Actual Leadership Part I

What is Actual Leadership?

Today I am going to talk to you about Leadership. Not the usual kind of leadership discussion you are used to. Not about bearing the weight of the world, making tough decisions, or hard choices to improve the bottom line. Those are more like leadership duties - and there are truly enough seminars, books, and classes you can take to learn those leadership skills. The kind of leadership I am talking about is more along the lines of what does it take to be a leader, what is actual leadership?

Many of you in this room are confirmed successful business leaders with experience working in a tremendously volatile marketplace and industry, but as leaders go, quite frankly, you're just not doing your job. No offense, but what you do is manage, and choose, and decide, and cut, and spend, and approve, and deny, and get overwhelmed. That's management, that's responsibility, but that's not true leadership.

When we talk about "actual leadership" what are we looking for? Most "Leaders" are no more leaders than the guy who gets on the escalator first. He's not necessarily more qualified than the people behind him, but he walked a little faster to get there first and the people behind him have no choice but to follow him up to the next floor. Many corporations take this approach to finding managers and on some level it makes sense. The person who does the work that makes them stand out, that saves the company money, that chaired the successful project, gets promoted to the management level position. That person has proven their work skills or project management skills but not necessarily their leadership ability. At times this process is no more than a professional version of the playground game "follow the leader", only with a broader set of criteria. Instead of, "Timmy gets to lead for 5 minutes and then it is Sally's turn" we crunch the numbers, weigh the deliverables, evaluate the milestones, and ultimately a decision is made on who gets promoted.

Those kids on the playground are just following in anticipation of getting their own turn to lead, but to be a great leader you need true followers. These true followers are people who WANT to follow the leader because they like the way the leader leads. It is not just about liking the leader as a person; there are plenty of great people who are just not great or even good leaders. But to be liked as a leader there are a few key elements that need to be present along with all of the above criteria already mentioned. One of these, and it I do not apologize that it is my favorite, is the ability to inspire others.

Inspiring someone to do something, to drive towards something, to want what you want is not as hard as you may think. Unfortunately, most people confuse this with motivation. While motivation or motivating someone toward a task is equally important, a person can be motivated without being inspired. And without that inspirational element the work may not be done as well or as soon, or as thoroughly, because the person doing it is motivated by some external force, be it good or bad, but not necessarily because they want to.

So I am telling you that you need to get people to want to do the things you need them to do to be a great leader. If that's all you need to do and so many of you are not doing it then it must be a really hard thing to grasp and a there must be some science or magic potion or formula we can use to make that happen right? Wrong.

Some of things a leader can do to be more inspirational is to be a little more human. We get so bogged down and preoccupied with the weight of our responsibilities that we forget that the people who report to us need to know that we are people just like them and that we KNOW that. So how can we do that in a way that we aren't already? Try having a conversation with an employee that is not about work but about their interests or yours. By sincerely making an effort to understand their interests you can tailor future conversations in a way that may not only motivate but inspire them, because it shows that you are thinking of them and that you may even care about them.

Another very critical element of being more human and being an inspirational leader is to thank people…often. There are in fact too many leaders today who say, "Why do I need to thank people for doing the job they are supposed to do?" I personally love this question and I answer it with this. If you are invited to a wedding you are expected to bring a gift. For that you get free food, sometimes live music and you get to bear witness to a very special, maybe even once in a lifetime, day in the life of a friend or loved one. You are expected to show up and bring a gift. And the bride and/or groom writes a thank you note. Why do they do that if it is expected that you bring a gift? Because it is common courtesy to recognize the gesture or effort or attendance no matter how crappy the gift is. So I argue that offering thanks to an employee is not overly praising them for doing the work they are supposed to be doing, it is a common courtesy. Ultimately, in the hierarchical businesses we live with today, the work the people on the bottom rungs do make the higher rungs look better, and if they work harder, smarter and are happier, then they'll make those higher rungs look even that much better. So take the time to thank someone every day, not because they are doing the work they are supposed to do, but because you appreciate that they remain committed to doing the work.

