leadership
What Makes an Effective Leader? Agency Executives Tell All
During a recent discusiion, the
topic of leadership came up. In my
opinion, to understand leadership
within the PR profession, the best
thing to do is tap into The Counselors
Academy, which is a brain trust of
talent
The Counselors Academy is a
f^roup of nearly 400 agency leaders
within PRSA featuring senior-level
PR and communications counselors,
from executives of
leading multinational agencies to
independent agency
leaders fall into is that they do not
look to reinvent themselves. "How
can we become the company to put
us out of business" is a great quote
and a question we should be asking
ourselves offen. — Bret Werner,
managing director. Catalyst
or who you inspire?
Both — they really go hand in
hand. Leadership means consistency and excellence in all
actions. If
you
leaders if it is recognized and
encouraged. "Born" leaders w&
come to it more
naturally
What's the most important quality of a good leader?
I will pick two:
ñexibility and
openness.
Regardless of
title, education
or experience,
a leader must
unleash his
or her creativity and
unique personality.
Allowing
yourself and others to be
wrong or right and ffeeing
your mind to see the opportunities and interpretations of an
idea allow leaders to understand
more and see things that they
might have otherwise missed.
—Janet Tyler, APR, co-CEO, Airfoil
consistency and
excellence in all
owners.
Tactics present- actions. If you achieve
ed several questions
to the group to
thatjthen you can't help
understand the ins
and outs of leader- but be inspiring."
ship. Here's what
some of them shared with us:
How do yon describe lcadcrshq»?
Leadership is knowing when
not to lead •— that is, when to step
aside and give people a chance to
make some of the same mistakes
you did, so they have a chance to
learn ffom them. Always giving
people the right answers and protecting them ffom following the
wrong path isn't leading. It's the
ibility to release the reins and let
hem gallop off on their own, and
knowing when to do this so as to
not put a project,
client or enterprise
in jeopardy. That is
what separates
those who lead
ffom those who
simply control.
—Jon Goldberg,
chief reputation
architect,
'deputation
Architects Inc.
How can a leader best eng^e and
influence others?
Shut up and listen! Strong
leaders are offen great speakers but
all too often forget the importance
of listening. Social media has
changed the landscape of public
relations and we're
constantly reminding our clients
about the importance of engagement. Great leaders
know that to truly
engage and motivate people, you
need to recognize
the contribution of others and hear
what they're saying. —Alison M.
King, president. Media Profile
"Effective leaders must
have the courage to be
honest, responsible,
respectfui^fah^and
compassionate."
Do effective leaders have .
behavioral traits?
One of the standards of leader¡p behavior was created by Rush
idder, the late founder of the
stitute of Global Ethics. He ideni ltiedfiveelements to effective, ethi,ú leadership that he found to be
niversal around the world,
1 mmed up as: Effective leaders
11 tust have the courage to be honest,
icsponsible, respectful, fair and
compassionate. —J.R. Hippie:^
managing partner, Albright Grb^p
\
What's the most conunon trap
that leaders £aU into?
The most common trap that
14 June 2014 TACTiCS;
Is it critical for leaders to be wining to make decisions?
Absolutely. But possibly even
more important is empowering and
encouraging your team to make
their own decisions even if you
know they might be heading down
the wrong path. Letting them learn
from mistakes and using this as a
teachable moment is as key to leadership as knowing when to intercede. —Pam Golden, president,
GLA Communications
^'^ leadership about what you do
ByMikeNeumeier, APR
What's the best way to strei^^then
leaderdiq> skills?
I am a constant learner —
always searching for ways to hone
my leadership skills and style. I
watch and learn ffom other great
leaders while reading a lot of leadership books. As of late, I've
focused on coaching people,
versus managing them.
This is something that
can be taught but
something I'm working to perfect.
—Aaron Blank,
CEO and president, TheFearey
Group
What have you
done to develop
your leadership
achieve
that, then you
can't help but be
inspiring. And, the ability
to retain consistency and excellence
comes ffom listening and applying
equal parts logic and intuition.
— Terri Howe, APR, owner and
principal, Howe Marketing
Communications LLC
How do you know if someone is a
leader?
It's not about your title or corner office. Want to
know if you're a leader?
Turn around: If you see
followers who would
follow you in the
toughest, scariest of
times, who share your
vision, and who trust
you absolutely, then
you're a leader. I've
seen senior account
executives who are
leaders; I've seen executive vice presidents
who aren't.—Ken Jacobs, principal, Jacobs Communications
Consulting
and will
seek out
opportunities to lead. Others may
need to be presented with the
opportunity to learn to be a leader
in order to have the confidence to
make it happen. —Abbie S. Fink,
vice president and general manager, So vrhat does this mean?
HMA Public Relations
Nearly 25 years into my career,
when thinking about leadership, I
Is there something that you do
still find myself drawn to the class
regularly that helps you be a betbumper sticker "Lead. Follow. Or
ter leader?
get the hell out of the way."
Managing
Attributed to Gen. George S.
and leading
Patton, over time, I have come to
employees is like realize that this is not a message
managing perabout leadership, but for leaders.
sonal relationAs these wise leaders in our
ships. You have
profession have pointed out, leaderto focus on indi- ship is not always about taking
viduals'
command; it's about knowing how
strengths and
and when to take, give or share the
good qualities,
responsibility to do what's best for
versus the weak- the organization that you are servnesses and what
ing-O
you don't like
MiiieNeumeier, APR.ua
about them. Not everyone has the
principal at Arketi Group, a
same strengths, and you have to
high-tech business-to-husiness
nurture and use those strengths
PR and digital marketing
lirm. He is the chair of the
while gently and positively encourCounselors Academy anda
aging them to build their weaknesspast president ofPRSA
es. —Jean Walcher, president, J.
Georgia. You can reach him at.
miieumeifi i! arketicom.
Watcher Communications
"You have to focus on
individuals'strengths
and ^ q u a l i t i e s ,
versus the weaknesses
and what you don't like
about them."
Is it possible to be a bom leader
or can people leam how to lead?
We are all capable of being
I joined a
business executives group in our
third year in business. As a former
financial journalist, I
wa"s largely clueless
about basic management
skills. The chair of the group
was the former dean of the
business school at San Diego State
University, so I had great mentoring. Over the years, I've gained
greatly from my membership in the
Counselors Academy and our firm's
global network. Both have brilliant
counselors who are pleased to share
ideas. — Tom Gable, APR, Fellow
PRSA, CEO, Gable PR, LLC
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