The Nature of a Leader

Had lunch with 2 colleagues from my Construction Specifications Institute chapter today. Both of these ladies are in sales - 1 for a large, international drywall company & the other for a family-owned, regional paint manufacturer. 1 a past-president and the other a committee chair & Director. The topic of next year's presidency came up. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am 2nd VP & the 1st VP is uncertain if she will step into the President's position in June of this year or not.

We discussed the fact that our chapter is in mild disarray and strong leadership is needed. That lead us to discussing what qualities a leader needs & what support a leader needs. The past-president told us she is more comfortable as a "worker bee" not as the leader. I think I'm a little more suited to leadership. I typically have a hard time taking the time to put the details together & following through with my volunteer activities. In my professional life, I have no problem with that - in fact, I'm happiest at work noodling out details, editing specifications or helping solve problems on the construction site.

In CSI, I've noticed, I prefer to sit, listen and offer guidance. Frequently in our Board Meetings, either myself or another Director speaks up to bring the discussions back to a logical realm when they go off course. I am also frequently the one who speaks for fiscal conservatism and responsiblitiy. Is this the attitude and action of a leader? If I become president, do I need to take a more hands on approach? I don't think so. Since I've been in CSI, our chapter has had 7 presidents. It seems that the best President I've worked with was a gentleman who had a vision, had ideas and voiced that vision and those ideas & delegated the work to others.

Previous post have begun to formulate my vision and ideas. I think that's what our chapter needs and what I'm best suited to do. In June 2007, our chapter will host the National Convention. We have much work to do between now & then. We need vision, we need ideas, but we also need worker bees.