Leadership Lessons from the Campaign Trail, By Michael Beitler

I have been a student of leadership must of my life. After graduating from a university business school, I entered the financial world and eventually became a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in banking. In the business world, I saw leaders who were amazingly effective, leaders who were marginally effective, and leaders who derailed completely.

While still serving as a CFO in banking, I decided to pursue graduate school studies (MA in Psychology and Ph.D. in Leadership Development) to get a better understanding of leadership effectiveness. I enjoyed the challenge of graduate school level work and the exploration of a wide range of leadership theories, but all of the theories seemed to focus on only one or two aspects of leadership. None of the leadership theorists seemed to appreciate the complexity of leadership.

After leaving the financial world I entered the academic world. The academic research I read and conducted was interesting. But, once again, it all seemed to focus on particular aspects of leadership at the expense of an understanding of the complexity of leadership.

In 2009, I was asked to serve as my party’s candidate for the U.S. Senate. Being my first political campaign, I expected a very steep learning curve. It was.

I was especially surprised by the lessons learned about leadership. A political candidate is immediately thrust into a leadership role. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend the Institute of Political Leadership (IOPL). IOPL prepared me for many aspects of the candidate’s role (talking to the print media, doing TV and radio interviews, crafting political strategy, fine tuning your message, etc.).

After graduating from IOPL in December 2009, I felt prepared for most of the challenges facing a political candidate. Surprisingly, I felt rather unprepared for the leadership role (no fault of IOPL).

I had served as a leader many times throughout my professional career. I had a vision for the campaign. I had a realistic view of our budget constraints. I had sufficient time and energy to devote to the campaign. But I had never worked with a small army of volunteers before.

Peter Drucker’s comments about volunteers became instantly clear. Volunteers are the ultimate in motivated workers. I recall seeing my volunteers working Facebook and other social media sites at 2am every morning. Their energy seemed limitless.

Suddenly a high-energy volunteer would disappear. And then another one would disappear. A few days later another volunteer would vanish. IOPL had predicted a volunteer turnover rate of three weeks, but I refused to accept it.

I assumed it must be about me. What did I do wrong? What did I say that was offensive?

It took a while for me to realize the complexity of my leadership role. I was only one ingredient in the mix.

In addition to my own strengths and weaknesses, I had to consider the strengths, weaknesses, needs, and preferences of the workers. I also had to consider the unique opportunities and threats of our task.

Workers (paid or volunteer) loss jobs, have family problems, go back to school, take on more responsibility in their church or civic organization, start or end a romantic relationship, or experience some philosophical angst that causes them to re-evaluate their commitment to “your” project. The best thing you can do is talk to them; do what you can do to help. But allow them to take responsibility for their own lives.

Keep in mind that leadership is complex and dynamic. Things change. You change, your followers change, and the requirements of the task change. As the leader you are always dealing with a different mix of variables. Get frequent feedback about your leadership effectiveness. Use an instrument such as the Leadership Versatility Index to make feedback dialogue part of your organization’s culture.

Leadership is more than providing an inspiring vision. You must develop the versatility to deal with the changing needs of your followers and the task itself.

Author:
Michael Beitler, Ph.D.
Professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)
Libertarian Canidate, US Senate http://www.beitlerforussenate.org/about
http://www.beitlerforussenate.org/about