Don Argus on Leadership
14. Apr, 2010 
5 Comments
Did you read the March 2010, Australian Financial Review’s Boss Magazine which focused on REINVENTING LEADERSHIP ? The magazine published an amazing article which was an excerpt of the speech Don Argus delivered at a Leadership Victoria dinner in December 2009.
His key comments around leadership were these:
“In my experience, success goes to those enterprises whose leaders mobilize their people and unleash their competence, creativity and commitment.”
“Those people who are to expand their enterprises were the ones who understood human nature and how to tap the best in people – they understood that the bottom line is ultimately the result of human endeavour.”
“The skill to make things happen comes directly from blending two sides of the leader’s personality: the tough, competitive side that demands winning performance and loves to win; and the softer, compassionate side that is caring and understanding of others.”
In reference to Marius Kloppers, the CEO of BHP BIlliton, he made the following statement:
“Marius quickly realised many organisations smother the potential of their employees under layer upon layer of control and bureaucracy. As a result, their human assets are painfully underused ….
What is really being underused is what might be called “peoples’ discretionary effort”, that is, performance above and beyond the expected minimum. It is their initiative, creativity, motivation and loyalty. This discretionary effort is the part of a person’s performance that is liberated or shutdown by the way their leaders treat them and the quality of their work environment.”
So what is the real message we should take away from this?
Exceptional leadership education, relevant to the needs of the modern business world, must focus on the behavioural elements of an organisation. It must educate business leaders in new and more effective ways to:
- Unleash competence, not manage behaviour – soft skills are critical in this pursuit;
- Enhance individual performance, at home and work, as a foundation to realising bottom line potential – we must acknowledge the inter-dependence between employees personal and professional lives; and
- Simplify the way leaders execute their business plans and manage their organisations.
Are you ready to step up and make the shift ?
I’ve already bookmark this article and will definitely refer this article to all my close friends and colleagues. Thanks for posting!
Hehe am I really the first reply to this awesome article!
You’ve done it once more. Superb post.