Agile Leadership and Statespeople

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Jan Devrim, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Recently, I watched an interview given by Ertuğrul Özkök on Leadership. Özkök called Erdoğan the greatest leader after Atatürk.
While saying this, he did not neglect to comment that he had some criticisms. According to him, however, these criticisms did not raise any questions about Erdogan’s leadership qualities.
Leadership is an interesting subject, but its definition is not so clear. There are different leadership methods. Sometimes it feels like made-up definitions for an existing manager to be a leader. Especially in business life, leadership can be defined according to how someone should be praised, with definitions such as “Nalan Hanım is a real Panda leader” or “Özgün Bey’s soft leadership is very interesting”.
One thing I know is that the form and need of leadership change according to cultural elements and the understanding of different generations. Yesterday’s leadership concepts do not, and cannot, adapt to today.
While the qualities and leadership style of Atatürk or any other politician of his time were a perfect match, today other abilities and features may be required.
Agile Leader is a participatory, open and transparent leader. Instead of making the decision alone, it allows the decision to develop and cook. The decision is also the joint decision of its stakeholders.
This method will not only mature the decision but will also mature the participants in the decision process. I think, from time to time, taking into account the consequences, the leader may also consider making decisions that may be wrong, or even trying.
Agile leadership is a method that creates space for good results in business life. Classical leaders will need to let go of many of their habits and realize that they are not as important a person as they used to be. It’s the results that matter.
What about politics? Can a state manager be an Agile Leader?
In my opinion, leadership, which gathers all the decisions and power within today’s complex and difficult-to-manage mechanisms, is one of the most wrong methods that can happen to me. On the contrary, it is necessary to ensure the maturity of the decision and leave the decision to the experts.
But leaders in Turkey do not want strong, decision-making people with them to prevent their rivals. On the contrary, they prefer to work with those who leave the decision to the leader and avoid taking responsibility for the decision. Thus, these people do not compete with them, do not develop, and even can be spent when necessary.
I think whatever type of leader he is, a leader needs to have a well-functioning mind, a full heart, and nerves of steel.
It is not possible to say that almost all leaders who have occupied the political space have nerves of steel, especially. They are not open to criticism, do not listen and want to make the decisions themselves.
However, our country has a great resource pool where there are many intelligent, knowledgeable and hardworking people and good ideas are produced. Politicians have everything they need to become Agile leaders.
Stopping being strong and becoming a serving and supportive leader will lead to higher quality decisions and better results.
I think the first resource a leader is ready to give up should be his ego.