What Is Leadership...?

A few years ago at work we took the psychological test DISC, to see which category we fell into. It was part of a team-building exercise, and much to my amazement, I came up a strong "D". It did explain a lot of things, however, that I had not been aware of before -- such as why I sometimes appear to be somewhat bossy assertive. The DISC refers to the following four tendencies.

Dominance – relating to control, power and assertiveness. People who score high in the intensity of the "D" styles factor are very active in dealing with problems and challenges.
Influence – relating to social situations and communication. People with high "I" scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. They are described as convincing, magnetic, political, enthusiastic, persuasive, warm, demonstrative, trusting, and optimistic.
Steadiness – relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness. People with high "S" styles scores want a steady pace, security, and do not like sudden change. High "S" individuals are calm, relaxed, patient, possessive, predictable, deliberate, stable, consistent, and tend to be unemotional and poker faced.
Conscientiousness – relating to structure and organization.People with high "C" styles adhere to rules, regulations, and structure. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. High "C" people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic, diplomatic, accurate, and tactful.

Behind my treehouse, we have five beautiful cherry trees at the back of our property. A few years ago one of the residents of the building decided she didn't like the cherry trees and convinced the strata council to have them removed. When I read in the minutes of the meeting that an arborist had been hired to chop down the trees, I was in shock. How could they pass such a motion? It made no sense. I lost sleep over it, and I was heartstick. Couldn't it be stopped? No, no, no, the motion was carried, and that's it. Was anyone else upset? Oh, yes, everyone in the building. But no one was doing anything about it. On the morning the arborist was due to chop down the trees, I managed to contact him by telephone. He was in his truck, in his driveway, just on his way to cut the beautiful cherry trees down. I told him if he stepped one foot on our property to chop the trees down, I would have a television crew from BCTV here to film it. He drove his truck back into his garage and the trees were saved. For a week afterwards, I was receiving telephone calls from my neighbors, thanking me. The council members said they passed the motion after a long meeting, and they were tired and their judgment was clouded. The trees have lived to bloom for many more years since then.

One year, in November, a couple of residents in our building noticed cockroaches in their suites, and I saw some crawling over the newspapers in the front lobby. *g-a-s-p* No one knows how they got here, but they were here. The strata council was contacted, and a suggestion was made that a pest control company should come in to get rid of the nasty little creatures. The council, in their wisdom, said they would put it on the agenda for the next council meeting the following January. I said, "Well, you had better invite the cockroaches as well, because by then they will have taken over." Still, no one wanted to do anything, so I called a pest control company and invited them over. They found the little b*ggers in the garage, in the lobby and in several suites in the building. And they also said that for every one they found, several more were hiding, usually along the plumbing lines. Oh, lovely. The pest control company said it was a good thing we hadn't waited any longer. The building was immediately fumigated and the horrid little insects were eradicated. We now have an ongoing service contract with the pest control company, and no more cockroaches. Again, I had people thanking me -- for ages afterwards.

I could never belong to a cult, or even serve on a committee. Following along behind other people is very difficult for me. It wasn't until I took the DISC psychological test that I understood why. We are all different. It has taken me a long time to learn to live with my personality. Even in my work environment, people come to me to make decisions that are not mine to make. But sometimes a decision -- any decision -- is better than no decision at all. Often I am able to "cut away the dead wood" as my mother used to say, and see a situation clearly. I'm also able to see the nonsense. My closest co-worker is a "C" on the DISC spectrum, and as a result, we work fairly well together. Ideally, I would like to be an "I" on the spectrum. They are probably the "nicest" and the most popular with other folks.

My friend Lulu and I were having a conversation about this today, and she said she could not see me as anything but a "D", but that is the very reason she likes me. She said even when we lived in separate ends of the country, I was the first person she came to for advice. Hmmmm... Interesting. We learn something about ourselves every day.

Being a good leader, I suppose, means having to make decisions that may perhaps not be popular, but may in the long run be the best for everyone. Fortunately, I have never had to be in that situation -- well, except for the trees and the cockroaches. Oh, and then there was that time... and then there was that other time...