Lessons Learned in Leadership

There has long been a debate whether leaders are born or made. I would suggest that “mostly made” is the correct answer. Certainly some people are born with more outgoing personalities and are bigger, stronger or faster than their childhood peers, which can translate to perceived leadership traits on the playground. In my opinion, though, leadership is a skill that is learned through a variety of experiences, and by learning from and observing others with whom you interact.

You can work to become a leader through your experiences, training and observations. Most, if not all of you, are already leaders in your homes, your children’s schools and your places of worship. Those leadership skills can easily translate to the workplace.

Leadership is not blaming others. It has been so disappointing to hear recent presidents of the United States (the leaders of the free world) blame prior administrations for the problems they face. This goes for Republicans and Democrats alike. Leadership is taking ownership.

I’ve had the privilege to work for excellent role models and leaders throughout my career. I’ve also worked for bosses who were lacking in leadership abilities. I tried to learn from each situation, discarding the lessons from those lacking and embracing the lessons from the others. One of the traits most evident in the excellent role models was their desire for their subordinates to succeed and grow. Your success becomes their success.

Let me give you two personal examples.

First, early in my career, I was given the task of rewriting our bank’s credit policy. This project took a significant amount of time, and upon completion I passed it on to my boss, who shall remain nameless. He presented it at the next board of directors meeting, and the chairman congratulated my boss on the rewrite, commenting, “I have completed a project like this in the past, and I know how much work it involves.” My boss said, “Thank you.” I was in the room. Years later, I still remember how that made me feel. I felt like my boss had sucked all the oxygen out of the room. He was a taker.

The second example involves a former boss and mentor who I will name. Gerry Fitzgerald was chairman, president and CEO of Suburban Bank of Palatine, where I was the senior lending officer. This was the lead bank of a 13-bank holding company – Suburban Bancorp Inc. – located in the Chicago suburbs. Gerry was also chairman of seven of the 13 banks. Gerry was known for promoting people out of his primary bank for the greater good of the company, and he came to me one day asking if I would consider taking on the role of president of one of the affiliate banks. It was one of the six banks he did not chair. His wife, Denise, was among the first to reach out and congratulate me, saying, “I’m so thrilled that you will be able to stretch out your wings.” Today, 36 years later, I still remember how that made me feel. Gerry and Denise were givers.

Gerry found his success as a leader by building others up and promoting them to other positions in the company – concerned more with the overall company success than for the banks directly under his control. This meant he was often replacing and retraining people at his primary bank.

Leadership is a lifelong learning task. Leadership is humility. Leadership is recognizing subordinates. Leadership is willingness to take chances. Leadership involves failure from time to time, but leadership also involves picking yourself up and learning from mistakes. Leadership is taking responsibility.

I’ll end with a quote from Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”
 

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This Month's Guest Writer

Michael K. Bauer
Senior Vice President/Senior Credit Officer
WesBanco Bank, New Albany