Peak Performance Culture

Chapter 4Leadership Ideology

It should not surprise you too much that an individual who started a company called the Leadership Difference, Inc. places a high level of importance on leadership when predicting organizational success. In fact, of the five metrics discussed in this book, leadership ideology is the only one that can, by itself, actually will a company to success. Leadership is that important – combined with passion, that is. If passion is an organization's foundation and alignment is its framework, leadership is the power. Like electricity in a house, leadership allows us the necessary source of all our company's potential. Due to my fixation with and focus on leadership, no other element of peak performance draws as much scrutiny from me when I work with an organization. And no other metric disappoints me as much as leadership when it is hamstringing organizational success.

Unfortunately, I have found it far too common that organizations struggle with leadership instead of excelling. I have often noticed that companies are created as a reflection of a single person's passion – someone who is inspired to lead others based on their own dedication to the success of an idea. They experience initial success, which requires that they expand the responsibility for leading the organization to others. Slowly, the passion, ideology and character that drove that initial success becomes diluted. The energy changes. While this may not be a terminal problem – many organizations ...