ATLANTA - On Saturday, I was listening to "Costas On The Radio" the weekly program of one of my all-time favorite sportscasters, Bob Costas, who has now ventured into non-sports broadcasting.
He was interviewing Darrell Hammond, long-time cast member of Saturday Night Live. Costas asked Hammond a thought-provoking question that -- as I thought about it -- had implications for leaders everywhere.
Costas was discussing Jimmy Fallon, a fellow SNL cast mate of Hammond, having just been named by NBC to replace Conan O'Brien on The Late Show in 2009 when Conan takes over for Leno on the Tonight Show.
"You've worked with Jimmy Fallon for years," Costas said, "Why do you think he's the right choice to host that show?"
Hammond didn't miss a beat.
"Because he's a total performer," he said. "I'm not. I'm good at a couple things. I can do good sketch comedy with an ensemble team. And I can do impressions. That's it. But Jimmy Fallon -- he can do it all."
Hammond went on to say Fallon can do sketch, he can do impressions, he can do dialects -- young, middle age, and old -- and he can write comedy too. He simply does it all. He's multi-dimensional.
For a comedian, that list is the full monty. When you realize the breadth of Fallon's comedic talents, it's no wonder he got the nod over others.
Simply put, he's a safe bet to nail the laughs and reel in the ratings.
It reminded me of a corollary in baseball -- the 5-tool player -- a rare bird indeed. He's the guy who can run, throw, field, hit for average, and hit for power. In the major leagues, he's on the Most Wanted list. Highest paid too. There aren't many.
Most players are lucky to have two or three in their bag of tricks. But to excel at all five is to be the sought-after needle in the haystack.
Now ... shift to leaders. And to you.
How many leadership tools are on your peg board?
What Jimmy Fallon is to comedy ... and what a 5-tool player is to baseball ... YOU must be to leadership.
Multi-dimensional. Multi-skilled. Multi-talented.
Lessons & Actions For You:
Let's say you're highly effective at presentations. Pretty good at working a room. And not bad at leading meetings. But those are pretty much all the arrows in your quiver.
You're in trouble.
Or let's say you're the new business closer and exceptionally good at it. You're a planner and organizer to beat the band. And you've got a genius for marketing. But that's it.
You're in trouble.
See where I'm going with this?
Let me be more specific: A handful of leadership tools on your peg board ain't gonna cut it.
Want proof? Some of the greatest leaders of all time have spoken out on the subject.
John Wooden, famed UCLA men's basketball coach, who still today owns more national championships than any other coach living or dead, diagrams 17 critical leader traits in his success pyramid from his book "Wooden on Leadership".
As you read the book, you then realize he's burrowing down even deeper into mini points that, if you're counting, could tally over 60 or 70.
Colin Powell, former secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- in his book "The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell" -- has 16 chapters, each one digging into an important leadership quality. And inside each chapter, you can flush out more sub-points, for a total of, I'm thinking, maybe 50 to 75 traits.
Jack Welch, legendary CEO of GE, has spoken of more than 30 must-have attributes of effective leaders.
In "Robert E. Lee on Leadership", written by H. W. Crocker, there are 11 chapters. Each one ends with a bullet-point list of "Lee's Lessons" that summarizes the content. I counted. Total of 52 behaviors, traits and lessons for leaders.
I could go on, but you get the picture. There's an endless list of books, CDs, courses, workshops and seminars on leadership -- and every author has his or her list of traits.
Go ahead. Read, listen to, or attend any one of them. I challenge you to argue with their logic. They ALL make sense.
Watch any sporting event. Then watch the post-game interview with the head coach.
In a 15-second sound bite, the astute viewer/listener can grab two or three tidbits of leadership wisdom -- each one a profound lesson on its own.
Bottom line: Leadership is multi-dimensional. And by "multi", I don't mean three or four. Or eight or nine. Or 22 or 23.
I mean dozens and dozens. Like courage. Initiative. Integrity. Loyalty. Enthusiasm. Vision. Honor. Serving others first. Trustworthiness. Hopefulness. Goal-oriented. Inspirer of others. Delegator. Risk-taker. And on and on and on.
I've only scratched the surface.
If all this scares you -- and it should -- you may want to re-think your leadership role. Make sure you're up to the task, up to the challenge, up to the responsibility. Your followers -- whether they number only one or two -- or as many as 10,000 or a million -- all deserve you to be effective at all the many facets of marketing leadership.
No, not a few. Not just the ones you like. Not just the ones that don't upset you. All of them. And the ones you're not good at? Work on them until you are. It's not an option to ignore them.
The more you study leadership, the longer will grow your list of critically important traits you must embrace.
Leadership is not for everyone. It's not for the squeamish. Not for those with wobbly knees. Nor the feint of heart. And certainly not for those who intend to just eek by with a couple of key skills, and zero interest in developing the rest. If the pressure of having to be proficient at such a long list of attributes troubles you, get out now, before you embarrass yourself and topple the enterprise.
If, on the other hand, you're energized by it all, you seek to learn more every day, and you're on a non-stop quest to improve yourself and acquire the marketing knowledge and skills to lead with honor, dignity and daring ... then you are in the rarified air that the world's greatest leaders have breathed.
Which are you? Let this be your wake-up call to decide. You can't be an effective leader by going at it half-hearted. Wherever you are on the "leadership continuum", you will always have more to learn.
Will you? Will you start today?
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Rick Houcek is President of Soar With Eagles in Atlanta. To subscribe to his newsletter, please visit Soar with Eagles.com and fill in your name and email address in the upper left of the home page.
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