Leadership Platform has interviewed and profiled hundreds of top leaders from many walks of life. We have been able to engage average leaders, good leaders, great leaders, and the very rare exceptional leader. It is he last that I wish to refer to today. To begin this second instalment of our You(th) the Leader series, please answer the following questions: Do you want to be exceptional? And then, because this is a leadership page, do you want to be an exceptional leader? Your answer for both is probably a yes. Truth be told, you cannot be one without the other.

What kind of a leader or aspiring leader am I? This article is about a few key parameters that we can use to measure our leadership attitude. Leadership Platform uses the term ‘seamless leader’ to describe a specific kind of leader that we believe most of us can become. Several of these universal principles have been discussed in articles in this column in the past. See how you measure against these standards! But first, consider a seamless attitude: A seamless attitude: It is a positive attitude coupled with the ‘mastery of universal principles that govern the ability to move barriers to full potential and excellence’.

Thomas Fuller, an English churchman and historian who lived in the 17th century, penned this truth: “He does not believe that does not live according to his belief.” Seamless leaders do not fall trap to this truth. They strive to be honest with themselves, others and towards society. How many times do we want to say something in a meeting but don’t because of fear or concern for what others may say or think, or what the boss may do to you? When this happened you were not being honest and therefore authentic, and chose to be manipulated by fear. Seamless leaders learn to be honest in a diplomatic or caring way. Some leaders however, go so far down the path of diplomacy or so called caring that they forget to be honest and therefore authentic.

Louis Von Zeuner the Deputy CEO of ABSA will be retiring in approximately a year. I reflected on a leadership conversation I had with him some time back. Here are just a few highlights: At the time the two of us had a very intense and interesting discussion around certain leadership principles. He came across as a humble, teachable, loyal, approachable, down to earth man that can be tough when he needs to be. I remember thinking to myself that ABSA and Maria Ramos were very fortunate to have him on the team.

For a seamless leader, repetition is a core element in the development of character and leadership competence. No skill of real value is possessed without the application of much repetition. Every skill we learn is the result of practice and experience. Think of learning to read and write, to drive a car, to speak a new language, to master a sport or to learn to paint. It is a human frailty to resent repetition. Without this ability we will not be able to reach our full potential. According to leadership psychologist, Colin Wilford, “all behaviour is made possible by a myriad of electrical pathways in the brain. As we learn new tasks and make them habits we create a new sequence of electrical impulses in the brain that continue to follow the same pathway in the same order. Changing the pathways/habits once set is not easy, but it is refreshingly possible as we overcome our failings and turn them into strengths”.

...What our National Planning Commission is in effect telling us here is that we need to change the way we understand leadership and adopt what we have coined: Seamless Leadership; if we are to accomplish that which has been asked of us.  Why am I mentioning all this? Because a truly seamless society, lead by seamless leaders – whether in homes, businesses or civil society – depends to a large extent on how and what we are doing to develop those who will be present when 2030 arrives... To the youth: ...We are launching an initiative right here in The Star Workplace. We call it our “You(th) the Leader Series”. What we are going to give you once a month is a lesson in leadership...

The critical role that a seamless attitude plays in life was sharply brought home to me a week ago when we heard the distressing news that two sons of friends from the Eastern Cape had died in a plane crash. The two brothers were in fact participating in a final flight before the one brother was to qualify for his pilot’s licence. After we heard the news we phoned the mother of the two boys and it was an intensely emotional experience. Why mention this matter? Life is about attitude. It really is! Life is also about traumatic and painful experiences as indicated above. The workplace is filled with challenging situations. Nothing impacts more on personal happiness and leadership ability than a heritage of a positive and seamless attitude towards life in general and in particular towards our leadership role in the work place and in our families. What is a seamless attitude?

Readers of the Leadership Platform column are in general avid seekers after leadership excellence, and our passion is to assist you where possible. As this is the commencement of a new year it is appropriate for us to share some imperatives of leadership excellence. The three we are discussing are all keys to opening the door to emotional and mental leadership maturity. The three are ‘obedience’, ‘letting go’ and ‘values’. 1. The first universal principle is obedience. Obedience is not an optional thing in human behaviour. No matter what we do we are being obedient to some idea, impulse or influence. Thinking, hesitating, evaluating and doing are all manifestations of obedience. We cannot move from point a to point b without being obedient to some feeling or perception.

Typically the western world uses the top down pyramid style of management, one where the CEO is at the top followed by the executives, then middle management, the supervisors and then the employees. The employees typically face the customers. In my experience, the people in many organisations today are looking up the food chain, (up the triangle as it were), and are mostly concerned about keeping the boss happy. My question is that while everyone is focusing on keeping the boss happy, who’s focusing on keeping the customer happy? After all isn't that our most important goal in business? What would happen if we turn the typical management pyramid that most organisations apply today, upside down?

This article has been held back so that we can publish it before Christmas. You may well ask the question: ‘What has Christmas to do with the theme of leadership? The lessons of Christmas may include some of the most sought after secrets of ‘seamless’ leadership - the ability to move mental, emotional, physical and organisational barriers to potential and excellence. One of these great secrets is that of the power of sharing.