Leadership as Collaboration

Today’s Washington Post contained an piece by David Rothkopf bemoaning the need for real leadership to get us out of the current economic near-collapse of world markets. My attention was caught by the end of the article when he said that leadership required collaboration.

His point was that leaders do not operate in a vacuum. The very nature of leadership is to lead others. The many definitions and types of leadership require followers. Leadership is by nature a collaborative venture.

To lead requires a deep understanding of the situation in which the potential followers find themselves. Leaders are not born of isolation. Leaders cannot live in a bubble, which President Obama is so clearly trying to escape. Ideas for moving forward must be based on an understanding of where we are now, more importantly, how people experience where we are now.

The conditions that got us in this economic mess existed over a period of time, the warning signs were there. While he did not prevent the current problems, former Fed chair Alan Greenspan sounded a warning when he pointed out our “irrational exuberance.”

There may have been those who could have been leaders, who were aware of and prepared to lead us away from the problems that have since occurred. However, because the problems had not manifested themselves they were not part of our common experience. It was not until the economic world came tumbling down that our collective story became one of recession, with fears of worse. It was only then that leaders could connect our story to their solutions. President Obama won the election because he connected with people and inspired hope. His background allowed him to understand people’s deepest fears and uncertainties, and to harness the spark of hope that exists within our collective conscience.

Once a potential leader deeply understands the situation as experienced by the people, the next step in leadership is the framing of the problem. Wise people may have seen the situation the way the people experience it but, if they define the problem in terms that the people cannot relate, the connection between leader and people is broken.

It is probably at this point that leadership is born, of commonly understood experience and an agreed upon identification of the problem. That is where leadership can first live, but can eventually die. Like a rosebud that never opens, those who are mired in the problem do not become leaders. True leaders have to take their followers beyond the problem into solutions. The solutions must be tailored to the authentic experience of the followers and take them in places they are willing to go. Part of leadership is opening the eyes, hearts, and spirits of followers to be willing to go to new places of possibility, upon roads not yet imagined, or feared.

So Rothkopf is correct, leadership is truly collaboration, a serious, deep sharing of experience, problem definition, solution and fortitude. It is up to us to connect with our leaders, help them understand the world we see, help them refine the definition of the problem, and then help them get the solutions right. At that point, collaboration does not end, but continues to through the arduous work of implementation of the solutions. A true leader will sustain followers through implementation, helping them see the wisdom of their common choices and encouraging cooperation and mutual support. Leaders and followers shape each other each step of the way, which is perhaps yet another definition of collaboration.

It is easy to see how situations go from bad to worse when people wear blinders and cannot see the problems to come, when potential leaders cannot agree with or share the collective story.

Leadership is clearly not limited to the political or economic systems. Leaders in all fields must connect with their audience’s story, frame mutually understood problem statements, create a shared vision for a proposed solution, help followers feel that together they can implement the solution, withstand the turbulence and arrive together with the problem resolved or at least adequately addressed.

The role of the people, whether an electorate, shareholders, employees or any other kind of stakeholder is to engage with potential leaders at every step of the way. For without us there cannot be leaders.