THE 7 PERSPECTIVES OF EFFECTIVE LEADERS

Leadership today is as difficult as it has ever been. With the amount of change, uncertainty, and disruption businesses face, it can be nearly impossible for leaders to stay on top of everything that comes their way. But rather than constructing an equally complex framework to navigate this environment, the key to effective leadership can be found by keeping it simple.

Decision-making is not enough. Great leaders make great decisions. However, when a leader relies more on her own knowledge, experience, and charisma to drive the business rather than tapping into the shared knowledge, skills, and experience of the team, she lacks influence. People will follow her because of her knowledge and position, but rarely will they feel engaged or motivated to give extra effort.

Influence is not enough. Great leaders inspire people through vision and engagement. However, when a leader focuses too much on the future and is disinterested in where the business is at today he becomes disconnected from the specific aspects of the company’s current reality. People will follow him because of his vision and inspiration but will lose confidence in his decision-making.

The most effective leaders get both of these areas right. They focus on making great decisions while building influence with others.

But as all leaders know, it is not that easy, especially in today's fast-paced and connected environment. To make the best decisions while maintaining and growing your influence, you need to see your business from 7 Perspectives. These 7 Perspectives will force you to see beyond your own knowledge and experience so that you can gain the perspective necessary to improve your leadership effectiveness.

As you use this framework you’ll make better decisions and increase your influence. Let’s preview each of the perspectives:

The 7 Perspectives framework does no leader any good unless it gets integrated into their daily rhythm. The 7 Perspectives are not one-off activities or isolated actions; they have to become a part of a leader’s daily routine. Think of each of them as an ongoing discipline.

Effective leaders use the framework as a foundation for their strategic planning and business management. They run discussions and decisions through each perspective. For example:

Effective leaders simplify their leadership to focus on essential elements, while eliminating waste and distraction. The 7 Perspectives challenge us to see things in a new way that will allow us to make better decisions and increase our influence so we can build better teams and get better results.

While most leaders readily grasp three to four of these 7 Perspectives, very few see all of them with the same level of clarity. Do you know the areas where you’re strong and where you need work?

If you have weaknesses in any of the perspectives, if you don’t see them clearly, then you may have real trouble making sense of the other perspectives. One weak link in an otherwise strong chain can still snap and wreck the whole thing.