The next area is "knowledge". Many leaders believe that by giving their workers/employees only enough knowledge to do their job and nothing else that said workers/employees should and will do their jobs well. True enough, but will they perform in a way that beats the competition that embraces innovation and change? Or will they just hunker down and do the job out of fear of losing it? This is where many leaders make mistakes. They believe that the latter is how you keep people focused. That if I can keep all the different parts moving the machine will produce. One part does not have to know what the other part is doing. This is similar to the belief that if someone can drive a car and you give them the keys to do so, they only need to know how to drive and that they do not need to know how the car works. However, since there are so many people and hazards on the roads these days we actually do need to know more than just how to turn the key to make it go. We need to know how to drive in adverse conditions, how to avoid an accident, how to interact with other drivers on the road. None the less, many leaders only want their workers/employees to know just enough to do their job. This is where "Knowledge is power" means "you only get knowledge if you have power and that power remains with management." That should go on the tombstone of the Roman Empire. But there is another kind of "knowledge is power". In a smaller business environment where things are exciting and fast paced and everyone is working together towards a common highly visible goal. In this case "knowledge is power" generally means, "the more people who have the knowledge the more powerful we are as an organization". This is getting us closer to actual leadership. Let's go back to the car analogy - if I have the knowledge of how the entire car works and how the different parts work together I am more likely to respond correctly when I start hydroplaning on a very wet road (turn in the direction the car is sliding in for those who do not know). I submit that this kind of "knowledge is power" is a key component to leadership. It goes a long way in building trust and exhibiting honesty to the workers/employees. But what knowledge are we really talking about?

Perhaps most importantly is this – everyone can be a leader and everyone is a leader at something. The retail sales associate leads a customer to the purchase. The waiter leads the support staff to take care of the customer. The parent leads the child in so many ways, and the child leads the parent through the world with a new sense of wonder and excitement. Every person you encounter, or manage, or deal with has these responsibilities in some form or another. By understanding each other and being sensitive to that very fact can make it that much easier to inspire each other on a daily basis.

So far you might get the idea that sharing your hobbies, showing your appreciation, and telling people what is going on are all you have to do to become a great leader, but of course there is more. Putting those elements together is actually how you get on the road to inspire people. Sharing a vision, a mission, a goal with other people is actual leadership. Letting them know why it is important to you is actual leadership. Letting them know how they fit into the grand scheme of things is actual leadership. Letting them know that you will work with them and that you are relying on them to work WITH you to solve problems and overcome hurdles is actual leadership. All of these things help your workers/employees understand why it is important for them to buy into the vision, to embrace the mission, to drive towards the goal. This is what inspires them to follow the leader. This is who you can be and not only will your organization be stronger for it, but your life will be richer for it as well.

Next? Actual Leadership Part II "What can I do with Actual Leadership?"

The Laws of the Universe and I

It's been a long time since I wrote a blog (a few weeks) but I finally have something to write about, so here we are. Actually I have a few things to write about so this may go off on a tangent or two, but I think they'll all tie in to the title above.

First off the main law of the universe that I believe I am totally dialed into is Murphy's Law. I know we all feel that way from time to time, but I can almost predict when Murphy will ring my bell. Case in point; after leaving Cisco Systems after just over 10 years of service I was given 90 days to sell any outstanding vested and unexercised stock options. After spending the last two and a half months watching it rise and fall on a daily basis (never rising more than 2 days in a row) I decided to finally sell it all and be done with it. Since my sale (after which it dropped one cent at the end of the trading day (my impact?) it has risen for 2 additional days nearly a whole dollar (2 day gain). Considering how many shares I sold it would have been a significant difference. Of course I anticipated that this would happen, but I also knew that it could only happen if I sold my shares. Had I not sold it would not have continued to rise, I am convinced of that.

Other grand examples of Murphy and me working together? When doing some kind, any kind of household fix the job will go well until the last screw which will either be frozen, or break, or the brute force necessary to get it to do what I want and need it to do – will ultimately break something else. Another one. If there is an unattended glass of liquid near me, it will spill. No, I am not clumsy and often times I will not spill it. Through the cosmic powers of Murphy a series of events will be strung together to spill the glass. This is especially true if there is a check for a large sum made out to me within range of the said glass of liquid. More? If I go to the store looking for something particular, this could be jeans in my size or large marshmallows, or a spice…the store will be out of that thing and just that thing. My favorite of course is when I am really looking forward to an activity or event and then just on the eve of – something happens to ruin it, or reschedule it, or cancel it. Best example of that one –I set up an elaborate plan to take my wife to Vegas a few years ago to go see Celine Dion and the night before we left I got an email saying that she had bronchitis and was canceling the show. Of course this impacted a lot of other people too (I guess).

