Talking with Gordon Tredgold is like walking into a world that is part sports and part reality show. It feels that way because in the current podcast episode he explains how leadership operates in the real world and uses a number of sports analogies to help you understand how great leaders help their followers believe they can accomplish a goal.

Hundreds of books have been written and whole careers spent discussing the concept of leadership, Gordon on the other hand breaks it down into the simple concept of instilling belief in the people you ask to follow you. Belief in the idea that they are capable of not only of accomplishing the vision you have laid out, but also that they can do much more.

Part of the reason I think his approach has been successful for him is that he points out that the leader has to first have belief in his or her self, and a title only gives you the authority to outline the vision. As he so aptly states it during our chat: “If you don’t believe it, then why should others?”

He quickly dispels the idea that management and leadership are the same. Managers he feels provide the encouragement and guidance to complete the forward vision of the leader. It is up to the leader to provide the compelling belief that the group is moving in the right direction and is capable of accomplishing what has been laid out. This is done by providing the tools and opportunities for people to rise to the standard set. I particularly liked the way he points out that a subject matter expert does not necessarily make a good manager or for that matter a good leader; and even if you survive a promotion to manager and move on, the higher up you go the skill of leading becomes thinner and thinner if training in leadership is not provided.

The need for training to help instill belief down the chain of command may not be something that a lot of organizations want to hear, but it is something that is clearly needed because as Gordon explains it some organizations do a terrible job of grooming leaders by promoting them too soon and then firing them when they fail.

This chat was one of the most enjoyable because Gordon provided so much in his cheery informational manner. Belief is what drives the organization forward. And then once you have accomplished a goal, there has to be a degree of creativity to help teams move beyond one hundred percent by finding ways to add a new wrinkle to the means of achieving the goal in a different manner. A good number of organizations miss this point and keep wanting to reproduce what they have done before when at the pace that business is moving, is backward looking at best and self-defeating at worst.

So if you are looking for a little motivation and a clear understanding of leadership and how to manifest it in your organization, Gordon in this episode provides it in droves. And, makes you smile a little along the way.

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