If you are looking for a project leader, someone to drive a start-up or turnaround, with intellect and creativity, experience in strategy, reasonable communication skills and plenty of energy, then perhaps I am (or was) a candidate. If, however, you want someone to lead an organisation longer-term, building and inspiring an executive team to perfect or drive an existing business model, then I suggest you look for someone else.

We each have our particular strengths and weaknesses; our comfort zones and terror zones. As a result, we lead more easily in some situations than others. The best leaders, however, are flexible. They adapt to different situations: matching what they do to current operational challenges and the needs of the people they are leading.

The V|E|C|T|O|R leadership framework, therefore, is based on five key assumptions:

1. Leadership is a critical driver of organisational performance - and that is why it gets so much focus in management literature and historical analysis . Teams and businesses, like nations, do better with effective leaders.
2. The key attribute of leadership is having followers. If no-one is following, you aren't leading.
3. In leadership, what counts is what you do: your actions, not your intentions or fine speeches; and, most importantly, how your followers respond. If they're not following or only half-heartedly, then something more or different is needed.
4. But, there is no right or best way of leading. Different situations and people require different leadership. Captaining a team of fire-fighters rescuing people from a blaze is different to chairing a ten-year research project.
5. And happily, therefore, we can all improve as leaders through better and more appropriate choice of actions. And, that is what V|E|C|T|O|R is all about. It helps you choose an effective set of actions, make a plan - and then get on with it!

Many leadership models and practitioners want leaders to be better people: less aggressive, more inclusive, less this or more that. V|E|C|T|O|R is not about changing you. Its objective is to help you explore, select and implement actions that broaden your leadership repertoire and capability - whether in your current or entirely different roles.

You may have noted that the V|E|C|T|O|R approach is referred to as a framework, not a model. "Framework" is intended to suggest a structure for thinking: helping you select and organise your leadership actions. In contrast, the word "model" suggests something more automated: tick the boxes and it will give you the answer. With V|E|C|T|O|R, you have to do the work and make the choices.

As will be explained later, V|E|C|T|O|R is an acronym - hence the use of capitals. Vector is also a mathematical term: a quantity having both magnitude and direction. However, for me, Vector also sounds like some ancient god - perhaps the patron god of leadership.

You will notice as you read the V|E|C|T|O|R material that the leadership attributes of power, courage, authenticity and judgement are not overtly mentioned. This is not an oversight. They are broader and more complex concepts, which underpin many of the leadership actions listed. For example, "taking tough decisions" and "demonstrating fairness" each require the backing of two or more of these attributes. If, as you use V|E|C|T|O|R, you find other attributes you feel are missing, please check whether they are covered using other words or, as above, underpin actions that are mentioned in the various tables and lists.

Throughout the V|E|C|T|O|R material, I refer to individuals, who illustrate aspects of leadership. In the sections, dealing with principles and the V|E|C|T|O|R framework, I use well-recognised living and historical figures. Names like Jack Welch or Mother Teresa will probably mean something to most people, who have an interest in leadership. Admire them or not, there is wide knowledge of what they've done and, as importantly, how they went about it. Such people, rightly or wrongly, often come to stand for a particular leadership approach. For example, as Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher was known as the Iron Lady: an archetypal and successful figure with a determined view and an unforgiving attitude to those who disagreed.

Such well-known people are only good up to a point: to illustrate broad concepts. When I need to illustrate particular leadership actions, I use individuals and situations I have known first-hand. In the mini-cases and resource material (when developing your Leadership Action Plan), you'll find over a hundred such examples - both positive and negative. However, there are no names given. This protects the men and women involved - including myself, since a number of the negative examples come from my own career!

In the final analysis, however, anecdotes about other people are just that: interesting stories but lacking deep personal identification. Our best lessons (and changes) come from our own experience - particularly our mistakes. In my case, they not only taught me to choose other actions but also in part motivated me to create V|E|C|T|O|R!

Dr. Timothy Pascoe AM
PhD (Cambridge), MBA (Harvard), BE & BEc (Adelaide)
Creator, V|E|C|T|O|R Leadership^®

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