Word count: 1465 =========================================== Summary: The author observes that war on terror calls for a new kind of leadership. Just as war is "asymmetrical", it needs "asymmetrical leadership" to help win it. Fortunately, such leadership doesn't have to be invented. It's already been developed by business leaders for past several decades in global marketplace. =========================================== New Leadership For A New War By Brent Filson

Military analysts call this "asymmetrical" war (as if war has a terrible symmetry); and we know that it will be as different from conventional war as three-dimensional, blindfolded chess is from conventional chess. But one thing is certain, leadership lies at heart of achieving victory. You only have to look to history to understand that when people needed to accomplish great things, whether in war or peace, great leaders had to rise to occasion. Because asymmetrical war is a new kind of war, a war that is more about waging peace on many different levels than waging actual war itself, a war/peace in which accountants, logisticians, diplomats, economic experts will also be front-line troops, it calls for a new kind of leadership — asymmetrical leadership.

Just as asymmetrical war is fluid, multi-dimensional, and global, asymmetrical leadership must be too. But we don't have to create asymmetrical leadership from scratch. To some extent, it's already being developed and modeled in a few forward-thinking American businesses. What does business leadership have to do with waging asymmetrical war? During past 15 or 20 years, many businesses have had to compete in asymmetrical markets, markets that are global, multi-faceted and swiftly changing. To succeed in these markets, leaders of these businesses have had to discard old leadership methods and practices and put into action new ones. In short, they've had to develop asymmetric leadership.

To understand such leadership, first, let's look at basic concept of leadership itself. The word "leadership" itself comes from old Norse root meaning "to make go." But leaders often stumble when trying to understand who makes what go? Generally, conventional view of leadership has been one of an order-giving process. Many leaders believe that they must "make" people go by ordering them to do things. Order-leadership in business has its roots in beginnings of Industrial Revolution. "Order" comes from a Latin root meaning to arrange threads in a weaving woof. The captains of Revolution dealt with relatively uneducated country people who flocked to their factories by ordering them where, how, and when to work. The most efficient and effective production methods resulted from workers being "ordered" or ranked like threads in woof of production lines. Refined and empowered by Victorian commercial culture, with its patriarchal power structure and strong links to Prussian military organization, culture of order-giver leader reached its zenith in United States after World War II.

During post-war years, many U.S. businesses were like ocean liners plowing through relatively calm seas, their leaders, like liner captains and mates, running things by getting orders from superiors, giving orders to subordinates and making sure that those orders were carried out.

But roughly since mid-1980s, with competition increasing dramatically on a global scale, business leaders have come to need skills not akin to ocean liner piloting but white-water canoeing. Order leadership founders where lines of authority are blurring, volume and velocity of information proliferating, markets rapidly changing, and alliance and coalition building multiplying. This is where asymmetrical leadership comes in. Asymmetrical leadership is to traditional leadership as white water canoeing is to ocean liner piloting.

by Alan Fairweather

(c) Alan Fairweather - All Rights reserved http://www.howtogetmoresales.com/ ==========================================================

Avoid pain

Which would you prefer - root canal dental surgery without an anaesthetic or a bit of public speaking? According to people who research these things, most of us would prefer former. Public speaking is still one of our greatest fears and it turns grown men and women into nervous wrecks. The mere thought of it turns our tongue to cotton wool, causes our internal plumbing to act up and our kneecaps to start knocking lumps out of each other. The problem is that Public Speaking catches up with many of us at some time both in our business and personal life. You're asked to do a short talk at Fred's "leaving do". The organisers of your business club want fifteen minutes on why you make "kafuffle" valves. A potential client wants a presentation on why they should give you contract. Of course there's always confident people who think "I'm real good at this, lead me to podium." The only thing is that some of these people could bore your socks off and do more for insomniacs than strongest sleeping pills. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to be sent on a Public Speaking course by your enlightened employer. But more likely, when asked to make a presentation you'll get hold of a book on speaking, start writing speech and lose sleep until event. Well, there's no need for all of this because help is at hand. All you need to remember are your P's and Q's. Let's start with P's

Preparation When you sit down to write what you're going to say, bear in mind who you'll be speaking to. Will they understand what you're talking about; will they understand technical stuff and jargon? If in doubt remember old saying "Keep It Simple Stupid". To quote Aristotle - "Think as wise men do, but speak as common man". Make sure that what you say has a beginning, a middle and an end. Think of some anecdotes that help reinforce your story. People think visually so paint verbal pictures for your audience. And always remember, people want to know what's in it for them - so make sure you tell them!

Place Have a look at venue before event if you can. It's not always possible, however, even if you get there half an hour before, you can check out where you'll be speaking. Stand at point where you will deliver from, imagine where audience will be and check that they can see and hear you. You may even wish to place a glass of water where you'll be able to find it. Personal Preparation Before any speaking event, think about what you are going to wear; when in doubt dress up rather than down. You can always take things off for a more casual look. Men could remove their jacket and their tie. Women could remove items of jewellery. Part of your personal preparation should include some mouth and breathing exercises. Practise saying some tongue twisters to give your speaking muscles a good work out. Take a deep breath and expand your diaphragm. Then breathe out, counting at same time, try and get up to fifty and not pass out. As part of your personal preparation, write your own introduction. Write out exactly what you want someone to say about you, large font, double-spaced and ask person introducing you to read it. Believe me they won't object and will probably be pleased and impressed.

Poise and Posture Whenever you're called to speak, stand up or walk to front quickly and purposefully. Pull yourself up to your full height, stand tall and look like you own place. Before you start to speak, pause, look round your audience and smile. You may even have to wait until applause dies down. Remember, you want audience to like you, so look likeable. Practise this in front of a mirror or your family; I've heard that children make pretty good critics.