Sánchez, the antithesis of leadership

Both for professional orientation and personal vocation, I have spent many years dedicated to studying, putting into practice and teaching the concept of leadership, its qualities, principles, virtues and the pernicious errors that lead to turning the exercise of the concept itself into something that is not at all similar and, therefore, destroy the image and legacy of the concept itself and, above all, of the person who exercises it against these immovable principles.

Firstly, a leader is not someone who knows everything, whose first, last or only word is not the most learned in whatever subject he or she is dealing with. He always works in a team; a team, which must be selected from among those who are best prepared in various facets and aspects, and who regularly interpenetrate and complement each other.

Its number and composition must be adequate, not excessive in the sphere of control, and kept together for as long as possible, otherwise it may have been chosen hastily or totally inadequately.   
 
It must work in perfect harmony for the fulfilment of the common task as the ultimate goal and avoid friction among its members so that no one tries to stand out and no one is hurt by what is decided, collegially, according to the opinion of others.

Its circle of collaborators is not based on gender quotas or other stupidities, but on their real capacities and in a balanced way to maintain, within limits, counterbalances.

This usually takes the form of group meetings to address the issues and find the best solution to the problem at hand. Working meetings where the leader listens to - never imposes - the different opinions and lines of action derived from the previous ones; once the previous ones are accepted, they are compared with the need to be covered and compared to determine which is the best or, if possible, a mixture of several of them, as the best solution. Once chosen, a plan is drawn up, a distribution of tasks is made and the important milestones to reach the final result are marked and delimited in time and space.

To do so is to give the work and the solutions a personalistic, imposing and quasi-dictatorial character in which nobody is really involved and the problems and consequences derived from the decisions taken in this way tend to have serious consequences or repeated rectifications; the same applies if each member is given free rein to act on their own, without consulting the rest of the members, especially those who are most expert and suitable in sensitive matters.

It is not by covering a lot that a better job is done; quite the contrary. They result in poorly prepared actions, carried out without the necessary deadlines, without taking into account the considerations or objections of the rest of the team or ignoring those derived from the aforementioned mandatory consultations, whether binding or not, with external bodies that have an impact on assisting the work of the team.

With regard to the work produced, it is the leader's responsibility to ensure that it is frank, clean and neat in accordance with legislation, uses and customs and that nothing is concealed. Opacity and obscurantism only lead to suspicions about the suitability of the leader and/or his team, usually provoke rejection and even legal recourse against him; therefore, its definitive and polished implementation is usually delayed, apparently causing undesired damage.

A true leader must be courageous and always be accountable for the work presented by his team once it has been adopted and transformed into the relevant actions; he is ultimately responsible for all of them; he must not seek or delegate responsibility to others and is obliged to recognise the fair share of external support received and to face the results, possible faults and their claims or rectifications without restrictions or twists and turns, with courage and generosity.

It must know how to recognise its limitations, incapacities or blatant errors with courage and adopt the necessary measures so that similar situations are not repeated. It is not worthy of a good leader to leave the pernicious things or the mistakes made behind and let time cover them with the mantle of oblivion; it is precisely the leader who must ensure at all times that the lessons learned from his actions are drawn up and fine-tuned to avoid falling into the same mistake or how to adopt the path to follow because of the good results obtained in similar situations.

Once a general plan of action has been drawn up - unless it demonstrates incompetence or serious errors - it must be followed as rigorously as possible; the leader must be careful to avoid changing the direction of efforts or the rules of the game in the middle of the action initiated. Despite the above, when any change is necessary, whether by forced imposition or by mere personal whim, it must be well explained and justified both to the team and to those who placed their trust in them.

Using and abusing the resources made available to them for personal satisfaction or to improve their image, and running the company or the country they are in charge of into excessive debt, are among the biggest mistakes a leader can make. Leaving the economy healthy, clean and clear, without huge official swindles and millions of bills hidden in drawers, is proof of great carelessness and ineptitude to exercise any kind of leadership.

The leader's job is to prepare, maintain and improve the capabilities of his team and auxiliary bodies for the benefit of the company for which he works; it should never be seen as an opportunity to put people whose only worth is to be a relative or close friend of the leader into positions, positions or positions of responsibility.

Lastly, and not to go any further - something that my good friends always reproach me for and for which I am grateful - a leader, while doing his job, should not use it as an escape route for his own benefit and much less as a springboard to jump to positions of greater importance or that provide him with huge benefits, since these are situations that force him to make an effort to hide mistakes and mistakes left behind so as not to diminish his prestige.

Although there are many positive and negative qualities in the ink, I don't think I need to add much more.