Category Archives: Nature

The 9C's of leadership paradigm style #3 – From Clumsy to Conquerer

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What do I do now?We all start at the bottom left corner. “Clumsy”!

I hear often about “natural born leaders” – usually from the same people who believe that leadership cannot be developed (and when I dig deeper, I find that these same people are not ‘natural born leaders’ and cannot be bothered to put in the effort to actually develop their leadership thus, leadership is ‘natural’ becomes the excuse.)

Let me put my stake in the ground here.

No-one is a born leader!

You are born as a baby. You are not born as the CEO of megacorp inc.

Do some individuals seem to show their leadership attributes and abilities more easily than others… sure they do. Just as some people have better hand-eye coordination and find sports easier to excel at. Some are great musicians. Now if you can find one person who is a ‘born leader’ who had never ever developed themselves, practiced and is a truly good leader I will eat 3 golf balls for my lunch.

Now, got that off my chest. We all start as “Clumsy” leaders – clumsy golfers too. A few leaders remain clumsy. They possess little of the technical aptitude of doing leadership, and little of the mindset or attributes of being a leader. If you are young, this is perfectly acceptable. If you are new to a formal leadership role, this is acceptable. But, if you are the leader of a country, it is not really acceptable.

  • It was not that difficult to think of a famous ‘clumsy’ leader. The first that cam to my mind was George W. Bush. Now of course, this could be utterly wrong. He was indeed the president of the United States. And some claim that he was actually very bright and intelligent. Somehow though, for me, his actions were, well, clumsy. His mind set and attitude. Sometimes belligerent, and often, ‘sixpence short of a shilling’. It is possible that George W. was in fact incredibly bright, intelligent and such a great leader that had he been born into another family, perhaps one that didn’t have quite so much oil for breakfast that he would have still aspired to and achieved the incredible heights of leader of the USA… or perhaps he got the job because he was a useful front man?
  • Clumsy golfers? There are plenty. None that I know of who are famous though. Why would Ben from my local club be known to you when he takes 7 swings to strike a ball, and about 300 strokes to complete a round… on the 5 hole executive course?

No-one likes to remain clumsy. You have a choice.

  1. Give up
  2. Learn how to do it

And the most common form of leadership (and golf) development, is learning how to DO it.

So, the clumsy leader buys a few leadership books… 7 Habits, Dummies Guide to leadership. The favourite during the 90’s of course was to go get an MBA.

When they don;t understand, shout!The Coarse Leader

With some technical development in the DOING of leadership, you become a “Coarse” leader.

This leader is actually more manager than ‘leader’. Often process oriented, this person finds the rule book and sometimes throws it. Coarse leaders can be very very effective. The armed forces are filled with coarse leaders. They can shout louder to get things done. And , when struggling to communicate, the most effective action is to raise the voice. Forceful gesticulations and arm movements enable the coarse leader to vent some frustrations.

  • Coarse leaders abound. You’ve met at least one in the past month. The more extreme politicians tend to be coarse leaders. Trading floors overflow with them. In business, pre-dominantly male, high testosterone, almost brilliant.
  • Coarse golfers also abound. Few are famous. John Daley has his moments, though in recent years he’s calmed somewhat. The loud mouthed club golfer – often seen driving a Porsche.

Seat of powerThe Conqueror

On the golf course, this player dominates. Blasting a drive as far as possible brings great joy. The conqueror plays to shorten every hole and every shot – going for broke every time. Often an exhibitionist player and like to brag about their prowess.

Long carries over water whet the conquerors appetite – long par 5’s with a copse on the dogleg right to over-fly bring pulses of energy and make the endorphins flow.

As a leader, the conqueror revels in adversity and challenge, is technically excellent and seldom backs out of a confrontation if offered. The more impossible others consider the position, the more the conqueror defies the odds. They want results, and they want them now. Excuses will bring wrath, and success will bring a new challenge. Seldom satisfied with the result, it can always be better.

  • Golf players who are conquerors include: Greg Norman, Bubba Watson, Arnold Palmer, Sam Sneed
  • Famous leader conquerors include: Margaret Thatcher, Carly Fiorina, Lee Ka Shing, John Chambers, Michael Dell, David Johnson

The 9C's of leadership paradigm style #2 – What is a leadership paradigm style?

