Strategic Leadership and Developing a Vision
case. At any level and in any sphere of life, anyone who can visualize a better state of affairs and can persuade others that such a vision makes sense has demon- strated leadership qualities. Anyone who is dissatisfied with the status quo and has suggestions for change and improvement demonstrates leadership qualities to the extent that they are able to persuade others involved of the merits and benefits of such changes. By contrast, managers charged with just implement- ing change and achieving a set of performance objec- tives don’t need to be leaders even though what they do is nonetheless critical to a company’s success.
Earlier, we used the phrase strategic leadership, but what makes leadership “strategic”? Recall from Chapter 1 that a strategy is required only to combat competition. In the same way, “strategic leadership” involves developing an outlook and strategy that will position the company to become a stronger competitor, in both the short term and the long term. Whereas leadership may be required in implementing changes or improvements to parts of the organization, strategic leadership determines the long-run survival and success of the entire company.
Power in an Organization Although all types of executives have the authority to coerce others into doing what they want done, leaders more often use communication to exact a range of more pro-social influence tactics to gain others’ compliance. Leaders have the power to influence or affect the people around or under them. This is true regardless of whether they have been appointed to leadership positions. There are five types of power in an organization.
Legitimate power is the authority obtained through the occupation of a position in the com- pany. The higher the position an individual occupies, the more authority and legitimate power he or she holds. Expert power is based on the unique experience, competence, and expertise possessed by a leader. For example, a group surviving a crash on a mountainside would will- ingly follow the member with survival knowledge and skills. Referent power is derived from the appreciation, high regard, and loyalty of a leader’s followers and is a direct result of the leader’s character. Leaders who have the ability to give or withhold meaningful incentives hold reward power. These can take the form of tangible rewards such as pay raises, bonuses, or preferred job assignments or intangible rewards like verbal praise or respect. A leader or manager to who is in a position to punish a subordinate is said to have coercive power. This could take the form of firing someone, denying a raise or bonus, or reassigning the person to an undesirable location (Jones & George, 2007).
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All types of executives have the power to coerce others into doing what they want. True leaders often use influence rather than authority to get people to do what they want them to do.