So how does one work with such an albatross? You expect it, you anticipate Murphy's move and counter with either quiet and contemplative reflection or you stack the deck as much in your own favor as possible. Patiently find the stubborn screw and deal with that first, resign yourself to going to two different stores, make sure you have alternative plans to use other spices or find other events to attend.

Actually, the key word in all of this is actually 'patience' chances are that when one rushes anything it screws it up. There are exceptions, like getting your children out of the house and into the car. That is simple enough to not have too adverse an impact if something goes wrong, but if you are really rushing you will forget something. (Remember the film Home Alone? No, we have not yet forgotten one of our kids anywhere…yet.)

Okay, so that's Murphy for you. I would love to hear from others who have grand stories of working with this particular Law of the universe. The next one is Karma.

As many people who know me can attest I have my opinions about things and many of those are strong opinions. I like to think that I have a good sense of knowing what I know and admitting to what I don't know. And most of all I like to think that I am not so zealous in my opinions and feelings about things that I can't change my mind about something. In fact I think I am one of the few people I know who is open-minded enough to admit when he's come into information or been convinced by a coherent argument to change his mind. I find very few people do that. Don't misunderstand though, I don't characterize myself as a flip-flopper, just someone who can hear an argument, process it and weigh it with being blinded by my own previously held position. I do stand my ground on the things that I know that I know. How does this speak to Karma?

Karma is, for all intents and purposes to the lay-person is the belief that "what goes around comes around" but you knew that. What I think we all want to expect is that the one good turn we do for others will come back in the same way to us. This is in fact mostly a fallacy (in my humble opinion) as it would depend on people and human behavior having some equivalency among different people. In tight knit communities built on these principles it works (Amish people all pitch in to build each other's barns – it must be true cause I saw it in a movie). But in larger communities where we are connected to each other by fewer and fewer things, it is not that easy.

Karma is also the best 21st century way of calling on what is believe to be "The Golden Rule" "Do unto others, etc. "However, and this is one of my favorite parts of religious philosophy, it was actually Hillel, a Rabbi who was around maybe about the same time as Jesus, who said, "do NOT do unto others, as you would NOT want done unto you." I have a really good friend who used to fix my car every time it broke down (when I was not driving newer cars) No matter where or when I broke down Scott would come to the rescue. I could never legitimately return the same favor to Scott since I do not know jack about cars. In other words I cannot "do unto him" as I need "done unto me". However, I can treat him as a friend and find another way to help him so that I can repay his kindness and generosity. I have given him job advice, I have set him up with women, I have taken him to dinner, etc. It is in these ways that I have the skills and abilities to give back to Scott.

What I am driving at here I guess is a variation on "pay it forward". Call it "reimburse it forward" and it'll work like this:

Think of the people that have helped you in the past, the people that have been there for you, fixed things for you, done things for you, and figure out a way to give them something back using your skills and abilities, expertise, and generosity.

At the same time – think of a way that you might help someone out using your specific skills and abilities, expertise, and generosity.

Finally – forget all about the altruism of the act, that's nice, but see if you can let the person or people you are helping know why you are doing it and what you expect of them.*

*We seem to think that either we can't have expectations of other people or that it is rude or inappropriate to let people know that there is something expected of them. You would not neglect that duty when teaching a child so don't neglect it when dealing with your friends and neighbors. Let them know that you have expectations of them because they are allowed to have expectations of you and to let you know what they are. (I know my neighbor expects me to put plants in the dirt in front of my house now that he's fixed my sprinklers for me – he didn't say it, but I know it. If he had said it then I would know that I can go to him for something else at some point, that it is okay to have expectations of other people – and that is my own personal Law of the Universe.

Another favorite philosophy of mine, and I will end this blog entry with this, is the idea that "if you save one life it is as if you have saved the universe". What that means, for the uninitiated, is that each person lives in their own reality, has their own universe. If you can have a positive impact on them then you have impacted their reality, their entire sphere of influence, essentially their entire universe. And it is not that hard to do.