Why Everyone in an Enterprise Can - and Should - Be a Leader (page 1 of 4)

In this special report by Knowledge@Wharton and The McKinsey Quarterly, the management journal of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., experts from McKinsey and Wharton point out that regardless of whether people are on the top line or the front line, they should explore ways to exercise their leadership potential to the fullest. That is the only way in which they can create meaningful working lives for themselves and the organization can get the most from their efforts.

It is said that leadership starts at the top. This is often true, of course, but it is far from being the whole story. Leaders can also be found at the bottom of an organization and at just about every place in between.

Indeed, management experts at Wharton and McKinsey say that leadership can be found and must be practiced by employees at all levels of an organization. That is the only way in which an enterprise can get the most from managers and employees alike, achieve its strategic goals, fulfill the personal career aspirations of its people, and lay the groundwork for identifying and developing future leaders, including those who may eventually serve at the highest levels. A payroll clerk who recommends a way to streamline the process of cutting a check is demonstrating leadership -- given the parameters of his or her place in an organization -- in the same way as a CEO who is launching an initiative to transform a corporation.

"Everybody can lead at every level; there are no excuses," says Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at Wharton and the author of many articles and books on leadership. "It doesn't matter if you're on the front line or the top line. If you are given an office with the powers of that office, what do you add to the office above and beyond those powers? Do you excite and motivate people? Do you bring excellence and vision to what ultimately is the objective of that office or even the whole company? Everybody should be good at leading, whatever their level in the hierarchy."

"Everyone can exercise leadership by being an individual contributor at any level of an organization," agrees Helen Handfield-Jones, an independent consultant on leadership talent strategy and co-author of the book The War for Talent. "What does that mean? Ultimately it comes down to looking for opportunities to make the world a better place. That sounds grand, but when people apply that idea to their work situations, it means having a vision of how your unit, or you as an individual, can be more effective and creative, go beyond day-to-day requirements, and energize others around that vision."

Keith Leslie, a principal in McKinsey's London office, notes that in recent years many business people and business journalists have become enamored with the idea of the "heroic" leader -- the super-talented individual who single-handedly shepherds his or her organization to new heights.

While powerful, charismatic individuals can make a difference, it is usually leadership teams, not the lone wolf, which prove essential to organizational success. In a 2001 article in The McKinsey Quarterly titled "Teamwork at the Top," Leslie and two co-authors underscore this point by including a statement by former General Electric CEO Jack Welch, who says of GE: "We've developed an incredibly talented team of people running our major businesses, and, perhaps more important, there's a healthy sense of collegiality, mutual trust, and respect for performance that pervades this organization."

"The emphasis that we at McKinsey place on team leadership is applicable to management teams at all levels -- top, middle or front line," says Leslie.