Leadership: Assume A Role

It would be blasphemous to discuss anything on leadership without first providing a definition in the words of Dr. Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at the University of Southern California and the founding chairman of the school's Leadership Institute. Dr. Bennis has written 18 books including On Becoming a Leader, Why Leaders Can't Lead, and The Unreality Industry (with Ian Mitroff). Dr. Bennis' definition of leadership comes down to: "the capacity to create a compelling vision and translate it into action and sustain it."

These words do little justice to a lifetime of work. Nonetheless, in any team, individuals are called upon to play a role to achieve the common goal. A prime example is in the movie Gladiator. When Russell Crowe was first thrown into the role of a gladiator, he did not stand up and proclaim himself to be the best. What he did was check his previous accomplishments at the door and proceed to fight, defend and kill the others to emerge as the uncontested victor.

His actions paved the way for his ultimate role as leader. What do you think would have happened had he said that he was the best fighter? Someone who viewed him as a threat would have killed him. What happened instead was that he earned the respect of his peers.

Green Bay Packer coach Vince Lombardi put it best: "Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow. Having the capacity to lead is not enough. The leader must be willing to use it. Leaders are made they are not born. They are made by hard effort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile."

International Flavor

Many students tend to shun the foreigner with the accent because they fear that their oral presentation may suffer and that cultural differences may cause problems. This is a mistake because international students bring a global perspective. Intel's Craig Barrett said it best when he said: "The US represents 4% of the world, I will take the other 96%."

Students from your neck of the woods may also overlook emerging markets while those from abroad seldom do. Jack Welch's book, Straight From The Gut emphasizes that all businesses should develop a thorough strategy for China. While China's enormous size makes it an obvious pick as an interesting market, it took Welch many trips and business deals to come to this conclusion.

Whether the international student is on an exchange program from INSEAD in France, the London School of Economics or CEIBS in China, their addition can make the difference in a group project.

Gender Mix

If possible, try to have an even composition of males and females. The business world has become a diverse arena with women in positions of authority. They have emerged as formidable partners and competitors.

Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina and Lucent's Patricia Russo are two of the more prominent women in CEO positions, but you need not be a CEO to be in charge, as many females you encounter will be. Meg Whitman is running one of the best firms to have emerged from the dot com economy at eBay.

In fact, MBA programs are going out of their way to extend an olive branch to females. Not only will this improve class dynamic, but it should also improve the corporate talent pool

On a lighter note, men should be careful about choosing a group based on the women. This strategy can backfire – but that is for another book.

Earn The Votes

The reason to include international students and women is Machiavellian but obvious. Half of the world is made up of women and the majority of people hail from outside your native country. Business school is no different so strive to cull support from the collective. The fact that women and international students have to work very hard does not hurt either. If your group and future company are a reflection of the real world, you will gain the advantage.