Managing. Leading. Coaching. Mentoring. a mental model for flexible leadership CARLL WILKINSON, PRESIDENT & CEO, SMITH & WILKINSON AT SOME POINT, ALMOST ALL LEADERS REACH A POINT WHERE “WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE.” THE PLAYBOOK STOPS WORKING. GREAT SALESPEOPLE, CHARMING AND DRIVEN, ARE PROMOTED TO SALES LEADERS, AND STRUGGLE MANAGING OTHERS, UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHY EVERYONE ISN’T AS MOTIVATED AS THEY ARE. EFFECTIVE FIRST-LINE MANAGERS, WHOSE CAREFUL ATTENTION TO DETAIL, DIRECTIONS, TEACHING, AND ACCOUNTABILITY, ARE PROMOTED TO A MANAGER OF MANAGERS, AND DRIVE THEMSELVES AND EVERYONE ELSE CRAZY WITH MICROMANAGEMENT. THE INTUITIONS AND PRACTICES THAT MADE YOU SUCCESSFUL BEFORE, I.E., YOUR “HABITS OF SUCCESS,” ARE SIMPLY INSUFFICIENT IN THE NEW ROLE. Growing and improving as a leader, creating different and better outcomes, requires new thought-action sequences, and mental models can be a simple shorthand for prompting new thinking. A mental model is a framework for thinking that attempts to take a complex concept and reduce it to a simplified representation. Leadership is a large and complex cluster of human behaviors. Marshall Goldsmith says the operational definition of leadership is “working with and through others to achieve objectives,” which means that effective leadership must be situational and adaptive based on the circumstances, the people involved, and the specific objectives. 10 feature
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