A Seasoned View of Leadership

Steve was infuriating at times to work for during my time at a printing plant for RR Donnelley – as he never told me what to do. Instead he would help me fully explore the multiple approaches I could take. To this day, I am blessed with the ability to see every situation from multiple perspectives, to generate many potential solutions and then to pick one and run with it – thanks to him.

Steve was known for his 2 to 3 pages of reflections on leading while facing the particular challenges we had at the time – diversity, discipline, helping good people do good work. These were sent out irregularly and infrequently – perhaps one a year. Yet they were read, saved and referenced as needed. I recall many times when even the crustiest of line supervisors would pull out an “Oswalt memo” for guidance and inspiration.

I hope each of you has a Steve Oswalt in your life – a senior leader who is wise, who challenges you to do more and then helps along the way. I’ve asked Steve to share his thoughts on leadership. He would call it drivel – I think it is worth sharing.

Leadership, I think, is easier to write about than to exhibit. Wanting more income and more recognition, people who are extremely good at doing something often seek and are rewarded with a position of leadership – where suddenly, all their expertise is a potential liability, and they’re asked to do something they know nothing about. And as a result, they make the first mistake of over-controlling, then the second mistake of backing out altogether.

Maybe if we called them personal trainers rather than bosses, they’d have a better idea of what the job is all about (helping each team member achieve maximum potential). A leader also, of course, has to “set the course” about which there can be little negotiation. Not making it back to shore is not an option.

When I think of leaders, I think of wagon masters leading pioneers to Oregon. The goal is everybody to Oregon safely and to Oregon, not Idaho. There are rivers and mountains and wild animals and hostile natives, and it’s a long way to walk. Nobody had seen the movie, so Oregon and the obstacles to successfully getting there were all hearsay. The wagon master leader had to make the dream vividly real – the rich, black soil, the lush sea of waving grass, timber for homes and barns, fresh, cold streams teeming with fish. He had to sell the dream, then sell the process, then personally train each member of the group. Moses, on the other hand, failed both to sell the dream, and he over controlled. He led the people out of Egypt okay, but 40 years getting to Oregon would not have cut it.