Common Metaphors for the Effective Leader

I believe that leadership is so important. More lives have been lost due to leadership failure than anything else. The flip-side is that, many lives can be saved due to effective leadership. I’m therefore committed to it’s learning and free sharing with others what I have learned.

Metaphors are great, because, they make it easier for us to learn and remember even difficult concepts.

In “Common Metaphors for The Effective Leader”, we established the following key points:

1. To lead effectively, you must first understand the situation.
2. Though there are many Situations a leader may face, he can easily classify them as “Strategic” or “Tactical”. Tactical situations can be further classified as “Internal” or “External” to an organization
3. Once, properly classified, an appropriate metaphor becomes the instant guide for effective action. For example, a leader who takes over an organization that is facing significant problems will need to use the metaphor “engineer”. Engineers do not fret at problems, they solve them. When engineers find no problems, they make “working” things work better – that is innovation. A leader in an organization with significant problems have to think and act like an engineer if he is to be successful.

The last session of this training was organized by The Navigators Uganda and held on Saturday, September 5, 2015 at Piato, Kampala, Uganda. If you participated in this workshop and wish to share your thoughts, questions or suggestions publicly, please feel free to do so here.