You have to lead with YOUR heart

I found Louis Gerstner, Jr's Who Says Elephants Can't Dance to be one of the best books on leadership I've ever encountered. Gerstner clearly had a lot of obstacles and history to overcome in order to save IBM. When he left his post nine years later (the longest CEO tenure of any person that didn't have the last name Watson), he truly did leave the company better than he found it. While it was an interesting read all the way through, there were some parts that he put towards the end of the book that I found the most interesting, and will remember the most as I begin my foray into professional leadership positions.

By the way - Elephants can dance in a literal sense as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGSFJpFL8JY

I got the most out of the chapter where Gerstner talks about leadership being personal. He talks about how crucial it is to be visible. So many leaders fall into the trap of meetings and closed door sessions, that they forget to get up occasionally and check on the workers that are producing every day for the company. I like how he talks about rolling up your sleeves when things get tough, and not hiding behind the actions of other staff members. At the end of the day, everything falls on the CEO. It would be a bad idea to sink or swim as a leader without personally interacting with your subordinates every chance you get. And this extends not only to people in the company, but also your customers, competitors, and business associates.

The most important thing that was brought up is to lead effectively, "you must treat every employee as someone who deserves to understand what's going on in the enterprise" This means don't hide behind other people when the going gets tough. This means be as open and as transparent as possible (to an extent of course) and remember why you are in place to be the leader of the company to begin with.

Finally, I like how Gerstener talked about how important it is to have passion about your company. I learned here that this is truly the single most important thing in a leader. You can be book smart, street smart, a good negotiator, shrewd, ice in your veins, etc. Without having a passion for what you do and the company you work for, there is no chance of ever being a successful leader. I will take this lesson everywhere I go. Hard work and dedication is important. A mastery of your industry, as well as good people skills, are crucial to succeed. But without passion, you can't accomplish much as a leader. I never really thought of that until hearing it from Gerstner. As he said, we all want to win, win, win. Without the passion to be the best, it's hard to accomplish anything else as the leader of a company.