Jun
30
Paul I. Karofsky, Executive Director
Filed Under Management
Northeastern University Center For Family Business
Be adaptable.
“The attributes of leadership are situational,” says Paul Karofsky, Executive Director of Northeastern University’s Center for Family Business. “What works in one organization may be a cause of failure in another. Accordingly, adaptability is one of the most powerful leadership skills. The extent to which a leader can adapt his or her style, approach, and skill set to a situation or organization at hand is a great contributor of success.
“Adaptability does not require one to become a total chameleon. Hopefully one’s values and personality endure. But style must adapt. We can take clues from others and modify our approaches to the situation at hand.
“Ambiguity might keep people up nights, but anyone seeking exquisite clarity and simplicity in his or her career ought to look for a nonleadership position. Leaders, by definition, have followers. Followers need direction. Direction requires decision making. Decision making requires consideration of options. And consideration of options involves dealing with ambiguity.
“Leaders learn to tolerate ambiguity on an ongoing basis through experience and effective decision-making processes, and by gathering good information to assist in the decision-making process. A paperweight that sits on my desk reads, ‘No one can take the ultimate weight of decision making off your shoulders. But the more you know about how things really are, the lighter your burden will be.’
“Being used to running a family business in the wholesale distribution-field, I made decisions as the need appeared. There is an added burden to being the son of the founder, and even more so for the grandson, since fewer than one out of three family businesses survive through a second generation, and fewer than one out of ten survive through a third generation.
“Non-family members in the company have performance expectations of the next generation of leaders, and so does Dad. Often, family members must meet entry criteria, determined at a family meeting, including attaining a certain level of education and outside work experience. Not allowing family members to enter the business simply because of their last name helps. So does clarity on roles and responsibilities, the assignment of a mentor, and routine performance appraisals.
“When involved in our industry’s trade association, I learned to listen-to others and hear not only what was said, but what was not said.
“I learned to speak last so I could digest the comments of others, respond more thoughtfully, and be better heard. I adapted to the needs of the situation. Though the end result and decision reached by the group might have been the very same one I was thinking of at the moment the problem was presented, by enduring and supporting the group process, everyone owned the solution and it was much easier to implement.
“You can become a better leader by first being a follower under both effective and ineffective leaders, by learning from experience, by learning to tolerate ambiguity, by delegating effectively, by believing in the capacity of others to grow, by being committed to a lifelong education for yourself and others, by standing on your own yet being interdependent, by understanding yourself, and by making use of a personal counselor, mentor, or coach.”
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