tonyvlahos.

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Posted by Marvin Bonta
05/07 @ 06:49 PM

There are lots of valid attributes of a good leader but the two I cherish most are sincerity and integrity.

Posted by Dale Choquette
05/07 @ 08:10 AM

One quality that stands out most for me is being authentic.

Posted by Gary Vastola
05/04 @ 07:03 AM

If I had to offer up just one quality required by a good leader, I would say CONFIDENCE.

Confidence in themselves and the direction they are taking their company or team and generating confidence in the people that they lead to follow.

Posted by Johan Reinhoudt
04/13 @ 10:26 AM

A good leader needs to have a great level of self-awareness, before even being able to start effectively dealing with other people.
As we know from the many examples of leadership failure, this is not a given.
The sequence for most leaders is to start managing other people long before they ever develop an introspective ability.

Posted by Doc
04/12 @ 04:51 PM

Enough success to not need to read this.

Posted by David Schofield
04/12 @ 11:17 AM

Integrity, always leading by examaple and doing the right thing!

Posted by Bill Boyer
04/08 @ 11:38 AM

Very true. I wish most owners recognized your points. I am a business coach and most are afraid to take these rides.

Posted by Greg
04/08 @ 10:47 AM

Trust your subordinates until they give you a reason not to. If you spend your time micro-managing you will not have time to lead. Also if you micro-manage , why do you need that person if you intend to do their job? Another point, trust indicates respect of the employee and leads to loyalty,productivity etc.

Posted by Bill Boyer
04/05 @ 03:10 PM

One word. Honesty

Posted by Jacqueline Myers
03/30 @ 02:10 PM

A number of descriptions and labels have been discussed, all good ones. I think many of them as well as what was discussed in the article fall under emotional intelligence. A broad term I know which encompasses a number of behaviors but, a leader without a great deal of it will not succeed as a leader.

Posted by Tim Wilkes
03/29 @ 12:43 PM

Communication. Without adequate communication skills you fail as a leader. You must be good at communicating upwards, downwards and sideways. As has been mentioned you need to be a good listener - inwards and this reflects the importance of humility too.

Without this single skill, you can not lead your people, you can not get across your vision, you can not argue your corner, you can not expect them to follow.

Posted by Karen
03/26 @ 07:56 AM

It takes courage to be a great leader

Posted by Damon Anderson
03/19 @ 09:30 PM

I believe that a leader has to first "ante up" in working with their team. They need and want to know how committed you are to the solution or effort before they "go all in".

Posted by Peter Harper
03/19 @ 11:25 AM

A leader must, above all, have integrity. Without that, there is no trust. Without trust, the leader will stand alone without a team to follow him/her. With integrity, the leader can motivate the team to achieve more than they think possible, inspire team members to take on new challenges or pursuits, and paint a vision for the future with his team working in concert with him to make the vision a reality.

Posted by Gustav Hoeft
03/11 @ 02:31 PM

One characteristic that John Maxwell hits on is Sacrifice: "give up what could be today, for what could be tomorrow." When we look at things of tomorrow, we can see our projects differently, those we work with in a different light and see what will be best for the things we are working on.

Posted by Meeta Joshi
03/09 @ 10:33 AM

A leader needs to be confident and has to lead by example, with integrity and taking full responsibility of the venture.At the same time, s/he also has to empower the team members to help them achieve beyond their role/ responsibilities.

Posted by SHREYAS SHAH
03/02 @ 11:06 PM

The leader must have quality to read the requirements oh the team, know the ways to fulfill the same in all events, vision to anticipate changes to come, motivate and divert the mindset of each one with different ways that suits them effectively over a period consistently. It should de demonstrated with high morality, and discipline.

Posted by Jim Tenny
03/02 @ 09:45 AM

Courage (of your convictions).

Posted by Jill Bromund
03/01 @ 02:24 PM

I agree about keeping promises. No excuses leadership is a key attribute that I see. Great article.

Posted by Yehiel
03/01 @ 11:04 AM

Somebody was asking a question about the most important "property" of great boss. To my opinion it is his VISION. Without a right strategic vision, an energized and ambitious,and honest leader may make all the possible mistakes dragging his projects/teams in a completely wrong direction. The more energized the worse... I've seen a cases...

Posted by Kerry Starrett
02/26 @ 01:09 PM

Must believe in taking others with you

Posted by Kevin Lee Smith
02/22 @ 07:20 AM

EARS - And a willingness to use them.

Posted by Terry
02/18 @ 03:32 PM

It has been my observation that there are many great managers at the C level but far fewer great leaders. A leader crafts a vision where the future is much brighter that the status quo, gets the true "buy-in" to the vision by the execution leadership, demonstrates a clear path to attain the vision, and accomplihes the vision with the highest degree of integrity. It has been my pleasure to work for two such leaders.

Terrt

Posted by Mercer Field
02/14 @ 01:21 PM

As an executive coach, I observe many styles and aspects of leadership. Two of the most important are consistency and optimism. It is difficult to follow a leader who surprises us, to follow when we are not confident of what the leader wants/expects and how he or she will respond to our actions and ideas. Even a consistently negative and demanding leader is easier to follow than one who shifts perspectives and responses seemingly without reason. It is also difficult to follow if we don't feel certain that the leader is optimistic about our abilities to reach goals, to stretch beyond goals, to solve complex problems, suggest interesting approaches or solutions, etc. Optimism is key in motivation. When the message changes from the negative to the positive, the leader begins to build a team of excited followers and innovators. Leaders must convey confidence in their teams even during the most difficult turnarounds. That confidence translates into organizational design, enthusiasm for inputs from the team, good listening and mentoring skills, right allocation of resources and so much more.

Posted by Barry Stuart
10/31 @ 10:06 AM

During these challenging times, our most valued atribute is our Character. It's why our people are willing to follow us in spite of the difficulties that we face. It is why they trust us - it's what distingushes us from the competeition.