Chapter 3: On Leadership in the Non-profit Sector
Out of the four management functions (planning, organizing, leading and controlling), this chapters clearly relates leading or leadership. This chapter is about Dr. Emmett D. Carson and his views about leadership and how to become an effective leader. Dr. Carson is the CEO and President of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, one of the most established and largest foundations in the United States. It is just fitting for someone of his stature to be talking about leadership at this point in one’s professional career.
The chapter dealt with how Dr. Carson viewed leadership as a collaborative effort of the members of an organization. A leader cannot survive without its staff members and staff members cannot reach their maximum potential without a strong leading guiding them. Leadership weighs in more in determining whether an organization will succeed or fail. Leaders and followers have a symbiotic relationship, in any organization. Leaders and followers interact in a way that when one is willing to follow, another lead and vice versa. Dr. Carson also mentioned that being a leader can actually be acquired throughout one’s life experiences, even in the simplest of things and can, later on, be developed and strengthened further and be made with one’s mistakes and successes.
Chapter 3 also enumerates and explains the critical skills and competencies that Dr. Carson has learned over the years of being a leader in a non-profit organization. He explained that this lessons learned are continually evolving over time and will not remain as is as certain situations will definitely refine these learnings. He talked about leadership style, values, understanding discrimination, passion, managers and leaders, the relationship of a CEO to the Board, and how good leaders should be good listeners.
There are different types of leaders and leadership styles. The style that a leader has mastered over the years may not be applicable to certain environments. It may be more applicable to a business whose target is profits than when used for an organization whose main goal is outreach. The leader must know how to recognize which style works best for the scenario he is faced with at the moment. A leader must have utmost flexibility in order for him to adapt to what the organization requires for.
In leading, one must make us of values as anchors to make the right decisions, to be able to recognize what must be done at the right time for the organization's success. Values must serve as guiding beacons to shape an organization's structure. Values ultimately are the backbone of an organization and the one that sets the direction for the company’s success. A true leader embodies these values and stays true to them despite the varying circumstances he is faced with.
More and more sectors of the industry have come to embrace multi-cultural environments in the workplace. This promotes diversity leading to different points of view necessary for success. Understanding these different points of view is a totally different discussion altogether. A true leader understands and embraces these differences. He also makes it possible for other to understand as well. A leader does not shy away when faced with difficult situations regarding race, sex and age-related issues and concerns in the workplace. He faces them head on, does something about them and ensures that measures are in place to promote a fair and just working environment for everyone in the organization.
Passion is one of the many factors that fuel an organization. It must come, first and foremost from the leader of that organization. When the members see the fire in their leader, they are bound to feel the same kind of passion towards any task assigned to them.
Differentiating a manager from a leader might be difficult for one to establish. They both can be used to describe one and the same person. However, this chapter was able to establish that they are different from each other. A leader delegates while a manager sees to it that the assigned tasks are done accordingly and on time.
In a well-run organization, the CEO maintains a very harmonious relationship with its Board. They must work hand in hand to ensure the success of the organization. The Board establishes the goals or directions the organization has to take while the CEO ensure the implementation of these goals according to set timelines. The CEO serves as the bridge between the Board and the other members of the organization.
Lastly, Dr. Carson mentioned that leaders should have the ability to listen. He must be open to what his staff has to say, in certain situations. He must be able to recognize scenarios wherein he could accommodate these opinions and when he cannot afford to do so. During these times, he must be able to openly convey, in the most objective manner, his firm stand or decision on certain matters where the staff’s opinion are not necessarily needed. However, a good leader must also know when to listen and make use of this information to steer the organization towards success.
