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'Leadership Is a Soft Skill'

Nothing Could Be Further from the Truth

By Ray Collado JrPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
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Having grown up and been trained in the Japanese management system, I was so surprised to hear this from one of the “Leaders” in training and development during my time there.

In my 30 plus years of business in production operations, I’ve seen time again the results of poor leadership. Even the very best infrastructure and culture needs strong committed leadership to sustain at a minimum and grow to the maximum.

Making people feel like an important part of the company and it’s objectives is so easy to say in training, but in my experience so difficult to apply at the floor level. Much less for the mid to upper level management team to believe in.

John Maxwell stated in his book the 21 Indisputable Laws of Leadership that “EVERYTHING rises and falls on leadership." I couldn’t agree more. I’ve worked for several major companies since working for Toyota and I’ve seen it’s failures time and again. We are either so anxious for the title and promotion that we forget about substance or we just don’t like or trust our people to want to do there best.

I’ve seen major executives in upper management discuss and agree in principle with these concepts but again, putting them into practical application is quite another.

In reality it is so simple. A confident and assertive leader need not be a pit bull to prove their worth. Yet, I see this everyday and every day I see upper level (not executive level) agree.

Being a people person, communicating targets and goals ,and current status, then celebrating reaching them is so so important. Making team members feel like an integral part of the team is so crucial.

In my career, I’ve seen that most people need these jobs and want to do well. Make them feel like their important and they will give you more. It’s so easy because the bad apples will then immediately stand out. Easy to spot. Give them every opportunity to get on board or act on it accordingly.

Most importantly, we must believe these thing are true as leaders. Posters and quotations on the walls and the halls are meaningless if you don’t show you believe in them with your actions. Get to know your people. This isn’t the military where we draw a line of demarcation between the workers and the leaders. We are all on the same team.

John Maxwell (Leadership Trainer) once said, "Think for a moment about some of the very best leaders you’ve ever seen or worked for. Now ask yourself honestly.. Do you have those same qualities?"

Ray Collado

Leadership Speaker

And Trainer

advice
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