Building to Last: A Leadership Platform

We've already distinguished "Real Leadership" from "Imaginary Leadership" (see Are You Leading? Uncovering Real Leadership!). But how do you intentionally build the personal power required to be a real leader? The solution proposed in Take Your Lead is to move beyond abstract ideas and construct a tangible Leadership Platform.

A Leadership Platform is a framework that codifies what you understand, believe, and intend to do about leadership. It determines the difference between your intended impact and actual impact on others. Just as a physical platform is designed to carry weight directly proportional to the quality of materials used, your Leadership Platform is built to support those who choose to follow your lead. The level of support it provides is proportionate to the critical to quality (CTQ) characteristics you use to build it. When those characteristics are incoherent or inconsistent, our impact will be incongruent.

In a business world reeling from the effects of leadership sandcastles that are constantly getting washed away by market or corporate tidal forces, the Leadership Platform presents a durable structure built with deliberate thought and effort to withstand the tests of time and tidal torrent. Our book, Take Your Lead, presents a simple yet powerful architectural blueprint for its construction:

The Footing: This is what prevents your platform from settling under pressure. It is composed of your core Vision, Mission, Assumptions, and Espoused Values. It answers the fundamental question: Why do you lead?

The Foundation: This component attaches to the Footing and distributes the load. It includes your Guiding Principles, Goals, and Strategic Priorities. This section defines What you aim to achieve as a leader.

The Framing: This is the surface upon which your follow

ers stand. It is built from your chosen Managerial Properties, Operational Imperatives, and Leadership Traits/Qualities. The Framing determines How you lead on a daily basis.

Why is this so important? Most leaders never spend time thinking about, let alone documenting, measuring, and improving the impact they intend to have. A Leadership Platform forces you to move leadership from an impersonal concept to a deeply personal construct. It serves as your baseline for self-evaluation and intentional ch

ange, allowing you to align your actual impact with your intended impact.

A platform is unique to each leader, built by hand, and must be tested for strength. In our next post, we will introduce the process for continually renewing and improving this platform: the Leadership Enrichment LIFE-cycle (LEL-c).