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How Do We Understand Leadership?
Badly I Suspect!
By Ed Yager
In this year end article I have chosen to reflect on what has been said
so far by the leaders we have talked with. In the coming year I will be
interviewing many more and focusing more on specific leadership processes.
In an article in a recent issue of Fast Company Magazine entitled "How
Do We Understand Leadership? Badly, no, Stupidly", Harriet Rubin's
comments caught my attention.
The concept of leadership has been emasculated in
so much writing is recent years, focusing so frequently on relationships,
feel good, kinder, gentler terms that the need for influence, urgency,
achieving results has been under emphasized. one client told us, "These
supervisors have had so much training on how to emphasize with everyone
that it has turned into sympathy. They are afraid to push for results
for fear of offending someone that nothing gets done!"
By putting "power" back into the leadership
equation Rubin provides some insight into the essential balance between
power and relationships. She emphasizes that "powerful people don't
necessarily have more of something than the rest of us; they have less
of something."
Her thoughts are similar to the concept of "call
reluctance" in the sales profession. She says, "Leadership means
moving people toward a vision". My own definition is similar. Leadership
is not making other people do what you want done; it is making others
want what you want.. She goes on to posit, "When you turn to other
people you have to think that what they have to offer is all for you.
So you give them everything. You give them all of your attention. All
of us are vulnerable to that kind of focus. We need to be listened to,
to be taken in, to be paid attention to. Very few people ever get any
attention paid to them. That's the way executives influence people. The
leaders who genuinely have that quality are "stars" (pretty
good formula for parenting, teaching, or even courtship). Machiarvellian
you say? Not hardly. The foundation of leadership must be trust, pure
motives, win/win, honesty, and selflessness - not egoistic. Fran Flood
at Gentner said, ".create an environment where people want to work
here, where they feel they make a contribution, and where they are recognized
for their contribution." On the power side on the other hand her
strategic focus and tough minded decisions have created a true high performance
culture.
Ken Shelton, the CEO at Executive Excellence emphasized
that leader, real leaders, must face the reality of the bottom line. he
said, ".that is part of the milieu that creates real leaders. Without
that pressure in the environment people can survive in social-political
systems, and they may rise to a position we call leadership but without
the classic attribute regarding what leadership is all about." He
goes on to say to leaders, "If you can get your act together you
can make alot more money and benefit alot more people than you are currently
doing . and [this change] this is not being brou ght about by social and
political bureaucrat. It is being brought about by dynamic leader - entrepreneurs."
Gordan Dames at Mountain America Credit Union expressed
his approach in these words, "Constancy! Consistency! There is no
turning back. They gotta get in the boat. You can't be on the shore and
in the boat. Everyone must understand that it's going to happen, and then
we must give people a chance to adapt."
Alan Layton emphasized, "It is up to me to set
and reinforce the company's values . I don't get involved in methods .
the job of the leader is to look further down the road than those who
report to him . you hire their hands, and thier heads , but you cannot
buy their heart. It is only theirs to give."
Howard Headlee, at Utah Bankers Association said, "I
have a mission, but it must reflect the needs of all of the members. You
know - it's selflessness that matters. I am committed to their challenges.
If you are selfless they will follow."
It has been clear as we have talked with these leaders
that the relationship between their personal commitment to a clear, driving
mission, to results, and to the sensitivities and needs of their followers
is overwhelming. I emphasize the word "clear" . We are not talking
here about pablum, not the "to serve our stake holders" kind
of stuff, nor the stuff that rings of social reconstruction (i.e., to
make everyone we meet happy, such is reminiscent of a line in a Mel Brooks
movie; "This is from my heart . da Dah da Dah da Dah da Dah). It
is as Headlee stated, "You have a vision, a sure vision, you know
you will get there. If they know you are committed to their personal needs
as well they will come. If you can't communicate it in a helpful way (or
if you have abdicated your roll as a leader by leaving the identification
or achievement of the goal up to them in some sort of misguided teaming)
it is just another challenge. They don't need challenges, they need victories.
Victories always come as a result of leadership."
Robert Greenleaf, author of the important book Servant
Leadership (subtitled by the way "A Journey Into the Nature of Legitimate
Power and Greatness) says, ".those who follow are asked to accept
the risk along with the leader. Leaders do not elicit trust unless one
has confidence in their values and in their competence (including judgment)
and unless they have a sustaining spirit that will support the tenacious
pursuit of a goal."
Rubin concludes by quoting Harold Guskin. "Lead
as if there were no other choice, no in-between. That is the ultimate
goal. People identify with that kind of force . believe in what you are doing!"
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