Vince Molinaro's Community of Leaders (2024a) book is a follow-up to his previous book, Accountable Leaders (2020). In the last chapter of Accountable Leaders, Molinaro includes "The 10 Characteristics of a Strong Community of Leaders" list which serves as the foundation for much of his Community of Leaders book.
The 10 Characteristics of a Strong Community of Leaders
1. Leaders Are Clear on the Strategic Direction of the Organization
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "You wouldn't blindly follow a GPS that constantly shouted, 'Recalculating,' so why work aimlessly without understanding the companies direction?" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 94).
2. Leaders Create Excitement about the Future of the Company
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "To create excitement in the future, everyone needs to see themselves as active players in it. Make sure you articulate to your team the important role they have to play" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 103).
3. Leaders Share an Aspiration to Be Great as Leaders
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "[L]eaders in a strong leadership culture aspire to be great leaders. They have made the decision to commit to their leadership roles and have let go of the need to be recognized for their personal technical expertise or outstanding sales record. They know that they can contribute so much more and shape the future more effectively by leading a team of people to do great things than they ever could as individual contributors" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 110-111).
4. Leaders Lead with a United Front and a One-Company Mindset
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "Leaders [must] prioritize the organization's overall interests over individual or departmental interests and ensure consistent messaging across the organization" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 120).
5. Leaders Hold Each Other Accountable
From Community of Leaders book: The most challenging part of being in a community of leaders is to hold one another accountable. In a community, you lift each other up. You support each other. But you also call out bad behavior and not let mediocrity slide (Molinaro, 2024a).
6. Leaders Break Down Silos and Collaborate Effectively
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "Today's organizations are far more complex than organizations were in the past. Cross-departmental teams and projects are more common and more complicated. It's no longer an option to put your head down and work on one thing for your whole career. You are more likely to move from team to team, work with people from different disciplines, and work with freelancers or contract workers" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 140).
7. Leaders Celebrate Success and Key Milestones
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "When you think about any community you belong to, celebrations play a critical role. In organizations, the same rules apply, but often leaders fail to leverage the power of celebrating success" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 150).
8. Leaders Minimize Internal Politics and Personal Agendas
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "We're all human, and we can't help liking and disliking people. You will always have colleagues you enjoy working with and others you merely tolerate or even dread speaking to. But in a healthy leadership culture, people can put petty likes and dislikes aside to focus on what's best for the company" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 158).
9. Leaders Demonstrate Resilience and Resolve in the Face of Adversity
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "In my experience, when peers and colleagues face challenges, either they rally together and support one another, or divisions emerge, leading to blame and discord. To truly foster resilience and resolve in a work environment, it's crucial to understand and support each other's strengths and well-being" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 166-167).
10. Leaders Support One Another and Have Each Other's Backs
Quote from Community of Leaders book: "The . . . final key characteristic of a strong community of leaders is supporting each other and having each other's backs. It's about building trusting relationships with one another and providing support and assistance when needed" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 174).
In a LinkedIn post, Molinaro writes (2024b): "As I’ve continued to speak, write, and think about shared accountability, I recognized the need to explore how leaders can collectively create stronger, more resilient leadership cultures. This book addresses that gap by focusing on the importance of building a community of leaders within organizations."
In Community of Leaders, Molinaro makes a compelling case for and an urgent call-to-action about the idea (although not new) of a leadership community — the potential and power that arise from leaders working together, and "pooling their strengths, expertise, and experience" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 181-182). Molimaro says that individual leadership is absolutely crucial, but we must move beyond the mindset of an individual leader working in solitary and in isolation to thinking about a community of leaders. He and his team discovered the senior executives they worked with "know that no matter how strong their CEO and executive team may be, it won't be enough to drive future success" (2024b, p. 22) because today's organizations are dealing with a "confluence of strategic challenge" (2024b, p. 20) where it's "truly everything everywhere all at once," and this requires and demands leadership strength at every level.
