Leading by Example
Summer 2021 |聽By Laura J. Cole聽
Gerald Hector has spent a lot of time thinking 鈥� and speaking to others 鈥� about what it means to be a leader.
As the host of the podcast It鈥檚 Easy Son, he has interviewed a range of influential figures, including civil rights leader Andrew Young, eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney, former president of Spelman College Beverly Tatum, and managing director of Bank of America Private Bank Richard Nichols Jr.
鈥淓very one of them to a T has said their career path was never a straight line,鈥� says Hector, who joined 激情快播 earlier this year as senior vice president for administration and finance. 鈥淓very last one of them spoke about what they had to overcome in their formative years and even as adults. What they all had in common was perseverance and stick-to-itiveness.鈥�
What does being a leader mean to you, and how does it differ from being a manager?
Managers are simply that: They鈥檙e managing something. They鈥檙e given some outcomes that they have to get to operationally. They have to get it done.
Leaders are visionaries, right? But everyone can be a leader. It takes just a small shift in focus to understand the difference between the two. Leaders are people who can get folks to see something they don鈥檛 agree with but present a vision, a platform and a path that they can then finally see. I call it the bandwagon effect. No one wants to get into the bandwagon at the very beginning. Why? They don鈥檛 know if this thing is going to work, but if as a leader you get that bandwagon moving, as soon as it starts rolling, everyone jumps in. Why? Because everyone wants to be a part of success.
Same thing that comes through when you think about leadership in organizations. There are too many people I see who are leading, but nobody鈥檚 following them. They鈥檙e just out for a walk. Leaders always must have that presence of mind that they are to inspire but not necessarily push 鈥� and there鈥檚 a big difference.
As someone in a leadership position, how do you empower people to do their best work?
You never, ever as a leader want to have the unqualified leading the unwilling into the unnecessary for no apparent reason. I avoid that by ensuring that whoever is working alongside me, I am setting them up for success. My job is essentially to work myself out of a job.
In terms of leadership, I use the mnemonic device OATE: ownership, accountability, transparency and empowerment. The 鈥淓鈥� is the linchpin for all the others. If my employees are not empowered, they鈥檙e not going to own their work, they鈥檙e not going to feel accountable, and they surely will not be transparent because they鈥檙e going to try to hide what they鈥檙e feeling. So that鈥檚 the environment that I try to build. It takes time because it鈥檚 predicated upon trust, right? As a leader, I have to foster that trust and get them to see that they can be much more than they think right now.
What role does mentorship play in leadership?
They鈥檙e absolutely connected. No one is an island. We are built for relationships as human beings, and the right relationships will lay the groundwork for future success. I was the recipient of mentoring from so many people that it鈥檚 only right for me to do the same. At the end of the day, life 鈥� and leadership 鈥� is all about our common humanity and how we live and exist together. We can鈥檛 succeed in anything without each other.
Learn more about Gerald Hector on 激情快播 Today.