Changing Face of 21st Century Leadership
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The world of business is changing. No surprise there. Harken back to the days of – what appear to be – singular inspiration like 2001 Apple releasing the iPod years after the first MP4 player, or the Swanson TV Dinner smash hit of 1954, or even the classic battles of 1975 BETA vs. VHS or the 2003 Gillette Mach 3 vs. Schick Quattro. In some cases it was borrowed brilliance and product innovation, in other cases sheer marketing upmanship. As the great Peter Drucker said, “Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.”
The Leadership Challenge, first published by leadership greats Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, in 1987, presents findings on leadership qualities which led, or contributed to, those singular breakthrough product events. The core findings of that study, initiated in 1983, revealed that from individual contributors to strategic executives, all agreed the top leadership characteristics are:
• Model the Way
1. Find Your Voice by Clarifying Your personal Values
2. Set the Example by Aligning Actions with Shares Values
• Inspire a Shared Vision
3. Envision the Future by Imagining Exciting and Ennobling Possibilities
4. Enlist Others in a Common Vision by Appealing to Shared Aspirations
• Challenge the Process
5. Search for Opportunities by Seeking Innovative Ways to Change, Grow, and Improve
6. Experiment and take Risks by Constantly generating Small Wins and Learning From Mistakes
• Enable Others to Act
7. Foster Collaboration by Promoting Cooperative Goals and Building Trust
8. Strengthen Others by Sharing Power and Discretion
• Encourage the Heart
9. Recognize Contributions by Showing Appreciation for Individual Excellence
10. Celebrate the Values and Victories by Creating a Spirit of Community
All based on the core findings that those surveyed in the 1980′s found the greatest leaders to be Honest, Forward-Looking, Competent, Inspiring, and Intelligent.
However, recent studies from Gallop, Bersin, and IBM reveal changing characterisitics which define the emerging leader including – depending who you read – creativity, relationship-building, global perspective, transparency, and democratic organizational structure, among others.
Kouzes and Posner’s Five Practices appear evergreen, yet perhaps there are emerging behaviors and beliefs, methods and mindsets, that jive with effective 21st Century Leadership practices. This is our inquiry. Join the conversation with our quick survey.
Read MoreDo You Create Superheroes?
What creates a high performer? Is it how many degrees they have, how many IQ points they have? Or is it how they create, use and power up their network? Dan Goleman says just one cognitive ability distinguishes top performers from average; pattern recognition. And an important part of big picture pattern thinking is the ability to create and energize a network of people who provide the pieces of that pattern.
Rob Cross, from the University of Virginia, has been studying how people interact, and the networks we create in the workplace. And he’s convinced that the strength, reach, and energy in the networks we create are powerful predictors of professional success, and happiness too.
Try this. Don’t ask yourself, “Who do I talk to at work?” Instead ask yourself these four questions:
- Who do I go to to get things done?
- Who do I go to for information?
- Who do I trust at work?
- Who do I interact with who always leaves me feeling better and stronger, and more energized?
In many organizations, up to a third of one’s professional skills and capabilities remain unknown to others in the organization. Enter the importance and power of the “broker.” The Broker is an important capabilities connector in the Real Org Chart. The Broker creates the connectivity in information, expertise, decision-making, political dynamics, project awareness and more. It also turns out your SVPs are most likely to be the centers of information, trust, effectiveness and energy.
But one of the greatest predictors of your effectiveness, your happiness, and your success is your capacity to be an energizer, instead of a vampire. According to Rob Cross, statistically your ability to create energy in the workplace and with your colleagues is more than 10 times as powerful as other predictors, including function, title, department, expertise, knowledge… Think about that for a second, and then ask yourself, “When people leave an interaction with me, do they leave feeling more or less energized?”
Enthusiasm is the contagious excitement of seeing the possible, and effectively sharing that vision with others. When we get enthusiastic about something it can be infectious. Just remember the difference between enthusiasm and action. There’s nothing more de-energizing than walking away fired-up from a meeting, work diligently on the shared vision, then only to return and find the prophet hasn’t done anything.
Craft an enthusiastic vision that captures the values of people in the group, and paint real possibilities. Next lead by example and make your contribution to the vision. That’s leadership enthusiasm in action.
Read MoreThe Human Factor Turnaround
I was honored to interview Paul Hiltz last week in Cincinnati. Several years ago as the new CEO of Mercy Hospital, after a string of leaders before him had come and gone, one of the often side questions he would get was, “So how long do you intend to stay?” Paul never had any intention of leaving the hospital, even as it was losing almost 10% annually as a business. He started not only by providing a grand vision of excellence and profitability, but also by focusing on the people part.
Let me explain. You would expect the grand vision board meetings, and senior leadership meetings that happened. What you wouldn’t expect is that he spent much of his days not couped up behind closed doors, but out in the hospital learning the names of everyone who worked there, and what they cared about in their work environment. Paul first argued to the financial team that they should be investing in simple cosmetic and aesthetic improvements – paint, carpet, repairing or replacing damaged and old equipment. With these gestures of recognizing and knowing everyone in the hospital, and investing in the infrastructure and cosmetics, it gave everyone an uplifting sense of being a part of a rejuvinated place to work.