As Molinaro explains (2024a, p. 7):
"In a community of leaders, leaders understand that leadership is not a solitary pursuit — it is a shared accountability and a collective endeavor. Community-minded leaders prioritize transparency, open communication, collaboration, and mutual trust, leading with a shared sense of responsibilities and obligations based on a shared vision for the future."
"[L]eaders are contending with a complex set of strategic challenges. They are facing greater complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity. They also know their companies need to make a strategic shift to drive future success.
"They understand that to drive strategy, create a compelling leadership, culture, and transformed their organization, they will need a community of leaders. No single leader can do all of this well. They need to come together as leaders to effectively lead their organization at a time when it matters most."
Molinaro asserts this is the biggest missed opportunity in many companies today.
In each chapter that corresponds to each of the 10 Characteristics, Molinaro includes three sections: "Why It Matters", "Community Accelerators", and "Community Blockers." This is really useful because these sections work together to help you with "what you can do day-to-day as a leader to bring about the 10 characteristics of a community of leaders in your organization" (Molinaro, 2024a, p. 10).
I love the "Gut Check" section, a list of four questions to reflect on, at the end of each chapter.
I really like and appreciate this notion of creating and harnessing a community of leaders. Indeed, much of what is popularized on social media and in business books have to do with showcasing a singular leader and how s/he was able to overcome the odds and lead their company to success. What's often not mentioned, or is footnoted, is the community of other leaders who supported and helped said leader.
This was certainly the case with Steve Jobs (Isaacson, 2011). How often have you heard of the community of leaders in Jobs' orbit? Not often. You might be surprised to learn that he had a number of very accomplished and well-respected leaders within Apple and at other companies who he consistently relied on for support. These included: Steve Wozniak (Apple Co-founder), Tim Cook (Apple's COO), and Jony Ive (Apple's chief designer); Mike Markkula (First big Apple investor and chairman, a father figure to Jobs); Regis McKenna (a publicity whiz who guided Jobs early on and remained a trusted advisor); Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari and an entrepreneurial role model for Jobs); Bill Camplell (Apple marketing chief during Jobs's first stint at Apple and board member and confidant after Jobs's return in 1997); Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle and personal friend of Jobs), and many more.
In fact, it was Steve Jobs' friendship and (sometimes rival) relationship with Bill Gates that ultimately led Gates' Microsoft to come to Apple's rescue (with a one-time $150 million investment in August 1997) when it was on the verge of bankruptcy (Clifford, 2017)!
Key Takeaways: Vince Molinaro's Community of Leaders is a short and practical book. It lays out a strong case for why we, as a society, need a community of leaders (because there are too many complex strategic challenges for any one organizational CEO or even executive team to be able to tackle on their own) and how doing so can benefit not only companies and employees, but also the leaders themselves. Each chapter contains helpful sections that offer actionable steps to helping you start and sustain your own community of leaders. As Molinaro says (2024b): "while individual leadership is crucial, it’s the collective effort of a leadership community that drives the execution of strategy, sustainable change and success." Highly recommended.
Written By: Steve Nguyen, Ph.D.
Organizational & Leadership Development Leader
References
Clifford, C. (2017, August 29). When Microsoft saved Apple: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates show eliminating competition isn’t the only way to win. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/29/steve-jobs-and-bill-gates-what-happened-when-microsoft-saved-apple.html
Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. Simon & Schuster.
Molinaro, V. (2020). Accountable Leaders: Inspire a Culture Where Everyone Steps Up, Takes Ownership, and Drives Extraordinary Results. John Wiley & Sons.
Molinaro, V. (2024a). Community of Leaders: What It Takes to Drive Strategy, Culture, and Change. Page Two.
Molinaro, V. (2024b, September 10). Why I Wrote My Latest Book, Community of Leaders. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-i-wrote-my-latest-book-community-leaders-vince-molinaro-c1cac/