Legendary Vietnam War fighter pilot Robin Olds made an astute observation about how different leadership challenges call for different leaders.
In his esteemed view, the military leader who excels in peacetime is not necessarily the leader who excels in wartime. In fact, he observed over a 30-year career in the Air Force that leaders who perform best when conflicts aren’t raging are usually not “worth a damn” during hostilities. The truism that distinct challenges require a particular brand of leader applies to almost every leadership domain.
Leaders have different skills and talents. It is a rare leader who is great at almost everything. More typically, leaders with a particular skillset perform best when the challenges they face call for their exact skills.
Organizations and leaders who understand this look forward when making leadership selections. By asking what problems and issues loom on the horizon, organizations can promote leaders who have the skills to tackle them.
Finding the right leader to overcome the obstacles and seize on the opportunities present both now and in the near future is essential work for senior leaders. Getting this wrong is easy, largely because the next leader up or the leader who deserves the chance or promotion is not always right for the challenge.
Disappointing a highly talented leader is never painless, but making the wrong call based on loyalty isn’t what the organization needs most. A leader with the skills to tackle the challenge will likely soar, while a deserving leader who has the wrong strengths for the current reality will likely jeopardize performance and frustrate the team below them. Doing what is best for the organization is paramount.
Because relationships, loyalty, and payback for hard work and past success color so many promotion decisions, selecting the best leader for the current challenge is exceedingly hard for organizations. Even Corporate Boards commonly struggle with this quandary, often landing on the wrong CEO for the task at hand. Such decisions have enormous consequences. Over time, a leader with the wrong skills can sink the ship.
Selecting the leader with the skills and talents to confront the challenge we face is among the most important decisions any organization will make. Great organizations and leaders think deeply about the challenge and about the leaders who can rise to the occasion. Anything less is surrender.
