The transcendence of the leader

This article explains the importance for the leader of the ability to cement the future of the organization he directs, beyond the time horizon corresponding to his management. Starting from the basic premise that, inescapably, the leader must retire from the organization at a given moment, it is necessary to promote leadership that transcends and that allows leaving a legacy to the organization. Therefore, the topic presented below brings together some aspects and considerations that every leader must take into account on their way to transcendence.

The path a leader takes to achieve success is not an easy path. To reach the top, the leader had to have faced countless obstacles, put all his effort and perseverance, and even made great sacrifices throughout his life. But the difficulty does not end there. Once you have reached the top, it is not advisable to sit idly by celebrating your victory. As Thomas Alva Edison said: "Show me a completely satisfied man and I will show you a failure."

Maintaining success is a never ending job. Organizations need to be in continuous movement to face changes in the environment and to find a way to improve what they are carrying out. Therefore, leaders must be able to consolidate the success of the organization they lead, and to build the foundations that will make its continuity possible, in search of achieving a great vision that shapes its future.

Visionary leaders don't just set goals that can be achieved while at the company; on the contrary, they set long-term objectives and project the organization beyond the period of time in which they will be in charge; Your expectations manifest the claim that your company continues to grow and the successes obtained are exceeded.

Thinking about the future of the company leads to the role of the leader ceasing to be transitory. Leadership must be enduring, and this is achieved through the legacy of two main elements that mark the organization and its members: the creation of a solid organizational culture, and on the other hand, the training of new leaders who share the same vision.. This is the inheritance that the leader provides for the organization, which in turn represents the path to their transcendence and to the continuation of their work.

This is why Ken Blanchard (2007, p.17) comments in his book “Leadership at the Highest Level” that “High performance organizations do not depend on the cultivation of a great charismatic leader, but on the creation of a visionary organization that endure beyond the leader. " When the vision outlines a considerably ambitious dream, it involves work that can last for generations. And finally, that is the sense in which organizations must operate, in order to grow and remain in the market. The vision must motivate the transcendence of the organization.

For their part, every leader must be aware that their participation as leader of the organization will take place in a limited space of time, since the time will come when they must retire. This is not an easy step for leaders to take, because as mentioned at the beginning, reaching the position they occupy represented a great effort and it is not easy to place the responsibility of continuing the mission on someone else. However, the leader must make this decision in a timely manner, and above all, he must prepare his departure well in advance. Identifying the possible candidates to exercise the managerial function constitutes an aspect of great relevance for the future performance of the company. That is why Max Dupree, author of "Leadership is an Art," wrote that "succession is one of the key responsibilities of leadership."

The business consultant Carlos Rodríguez Combeller in his book "Contemporary Leadership" refers to the case of Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE) and considered one of the most admired leaders of our time. In his autobiography, Welch relates that selecting his successor was the most important and difficult decision of his career.

The selection process, which took seven years to complete, was handled by Welch and his director of human resources. For the process, a series of requirements and desirable characteristics were established, such as: integrity, values, experience, vision, leadership, etc. Based on the profile, 26 potential candidates were chosen, and they were given particular challenges throughout the seven years. The group was reduced until there were three candidates. Each could handle their decisions as they considered to be correct. Eventually Jeff Immelt was announced as his successor, Welch retired and handed over the reins of the company to him so that he could begin directing. This has been considered the best succession planning process for GE.

Large companies are very careful in selecting successors for managerial positions. Even, as in the case of GE, the process involves training candidates for a considerable period of time to involve them in the system and evaluate their performance. This gives us an idea of the importance of the leader investing in the training of his human resources to later have someone to deposit the baton.

