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"Leaders are made, not born" - 'Insights into Leadership in Ireland' book launched today by Dr Martin McAleese at DCU

22 September 2010

Dr Martin McAleese today officially launched the book, 'Insights into Leadership in Ireland: Insights from Contemporary Leaders in the Public, Private and Voluntary Sectors', written by Dr Aoife McDermott and Professor Patrick Flood of the DCU Business School.

The book contains interviews with eleven leaders who include Ben Dunne, Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, Danuta Gray, Nickey Brennan, Niall Saul, Dr Brian Maurer, John Lonergan, Nuala O'Loan, Kenneth McDonald, Maurice Neligan and Mark Rowe, each giving their own personal vision, their values and beliefs and their methods for implementing organisational and social change.

"The book aims to provide insight into the development and practice of effective leadership in the variety of organisations prevalent in our economy. We hope that the book will be read, and used by practicing, developing and aspiring leaders as they follow their own journeys to achieve social and organisational change", said authors Dr McDermott and Prof Flood.

The interviews emphasise the core dimensions of leadership, which include the hard work behind the scenes, failed attempts at change, and the nitty gritty of decision-making.

Interesting insights and observations on leadership include:

Ben Dunne, CEO of the Ben Dunne Fitness Group - His 'three Ps' provide a framework for personal and organisational success.
"Anybody can bring the worst out in people, but it takes a lot of talent, effort and patience to bring the best out in people"
"For me, you can learn a lot about good leadership from sport. People like playing on a team with a good captain: they work towards a clear goal and help each other to score points for the team. The other lesson for leadership from sport is that you can be friendly with your captain, but while you're on duty you've got to respect them".
"I learnt that my problems all started with a lack of respect for myself. Losing respect for yourself is a dangerous thing because, when it happens, you lose respect for others. And, from there, it's just a downward spiral".
"Nobody starts off life as a leader. You become a leader".
"I think that inheriting a leadership position is the worst possible way you can do it. It doesn't always give you the opportunity to earn the points and credibility you need to be effective".
"If you're a good leader, there will be people who want your job. That will happen because you will have created energy around the role and a sense that the organisation is doing exciting things. People like to be associated with that kind of energy and success. So, if there's nobody after your job, question your leadership".

Danuta Gray - CEO of O2 emphasises people and strategy as the core dimensions of leadership and discusses the contingencies which affect how leadership is enacted in international contexts.
"Leadership is about having a vision and being able to bring people with you to achieve it. A vision is ultimately a really clear view of what you want to achieve. You have to be able to communicate it and have a real belief that it's worth doing, in order to bring people with you".
"I think effective leaders have the ability to be very clear in their thinking and have the capacity to articulate and communicate their vision to a wide audience".
"I would look for people with that spark of something that allows them to coach others and to create an environment where others can achieve. That's what makes the difference between a manager of tasks and a leader of people".

Nickey Brennan, former president of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and former Kilkenny All-Ireland hurling winner - draws attention to the challenges of working with volunteers and achieving leadership within a voluntary and time-limited role.
"I listen to people, because I don't know everything about the GAA. I don't know everything about management styles and I don't profess to be overly knowledgeable on every subject. A good leader will recognise their own limitations and be happy to learn from and work with people in their organisation".
"Achieving change is about engagement; it's about thinking through your strategy and it's about selling it as well. And, finally, it is about backing it up with appropriate systems and finance to ensure that it can be delivered".

Niall Saul, Chairman of SymbioHR Consulting and a veteran of business turnarounds, highlights the importance of creating psychological safety for those involved in change and clearing obstacles out of people's way to allow movement to occur. He also emphasises the differences in leadership during good and bad times.
"Organisations tend to miss the fact that a lot of people come into work to do a good job. And sometimes the processes that exist in organisations prevent them from doing that. People are quite prepared to listen to hard messages and make quite big changes if they have a context in which to do it".
"I never get too emotionally involved with the issues I'm dealing with".
"I have a healthy sense of not taking myself or my role too seriously".
"There are some leaders who sit on one side of a river bank and say to people on the far side that 'the answer is over here, stupid' and then wonder why people resist or refuse to move. I think real leaders stand on the same side of the bank and help people build bridges that they can actually walk across".
"Never be tempted to lie for expedience3 because it always come back to bite you"
"Trust is a critical issue in the area of change and restructuring. I actually find that there is no need to be dishonest".

Brian Maurer, retired consultant cardiologist at St Vincent's and medical director of the Irish Heart Foundation - was involved in building up cardiology services in Dublin. He achieved change through policy development and engagement with existing political systems and structures.
"You often find that the people who sat in the back row listening are running the country thirty years later".
"I think that slow learning is often very helpful. Fast learners tend to be very bright and can often intuitively grasp the solutions to the problems. But, equally, they may chase up blind alleys. Those who learn slowly end to benefit from the experience which comes with maturity".
"Leaders need to accept that they should be challenged and will be challenged and that it is a good thing that they are challenged". "Encouraging people to support your vision is about education and persuation, which are helped by having integrity and aspiring towards truthfulness, trustworthiness and honesty".

Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, founder of Focus Ireland - points to the importance of listening, empowering and providing opportunities for leaders to develop. She stresses the need for cooperation between voluntary sector organisations and the importance of such organisations moving on if the public sector or others can address a need.
"I think that a leader knows where he or she is going while a manager knows how to get there. Leadership and management are different. Leadership is about empowering while management is more focused on control".
"My own leadership style is centred on empowering. Empowering requires being able to see the bigger picture and to envision a different future, a different kind of reality for people and society".
"It is important to know when to let go and move on".
"Anybody who wants to be in leadership should listen to the people who are on the margins because they understand society much better than those of us who are in the middle of it".

John Lonergan, Governor of Mountjoy Jail - His clarity and consistency of vision are striking. He provides insights into the constraints on public sector leaders and emphasises that leadership does not equate with popularity.
"I thought that the 'baddies' were in prison and 'goodies' were outside. I was less than a week in the job in Limerick Prison when I reallised that that concept was completely wrong. What I saw there were a lot of unfortunates, a lot of social rejects, a lot of people with serious personal difficulties, all sorts of difficulties really, and a certain amount of criminality as well, in terms of their behaviour.
"For me, leadership is about the personality and qualities of the leader, the mission and getting the best out of people. You have to stand by your values and principles, despite any criticism that you might face. If that means challenging people in authority and being unpopular, well, that's what you have to do".
"Leadership requires courage".
"I stand by and stick to the principle that you must start with treating everyone with the utmost respect, even the person who has murdered or maimed or raped. You still start with the basic principle that they're a fellow human being and are entitled to basic human respect".
"Leadership is not being out at the front all the time, but encouraging values in what you're doing and demonstrating those values yourself when dealing with people".
"You can learn about the techniques of leadership and management but you shouldn't change yourself or your values. For exmaple, if the system asked me to tell a lie, I wouldn't do it. I will not tell a lie. I will not spin a story for the system".

Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland - emphasises the importance and role of courage and emotion in leadership. She also draws attention to the systems and processes that underpin the effective functioning of organisations.
"People to me are whole beings - they are physical, they are intellectual and they are also spiritual. The whole person has to be cared for and valued and has huge potential when this is the case. So I think that there is a large place for spirituality in leadership".
"My own leadership style is direct, robust and inclusive. I challenge a lot".
"Leadership is about enabling people to develop. If they develop they are more committed and if they are more committed they'll be happier and they'll produce a better product".
"I had to learn that it was alright to be afraid as a leader. But I had to deal with the fear. For example, after my Omagh bomb report, which was regarded as very contentious, a lot of angry things were said about me. So, there was a huge, huge media flurry around me for a couple of weeks. And I had made a decision that I would say that I had to say and I would not then engage further".
"Sometimes as a leader, you actually have to face angry people.... But my experience always was that, if you were honest with them, if you were frank insofar as you could - because there were things that you couldn't always say - they would respect you for that. And that you would make some sort of accommodation with them. I never left a meeting feeling that I had to leave or that there was a bad taste about the meeting. It was never like that. We always managed to get somewhere".
"Don't think that leadership is about being distant, because I don't think it is. Be prepared to engage when things are difficult. Don't run away. Be prepared to say that you got it wrong. And that's probably enough advice".

Kenneth McDonald, consultant cardiologist at St Vincent's University hospital - adopted an enterprising approach to developing his unit, acquiring private funding and establishing a charitable trust to build and develop his service.
"You don't just go out and build a road without knowing where the road leads. Similarly, you shouldn't be developing a healthcare service in a piecemeal fashion".
"I have learnt the value of being single-minded and focused; the benefit of getting good supportive data to hound people with; and the advantage of the nuclear option of highlighting to the public that they are not getting the service they should be getting".

Maurice Neligan, retired cardiac surgeon and journalist with the Irish Times - pushed for health service reform through service-development, advocacy, critique and debate.
"I find that the best leaders and the best teachers are always the most understanding and the kindest. You don't really get very far by upsetting people and humiliating people. You've got to bring out the best they have - and use it".
"To be an effective leader you must, first and foremost, be absolutely comfortable in yourself. Then you must be confident in your own ability and realistic about your own ability. You must be prepared to listen and to learn, and then to say firmly, 'This is what we are tryig to do folks' and 'How can we do it better?".

Mark Rowe, GP and Managing Partner in the Rowe-Creavin Medical Practice - healthcare.
"The only person you can change in this life is yourself. You can't expect others to change in this life is yourself. You can't expect others to change and you can't expect others to do it for you. You have to do it for yourself".

The book provides advice to aspiring and developing leaders and gives an insight into the management of organisations in the Irish economy. In recognition of the generosity of the participating leaders and their willingness to support the development of others, the royalties from 'Leadership in Ireland' will be donated to support the work of Focus Ireland. Since being established in 1985, Focus Ireland has worked to respond to the needs of people out-of-home and at risk of becoming out of home.

Aoife McDermott is a lecturer in Human Resource Management at DCU and co-director of the Health Strand of the Learning, Innovation and Knowledge (LInK) Research Centre. Her research interests concern health service organisation and delivery, with particular interest in organisation change and people management.

Patrick C. Flood is professor of Organisational Behaviour at DCU. He is head of the HRM-Organisational Psychology Group and a deputy director of the Leadership, Innovation and Knowledge (LInK) Research Centre. He serves as examiner at Said Business School, Trinity College Dublin and Queens University Belfast and has published extensively in international journals.