I don’t remember much from my 10th grade geometry class. But I do remember a word we learned and its meaning (because it’s simple).
The word is “congruent.”
In geometry two figures are congruent if they have exactly the same shape and the same size. For example, two triangles are congruent if their corresponding sides are equal in length and their corresponding angles are equal in size.
Then and only then are they congruent; they are the same.
What in the fat does this have to do with leadership?
Good question.
A leader is congruent only when he or she is the same no matter where they are, or who they are with.
No Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde funny business.
No public persona, and then a shift to a different private behavior pattern in a non-public setting.
In congruence, the “say” and the “do” are the same; the public and the private are the same.
The congruent leader does not have a perception management concern. Perception is reality, and reality is perception.
Congruent leadership is consistent, predictable, and can be trusted.
In these uncertain economic times, in this volatile business environment, and in this temperamental political season, we desperately need congruent leaders.
That's it.
That’s what I remember from my 10th grade geometry class.
Because it’s simple.