However, according to John Maxwell (2007, p.120), few managers see succession as one of their responsibilities, and few leaders leave a legacy to their organizations. This same author states that leaders who leave a legacy carry out the following actions:

They run the organization with a "broad perspective." This refers to the fact that it is relatively easy to make the organization obtain benefits for a short period of time, through an event or the launch of a new product, for example. But those who truly leave a legacy are those who exercise leadership with the future in mind as well as the present, creating a culture of leadership. The most stable companies have leaders at all levels of the organization. Developing such broad leadership is achieved by making developing leaders part of the culture - they pay the price today to ensure success tomorrow. There is no success without sacrifice. Any leader who wants to contribute to their organization must be willing to pay the price to ensure lasting success.They value team leadership over individual leadership. No matter how great a leader you may be, you can't do it all alone. A company requires a team of good leaders to be successful. They leave the organization with integrity. When the time comes when the leader must leave the organization, he must be willing to let his successor continue.

The previous considerations include the two fundamental aspects that were mentioned at the beginning, so that the leader inherits a legacy to the organization and transcends: creating a culture and forming leaders.

Organizational culture is a factor that the leader must create and maintain, and it is important because it gives an identity to the members of the organization. Culture involves a set of principles shared by all members of the organization, and therefore, constitutes an element that promotes cohesion and an orientation towards the achievement of objectives. In other words, and according to the author Debashis Chatterjee (2001), “All individuals who imbibe a certain corporate culture act as an organizational DNA and become capable of preserving and transmitting that culture in space and time. "

If acceptance and even more so, commitment to the vision, values and objectives of the company are immersed in the organizational culture, a direction is provided to people, who become transmitters of the will and drive with the that you work in the organization.

The leader is in charge of sowing the spirit that characterizes the organization and that lasts over time. In this way, the fundamental issues that must be preserved in the company, and their reason for being, can prevail even when the leader is no longer within the organization.

In his book "Organizational Theory and Design", Richard L. Daft (2007, p.361) gives an example of a company that has preserved the culture and vision of its initial leader. "The culture of Les Schwab Tire Centers is based on the simple but useful values and beliefs of its 87-year-old founder, Les Schwab." And like this there are numerous cases of organizations that have lasted beyond the lives of their founders. Author Stephen Robbins (2004) cites Sony, Kodak, Guillette, McDonald's, and Disney as examples. They are examples of companies in which they have had transcendent leadership. For Robbins, when an organization takes on a life of its own through its culture, it acquires immortality.

On the other hand, it is said that the future of an organization depends on the formation of potential leaders. Effective leaders recognize the need to continually develop future leaders at all levels of the organization.

Companies such as General Electric, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, IBM, among others, strive to support the formation of leaders and have established themselves as schools of leaders. Jack Welch (former CEO of General Electric) “spent a third of his time in formal and informal people development activities. In his memoirs he writes that he devoted more time to the human resources component than to the financial component ”.

Although there are various guidelines provided by experts on the subject of leadership, it should be noted that there is no single and infallible method to train leaders, and within organizations, each company uses different practices aimed at supporting the development of its leaders.

Some of the observations that are considered pertinent to develop leaders in organizations are the following:

Adopt the conviction that all members of the company can develop leadership skills. As mentioned above, more and more organizations are becoming aware of the importance of having leaders at all levels and not only at the top of the organization. Specify the expected results when training leaders. To determine the type of activities to be carried out in the leadership training process, those skills and abilities that can be learned and that will contribute to the achievement of organizational objectives must be defined. Development programs must be focused on real situations Development programs should not be limited to sporadic courses, but should be an ongoing activity.Learning must go hand in hand with leadership. Share the history of the company and its vision, in a way that transmits energy, ideas and values. Many leaders tell their workers their personal experiences about how they overcame some organizational problems, and this represents a high-impact learning method. Seeing leadership development as an investment, so the results will become evident in the future. long term.so the results will be evident in the long term.so the results will be evident in the long term.

It is possible to say that every leader can leave an indelible mark on his organization by creating new leaders within himself, and by sowing a shared dream and identity.

Finally, we want to share the following reflection by John C. Maxwell (2007, p.120): “An achievement comes when a person is capable of doing great things. Success, when the leader empowers his followers to do great things with him. Transcendence is achieved when that leader develops others to do great things for him. But a legacy is created only if the leader puts his organization in a position to do great things without him. "