Welcome to "Navigating Leadership," an eight-part series of articles and videos by Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret), Vice Chair of Global Affairs at Carlyle. Drawing from his 37-year naval career, including his role as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO, Admiral Stavridis shares key leadership insights and wisdom for today’s increasingly complex and changing world. Subscribe here to be notified of future editions.

Books about leadership seem almost as numerous as cookbooks. The abundant supply suggests a voracious public appetite for insights into the qualities of being a leader and the steps required to become one. A fascination with leadership is understandable given that so many people today perceive the quality to be absent in many spheres of our lives. There is also a mystique about what leadership is. The dictionary definition—the action of leading a group of people or an organization—is almost tautological and omits the dimension of being able to influence and guide.

Having written several books about leadership, taught the subject, and been in positions of leadership at many stages in my life, I’d like to offer a distilled definition that may be more useful to aspiring leaders. In addition, I’ll add some practical action steps that may benefit today’s and tomorrow’s leaders.

What is leadership?

The essence of leadership is the ability to communicate and inspire, generally with the goal of accomplishing a specific purpose. The head of a sales effort at a corporation, a principal at an elementary school, or an officer in charge of a combat mission requires leadership skills to accomplish his or her job. Leadership is all about external effects and the ability to influence others. It is a tool, not a quality, and thus can be applied for good and ill.

However, leadership should not be confused with character, which is about internal effect and the ability to influence oneself. Character, unlike leadership, has both moral and ethical weight and can more correctly be described as either good or bad. Leadership ability and good character can merge in a given individual, and when they do, the combination produces highly effective leaders to whom others are attracted because of the leader’s high level of moral strength.

The nature and importance of character is so intertwined with leadership that I’ve written a book about it, Sailing True North. Here, however, we’re focusing on leadership and the practical steps you can take to build leadership skills. The following are essential steps to take in four key areas:

1. Reading

Since the essence of leadership is communication and the ability to inspire, leaders must be good speakers and writers. The single best way to learn and grow as a leader is through reading. Bookishness may seem to contradict the popular notion of a leader as a doer, not someone sitting in a corner and reading. But reading non-fiction and great works of fiction is hardly passive.

Good books are conversations with great minds, spurring ideas and insights by providing opportunities to experience an enormous variety of life experiences without leaving your chair. They prepare a foundation from which leaders can make valuable intellectual connections that form the basis of good decision-making under stressful conditions. With stores of intellectual ammunition to draw on, to use a military analogy, you will be able to stand out as a person others want to follow when you communicate.

Regular reading facilitates good writing and speaking. The hard work of writing to persuade, which involves presenting ideas clearly and in compelling style, is best sharpened on the whetstone of reading. Likewise with persuasion that is accomplished person-to-person, in live group settings or via video. The most effective speakers typically make their points through stories, and reading creates the building blocks of good stories.

“Every book is a simulator. It's your opportunity to put yourself in the head of that character or person and challenge yourself. What would I have done at that moment?”

Two books that have deeply influenced me and are worth re-reading are To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, by Mark Twain. The first, a deceptively simple novel set in 1930s America, is a depiction of a flawed judicial system with racist underpinnings, a country lawyer making hard choices when not doing so would be easier, and a young woman’s coming of age and struggling with complexity. Mark Twain’s masterpiece, while superficially a satire involving an engineer who wakes up a thousand years ago, underscores how reason and innovation don’t automatically win over hearts and minds. Both books provide lessons for future leaders.

2. Resilience

Effective leaders must deal with surprises, adversity, and failure. The best way to do that is by developing resilience—the ability to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start over.

Part of resilience is inherent in your character, but it can be developed in three ways:

• Seek out resilient people and spend time with them.
• Find books (sound familiar?) that inspire a sense of resilience and read them.
• Have the right inner conversations. What do you tell yourself when things go wrong? The best way to frame those inner dialogues is to refuse to be a victim or blame others, and to tell yourself that a setback won’t ever stop you from trying—again and again and again.

The important lesson is that while all of us fail, leaders don’t give up. But they are not robots. They can put the inevitable failures and mistakes in perspective because while they take their role seriously, they have a sense of humility and don’t take themselves seriously. They can see the humor in even a bad situation and understand human frailty. Finally, when even small victories occur, they celebrate. They are resilient.

3. Resources

Time is the greatest resource of a leader. Learning how to manage that resource is important. When I was in command, I tried to spend my time in fourths: a fourth on people; a fourth on innovation; a fourth on communications, and finally, about a fourth on operations. I’ll go into more detail on my approach to time management in a future edition, but for now, recognize that learning how to maximize your time is central to leadership.

4. Respect

Much is made today of the idea of servant leadership, which to me is pretty simple: It’s seeing yourself as the enabler of the talent around you and treating everyone in your organization with the same respect—regardless of their standing.

Respecting those in your organization, however, demands more than good manners. It requires mentoring those for whom you are responsible because you respect them as people and want them to fulfill their potential. It means putting in the time and effort to develop multi-year plans for those you mentor, reaching out to them, and tracking their progress. When leaders treat others with respect, they are treated with respect—and loyalty—in return because they have earned it.

Finally, let me return to the cookbook reference I made earlier. Following a recipe can produce a wonderful meal, but a cookbook can’t turn you into Jacques Pepin or Julia Child. Becoming a master chef or a leader is a life-long process requiring learning, mentorship, and practice. A checklist provides guidance, but nothing beats determination and hard work.

Throughout this series, I’ll share my thoughts on various elements of leadership in the hopes that my experiences help you navigate your own career. Next time, I’ll touch on a few things leaders should avoid—some "don’ts," if you will.

Until then, Godspeed and open water in your own leadership voyage.

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