一个人的领导能力和技巧是可以学习培养的, 但一个人的领导力leadership更多是其信仰，价值观和品格的反射, 也是一个人一生的学习. 下面这篇文章(读MBA时的一份作业)是我从自己过去经历中对领导力的反思和体会.因为INTRO部分太具体,所以删除,读起来有些突兀, 请见谅.(更多文章请访问我的博客WWW.ANPING2005.BOKEE.COM)

Leadership Study to Break Out of My Own

1. While enjoying the privileges, sacrifices had to be made.
2. True leadership means to possess a power to influence.
3. A good leader sometimes couldn’t afford to wait
4. A leader needs to protect his team
5. A leader needs to define the priority
6. Let them know who is the boss,
7. But also earn their respect.
8. No decision is the worst decision.
9. Leadership is a learning process

While enjoying the privileges, sacrifices had to be made.

Throughout my grade school years, my teachers regarded me as a smart, obedient and diligent student, and I was given the opportunity to be a class president. (like all positions in China, this particular post was also appointed, not through free election.) As a class president, the biggest responsibility I had was to help my home room teacher to manage class related issues. It was a challenging job, because I was never quite sure whose side I should be on, in another word, if I mostly stood by the teacher, I might lose the trust and confidence from the students; if I stood by my fellow students, I might lose this post all together.

The most powerful thing I got to do as a class president was that I was asked to write ????uation for each student by the end of each school year, this specific task determined whether that student would get spanked or how severely the parental reprimand might be. Of course, good students had nothing to worry about, because they were indeed good even in my eyes; the truly bad students also had nothing to worry about, because they knew how poorly they had done, and in a way they were expecting some sort of punishment from their folks, therefore I became extremely important to the mediocre students, my ????uation brought about their treatment at home. This is so much like the model in today’s US, it seems that the middle class always pays the heaviest toll no matter what.

Being a class president was by no means an easy task, because it meant that you had to be a model student. In China, a good student must possess three qualities: good thought, excellent grades, and healthy body. How does a teacher tell whether one’s thought is good or not? Based on one’s behavior. Men tend to focus on the external appearances including one’s behavior, so being a class president meant to take on such a challenge as setting a very high standard for myself, which also meant that I had to give up certain privileges that belonged only to a child. While enjoying the privileges, sacrifices had to be made.

In my last year in elementary school, I was promoted to be the president of the student government for the entire school (by appointment), which was an honor to me. One privilege I had was to skip the morning exercise which was otherwise mandatory, all I needed to do was to stand by and be a spectator. However, all too soon before I realized that this was actually a trap, instead of watching others, I was being watched by all.

True leadership means to possess a power to influence.

In China, junior high and high school are usually combined into one school. In another word, being a junior higher, one would have a relatively harder time to serve in student government. It gave me such a sense of loss to be only a class president in junior high after having served as the head of the student government in elementary, moreover, girls my age had more opportunities to meet guys that were older and more mature; on the other hand, boys my age were having growing spurs. All these directly challenged me.
Having said this, it’s not hard for one to figure out that my junior years were not among the best years of my life.

Precisely because of those challenges, as an escape from reality, I put all my focus on gaining knowledge from books and from writing. Writing gave me a chance to express my dream and thought. Around the same time, I was beginning to organize a school publication in which I could publish my poems and essays. Never had I thought that this endeavor once again brought people’s attention, which brought me fame. I had become a celebrity in school despite lacking of an actual appointed position. True leadership means to possess a power to influence. People merely respect the status, if the position is appointed. Once the position is lost, so does the leadership. However, if one’s leadership has a power to influence, even if you may not have the actual position, you are still a leader of the group.

A good leader sometimes couldn’t afford to wait

In my freshman year in high school, I became the president of the student government for the very reason that I was well-known, and this position, contrary to all previous positions, was freely elected. (China, at that time, was also attempting political reform.) No freshmen in the history of the school had ever held such a position. However, if no concrete actions to follow after the election, I still could not prove my ability and charisma. Meanwhile, people expect you to do something different, something new and something worth noticing.

During the three years I served as the president of student government, I organized various athletic competitions, public speak forum and vocal singing competitions. Of course publication was always on my plate. All this time, I learned that I had to have sufficient financial support in order to reach many goals. I had to know how to ask for grant from the school authority, and how to raise funds from parents, the most important issue, of course, was to know how to most effectively use the funds. One memorable encounter was that when I knew that one student had terminal cancer, we raised some fund to help him. We were hoping to reach a certain amount before presenting the donation to him, sadly, the student passed away around the time the goal was reached. This encounter taught me that a good leader sometimes couldn’t afford to wait for everything to fall into place before taking action.


A leader needs to protect his team

Another lesson I learned was that if you were in middle management, you must inform your superior what you were about to do, because top management has the power to destroy it all. Once I organized a badminton competition, and it was at the stage of finals with a rather large crowd when the school principal came back from a business trip and he did not know what I had planned, his immediate reaction was to disassemble the crowd. Not only did he terminate the competition, he also jeopardized my credibility among fellow students.