That was just one small part of the equation. Paul wasn’t done yet. The next thing he did was to hire healthcare financial advisors who conducted workshops to teach the caregivers and staff how the hospital financial model worked. People who had worked in healthcare for over a decade were surprised to find that some of the standard practices they had been engaging in to create value and positive revenue for the hospital, in fact had the inverse effect. Many of the ways in which they were working with patients had a negative financial effect, and they never knew until Paul brought in experts to help them understand how the business worked.
Throughout the last few years of Paul’s tenure, there has been very little of the headcount and project slash typically expected in turnaround efforts. True, Paul has helped to optimize some aspects of the hospital operations, but throughout the organization people will consistently say that what has been the most powerful and effective part of Paul’s efforts has been his ability to be present, persistent, genuine, honest, all despite immense financial pressures to perform.
In the face of adversity, think like Paul. Focus on the human aspect, because in the end it’s the people that make the difference.
Read MoreStay Positive and Good Things Happen
Want to build a great marriage? Create positive teams that go the duration? Be a better boss, not a bosshole? Turns out there is statistical evidence that creating great results and great relationships, is correlated to the ratio of positive/negative interactions we have with the people around us. Above 2.9 to 1 and below 11.6 to 1 is trending positive, and right about 6:1 is the sweet spot for professional environments. For personal relationships you want about 5:1 positive to negative interactions.
Marcial Francisco Losada conducted studies in which teams of assistants, behind one-way mirrors, observed group discussions and categorized comments made as either positive, negative, or neutral. Later, he drew upon independent metrics of performance, and was able to rank the team’s performance in context of the tenor of the conversations they had. The researchers also measured whether questions were intended to elicit new information or advocate their own point of view. Interestingly, low-performing teams asked very few inquisitive questions, and instead exercised a position of “waiting to talk” instead of actively listening.
Interestingly, on the high-performing teams one person’s inquisitive line of questioning would lead to another’s positivity. That is, if someone in the group made a curious inquiry, another member would react positively toward that line of questioning.
The take-away is straightforward: build positive interactions into your daily life and good things happen.
Read MoreBelieve You Can Change the World
Michael Stallard first told me this true story. U2 is an anomaly in the world of rock music, right? The world is littered with rock bands who make it and break up, or don’t make it and break up – all caught in the throes of egos battles or conflicting opinions and ideas, or maybe just awash in money and lose the storyline of the band and it’s identity. From the beginning U2 said once “music can change the world because it can change people.” The strength of the band’s identity and commitment to each other has driven the success. The success has not driven the success.
In 1974 Bono’s mother died unexpectedly of a brain hemorrhage, which left his father to hold together the family, and as Bono describes it, he felt alone during the experience. Just a couple years later in 1978, his friend and drummer Larry Mullen lost his mother in a car accident, which left Larry devastated. Lost in that pain, Bono was present to help his friend heal emotionally. Again in 1990 his dear friend and band mate The Edge went through an emotionally difficult divorce with his wife, and again the band rallied around the core group to support and find solidarity and kinship. During that same time the bassist, Adam Clayton was working through debilitating drug and alcohol addictions which left him unable to play a signature live concert from Sydney, Australia to be televised around the world. Yet again the band slowed down, and took a break to support one of their own.
In 1987 the band was playing a concert in Tempe, AZ to celebrate the Reverend Martin Luther King. Their song, “Pride” is a tribute to MLK and the band had been receiving consistent death threats from someone who claimed they would be present in the audience, and if they played that song, there would be an attempt to assassinate Bono. The FBI declared the threat credible and advised the band not to play, and certainly not to play that signature song.
As Bono recalls, as he entered the third verse, “Early morning, April 4. A shot rings out in the Memphis sky…” he closed his eyes not knowing what would happen. When he opened his eyes, Adam Clayton was standing directly in front of him.
In your life, in your work, you might not be in a rock band galvanized by hardship and triumph. Yet consider the power of finding that storyline that binds – beyond finding that next quarter profit or hitting the upcoming deadline. The message by analogy must be: focus on building each other first. Grow everyone in your path.
Read MoreThe Walk is Part of the Gift
This true story was told to me by Jo Radner. Years ago Mary was a young woman working in the Peace Corps in Africa. She befriended Abena from a local village who had endured a string of hardships including the loss of her husband to tribal feuds and lost a child from malaria. Mary spent a much of her energy between her work duties to nurture Abena to health and support her family with food, company, and hope. Abena was a skilled weaver and later, with new-found energy, spent her off hours gathering trace pieces of cloth and thread and fabric to weave a beautiful small tapestry as a gift of thanks for Mary’s birthday.
When Mary’s birthday arrived, Abena filled her skin with water and set off on the five mile journey to deliver her gift. The sun was strong and hot winds blew in her face and parched her lips. She finished her water only halfway on her walk and arrived exhausted. Mary greeted her with cool towels for her feet and water to drink. They spent the afternoon sharing stories of their families, their hopes and dreams.
As the evening light approached Abena rose to leave. Mary filled her skin with fresh water from the well and called for a mule-cart to bring Abena back to her village. Abena stopped her gently, “Please understand your generosity is not necessary. Understand that my walk is part of the gift.”
Let all of our efforts of gratitude be in the walk. Enjoy.
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