Boss or leader?

Are you a boss or a leader? Use this list by Warren Bennis and Robert Townsend to query those who report to you. It makes a nice little written survey. (If you have no one reporting to you, fill it in about the person that you report to instead).

• Do you work with your boss or for your boss?

• Do you have specific goals to meet?

• Do you have enough power and resources to meet your goals?

• Does your boss protect you from useless work, irrelevant interruptions, ridiculous committee meetings and pointless paperwork?

• Do you come to work excited, full of energy, feeling free to make mistakes and fail?

• Do you feel “zap-proof,” safe from punishment for mistakes?

• Do you feel significant at work?

• Do you think you do anything important or meaningful?

• Do you feel you’re at the center of things rather than at the periphery of things?

• Are you learning anything?

• Is your environment educational, a place where people claim they learn more than they did at college?

• Do you feel you're part of a community, group or team?

• Do you feel you belong?

• Are the rewards you receive based on your performance?

• Are you proud of your organization?

Organizations today no longer require loyalty as much as they need commitment. They won’t get that unless individuals can relate to the organization they work for in a very personal way. According to Olympic gold-medal gymnasts, if you’re technically perfect in your routine, you’ll probably score about a 9.4. To get a 10, you have to have the passion to take risks and be unique, in addition to being the best you can be.

Michael Schrage, author of The Relationship Revolution, urges all who want to succeed in this new environment to stop thinking of networks and digital technologies as media for managing information and start thinking about them as media to manage relationships.