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So how did you come out in our quiz?

Leadership and golf share a lot more in common than most people realise.

golf and business do mixMany golfers take up the game, in part, because it is known as the sport of business people – it is an especially good means of networking and developing relationships, so is there a commonality between the way people play the game and the way they behave at work – our research and observation shows that there is:

There are nine main ‘styles’ of playing golf with a corresponding leadership style – the 9Cs of Golf and Leadership Style. 

By ‘style’, I do not mean to refer to an individual’s personality or their innate character as though this were true. I am, instead, referring to the way in which you perform at your best and most naturally – which may represent your true personality – best to ask your spouse or a close friend who knows you in many other situations as well. This is your paradigm.

We’ll consider each of the paradigm styles in turn, pointing out the dominant characteristics displayed and consider a few well known players and business leaders who fit each style. Your job is to identify your own style amongst these nine – finding the one which most accurately matches your approach to the game of golf, and your approach to leadership.

This isn’t about choosing the style you think that you ‘should’ have, or would like to have. This is about understanding where you are now, and knowing that if you play in this style, or lead with this style, it will be the most comfortable. Later you can consider how to compensate for the weaknesses in your own game and, of course, in your leadership.

Your leadership paradigm style is the combination of your technical competency (how well you do the leadership Abilities) and your leadership advantage (have developed the Attributes).

Leadership Paradigm Styles

Breaking the habit

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At this time of year, many people have already given up on those promises and resolutions. Wonderful, well meant plans during a period of  over-indulgence, eating too much, drinking perhaps a little more than is wise. And we then the refrain, “I’ll make my resolution to change in the new year”. But, habits are difficult things. Most often the term is associated in a derogatory sense. i.e. these are bad habits. Any smoker will tell you! There are good habits of course, but for the moment, let’s work on the basis that the habitual way you are playing includes some bad habits that you’d like to be rid of.

So, first a warning!

Every single thing that we do (good or bad) started with a positive intention – and usually some aspect of a habit retains some form of original positive intention. We, as human beings, ONLY do something positive. So, no matter what your habit, there is something positive in it for you – if we can, we want to retain that aspect.

So, remember, everything that you do has a positive intention for you – this applies to everybody else on the planet as well. Someone who smokes often obtains physical pleasure, others say it helps reduce food cravings, some claim reduced stress. Whatever the habit, there was, at least originally, a positive intention.

When you step up to the tee and go through an habitual routine telling yourself that the last time you played this hole you sliced it into the woods, or “I always top it in the bunker” – you have, believe me, a positive intention… even though you are setting yourself up to fail. Or perhaps you have the mantra “I never win tournaments, I’m just not good enough” running through your head – it is to protect you from winning! Obviously your unconscious mind is clear that you can not win a tournament because your egotistical nature would cause your spouse to up and leave you after recounting the winning stroke for the 1000th time.

So, how do we rid ourselves of habits? Well, it can be a lengthy process:

See, if you get rid of the ‘H’, you still have ‘a bit’.

You get rid of the ‘A’, and you still have a ‘bit’.

You get rid of the B, and you still have ‘it’.

To get rid of the ‘I’, you have to look to the ‘T’ and choose what is central to your life, your game and not at the effect of the whims and fancies of your feelings, other people or the environment.

If you truly want to improve your game, there are going to be some sacred cows to slaughter.

Nature or Nurture?

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Who you are as a person in the natural is critically important. I stand by my assertion that leaders are made not born, yet, there are some people who seem to be more ‘naturally’ disposed to leadership than others. It is my belief that this will have been more strongly influenced and affected by their upbringing and the environment, than their DNA.

Over the years, I’ve observed many many golfers, and many many leaders – political, spiritual, religious and business leaders. There is considerable commonality between the way in which golfers play their game and the way they lead.

It is helpful to know and understand what your own ‘natural’ character is – the sort of golfer you are, in general terms, and the game you are most comfortable playing. When you recognise your own game, your own preferred ‘style’ it becomes both a strength and a weakness. You know what you are good at and what turns you on, you also now begin to know what you are not so ‘natural’ at doing and can take action to either remedy the situation or, simply to recognise that this will remain a weakness. No bad thing in and of itself – the greatest leaders of all time know their weaknesses – and usually (sensibly) compensate by hiring someone they trust to fill this gap.