In an effort to re-establish my reputation or perhaps it was his way to apologize, the Principal granted me a special rights, now I was given the responsibility to not only oversee the student morning drill, but also that of the teachers. While he tried to make mends with the students, he accidentally offended the teachers. Soon after that, all teachers signed a petition to have him fired. The lesson was that top management needs to communicate efficiently with middle management in a way so that both will be on the same level of understanding. A leader needs to protect his team and stand by his teammates, never to betray them.

We students missed this Principal a great deal, not simply because he offered buffet free of charge at each school year end, more importantly, he created a more relaxed atmosphere on campus that student felt like they could express what’s on their minds.

A leader needs to define the priority

In my college years, I began to lose interest in student government matters, since I needed time to date, to attend parties and to plan for my future career. During these years my Dean impressed me the most.
Usually a dean in college not only is a leader but also an expert in his field. However, my dean did not seem to know a whole lot about his field of study, he spent merely a year’s time and became someone other faculty could not live without, he had become the so-called “the leader of leaders”. The most crucial element among what he shared with me was that once one became an expert in his field, one would tend to become subjective and self absorbed, which would in time blindfold him. Therefore, a group of experts might lead to chaos. I am not an expert, what I may focus on more was to dissolve the chaos, not so much on attempting to get involved with the details. A leader needs to define priority.

Let them know who is the boss,

Upon college graduation, I joined a state-owned foreign trading company, and I was a salesman selling Chinese products to Japan, Europe and the US. Because of my outstanding performance, a year later I was promoted a department manager in charge of exporting. All four people on my team were either my age or older than I was. The Chinese culture calls one to respect one’s seniors, who also in turn challenge my authority. That was my biggest initial struggle, on one hand I needed their experiences and support, but on the other hand, I really could not let them be my boss. Therefore, the first step I took was to let them know who was the boss, and to whom they should report. I also gave out clear job de????ion for each colleague. If a person refused to accept what I had assigned him, I immediately had him transferred to other departments. When all team members accepted their assignment, I would choose to back out and let them handle things.

But also earn their respect.

All mentioned above was done because I was in the position, which could not bring respect and acceptance. Because of this reason, I spent much time to establish a sound relationship with my colleagues, and showed them my respect. I was usually first at work, and last to take a break. Whenever a problem occurred, I would first assume responsibility, then help my team solve the problem. This way, not only did I get things done, but also earned their respect.

Interestingly, people all know that no one can be expert in all areas, but they expect their leader to be no less than a superman. Consequently, a leader needs to know his stuff, if not a whole lot, at least the essentials. Aside from selling our merchandises, I was also involved in product design. One of the products I helped design was inspired from the movie Jurassic Park. Isn’t it true that children today still play with dinosaur toys?

No decision is the worst decision.

After three years working at the trading company, I left, because I felt like my salary did not proportionally reflect my hard work. “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out [the grain].---Deutoronomy25:4”. I joined an insurance company as an assistant manager. This new job was somewhat in a depressing nature, since I dealt with death and accident almost daily. However, in this midst, I learned how to manage crisis. Most importantly, I learned to make fast and timely decision, the decision may not be the best, but sometimes no decision is the worst decision.

I initiated a brand new insurance coverage program, by much preparation, I was able to introduce it to issuers. Normally most issuers are reluctant to accept anything new unless tried, so this new program faced opposition at the early stage. I was well aware of the risks involved, in another word, if I was not able to successfully sell this program, my position in the company might be shaken. Just around this time, an issuer who had purchased the new program had an accident. Our insurance company had to pay, which could mean loss of money from the viewpoint of the company. Many of my colleagues sneered at me by saying that I had already started losing money before making any profit, but I was confident that this crisis was my chance. I paid the insured amount, at the same time, through public media such as local newspapers and TV newscast, this new program was introduced and accepted to a much wider public. As a result, the new program became one of the most profitable programs of my company in that fiscal year. Therefore, crisis means opportunity. It just happened that the general manger was retiring at that time, so I was given the opportunity to be the new general manager.

Leadership is a learning process

But I left the company soon after that and came to the US as a business partner. Within a year, I was cheated and dumped by my partner, I now realized how vital to carefully choose one’s partner. Not only was mutual trust necessary, but a written contract had to be signed and documented. This is one of the major management style differences between the West and the East. So, when West meets East, a contract is needed, this prompted me to enroll in MBA program so that I might learn management, Western style.

In Oct. 2001, I was hired as a radio program host and producer by Radio Liangyou. Management in a non-profit Christian organization calls for more sensitivity because wages are relatively low, some even come as volunteers. What motivate these “divinely called” colleagues is not material goods and money, what’s important here is “servant-leadership”. Jesus Himself has set a good example for us all, the journey in pursuit of being more like Him is a also learning process of being a servant leader.

Looking back at my leadership development, three persons stood out: my father, Dean of my college and Jesus Christ. My father showed me not to ignore details in human relations, e.g. firm handshakes; when speaking to someone, keep eye contact; when you see someone off, make sure that you won’t turn back until he is out of sight. The latter may be very Chinese, but it shows one’s sincerity; My Dean showed me that a leader can not merely think out of a box, but also be able to think from above; Jesus Christ showed me a newly defined leadership, that does not attempt to change the world with money and status, but with His shining life example.