What is The Lens of Leadership®?

The Lens of Leadership^® is an accountability mindset - and a set of skills - that lead to specific behaviors that deliver better results.

I believe that all successes and failures have their roots in the leadership applied to the challenge, and that those leaders bear responsibility for the successes and failures. 

During my years as a Naval Officer, all performance – the critical and the mundane – was viewed through what I came to call “The Lens of Leadership”^®. If a mission failed to achieve its objective or was executed sloppily, it was considered a leadership failure.  If the decks were dirty onboard a ship, that was also a leadership failure.  If the food was bad at the base cafeteria, that was a leadership failure, too. All of these problems would be addressed at the appropriate levels with a focus on where the leadership broke down and failed to deliver success.  

In my experience in academia, politics, non-for-profits, and business, however, I have seen leaders quickly attribute success to “leadership,” but often neglect to attribute failure to leadership as well.  I have seen bosses – and sometimes even the boss’ boss – shirk accountability and choose instead to cite a long list of other problems – they sound like excuses to me – for failure.  For me, The Lens of Leadership^® is all about accountability. Great leaders are not afraid to have their results examined through The Lens of Leadership^®.