Leading People II

"Cheshire Puss," she began, rather timidly,... "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

So where can you start? Start with the purpose. It does very little good to spend time trying to influence others if you have not idea for what purpose. What is the vision? Where are you trying to go? What are you trying to accomplish? This sound so simple, but it is absolutely critical. Good leaders know what they are trying to accomplish. Not only do they know where they are going but why they are going there. If you cannot answer these questions--where are you going and why--you will spend a lot of time rushing to and fro but getting nowhere. Remember the classic scene from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland?

[Alice] was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice...

"Cheshire Puss," she began, rather timidly,... "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where--" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"--so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

The Cheshire Cat is right. If you do not know where you are going, any path will do. But once you do know where you are headed, then you can focus your resources and motivate and inspire people to get the work done. Remember, if you are going to be a leader, it is not about what you do, it is about what others do. As a leader, you influence others to help you accomplish the common objective.

One last word of caution. Don't wait for others to clarify your vision. In our work in organizations, we are forever hearing the comment, "If only they would tell me where we are going, I would know what to do." That simply tells us the speaker is not a leader; he's a follower waiting for someone else to lead. And guess what! You already know more about your job, your life, your customers, your hopes and desires than "they" do. What are you waiting for them? Leaders do not wait.