Leadership as Currency

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Last month my good friend Glenn Packiam made the following comments as we discussed the book, Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England by Lynne Olson. We were reading the book for a book club to which we both belong and discussing Winston Churchill’s use of his political capital during various phases of his career.

While many remember Churchill simply as the man of the hour during WWII, the fact is, his rise to power was not such a smooth road. Rather, it was the result of many people who looked beyond some earlier questionable decisions, believing his leadership style to be exactly what was needed as Britain prepared to face Nazi Germany.

With this discussion in mind, Glenn made the following points on leadership that have continued to remain rambling around in my mind, causing me to weigh my words and thoughts more carefully and look at leadership as something to be spent wisely rather than splattered over every life situation with reckless abandon.

a thought i had a while back on churchill’s moments of low political profile that came as a result of his impulsive and poorly chosen soapboxes: leadership is a currency that must be spent wisely. once it is spent poorly– on weak causes that ought not be supported– it is horribly devalued and becomes considerably less desirable. when parliament and the rebel torys needed churchill the most, to speak up for anti-appeasement, to represent the growing public concern over the shabby state of england’s military forces….churchill was forced to lay low. why? because he had chosen to speak up about keeping India a colony– a ridiculous idea that was difficult to defend. churchill’s judgment– or lack of it– devalued the currency of his leadership so greatly that his opinions became as precious as a mexican peso.

so, the next time you– or i– consider launching into a tirade at a meeting about the color of carpet, the length of announcements, or any other trivial matter that you really shouldn’t care so much about, ask
yourself if you really want to spend your leadership currency on that issue…how will your choosing to exert your influence on behalf of a certain cause value or devalue the currency of your leadership? that
is not to say we shouldn’t speak up for something we believe in regardless of popularity…in fact, my point has nothing to do with whether something is popular. it is all about whether the causes we
lend our voices to are the kinds of things we really want our lives to be defined by.

thankfully for europe, churchill’s life and legacy weren’t defined by
the imperialization of india.

After so many lists and how-to books on leadership its always refreshing to hear a very original idea on the subject. You can read more of Glenn’s awesome work here.

Related posts:

1. Maslow’s Hierarchy and Organic Leadership
2. Are You Someone Worth Following?
3. Quote of the Day: Glenn Packiam