The Secret to Powerful Leadership
It’s the morning after and it wasn’t what I heard but what I saw that matters most.
I’m home from the two-day Elite Leadership Program in New York City. The drive home gave me time to think about what I heard. Believe me, A.G. Lafley, Calvin Klein, and Jack Welch hit home runs.
Lafley led Proctor & Gamble from 2000 to 2009. Under his leadership sales doubled and profits quadrupled.
Calvin Klein built a global brand from nothing and sold it for something between 600 and 700 million.
Jack Welch is a fiery stutterer from Massachusetts who led G.E. to earnings in excess of 20% a year for 20 consecutive years. (Jack seldom stutters these days.)
Not what I heard
Over the two days, I heard terrific stories and powerful leadership principles. But, in a small venue you can do more than hear, you can see. I saw three wildly unique individuals.
- A.G. was quiet and wore jeans.
- Calvin is a control freak who told stories and never unbuttoned his jacket.
- Jack Welch is a fire-cracker who sprinkled his remarks with the occasional “hell of a…”
They were all incredible. But don’t try to be like them.
Imitating others is tragic. Certainly we can learn. But, first and foremost, they brought themselves to the fundamental leadership principles they explained.
Illustration:
When Calvin Klein began telling his story I inwardly groaned. I’m not into fashion. By the end I was on the edge of my seat.
I mentioned Klein was a control freak. He said, “I was involved in every detail.” It’s the sheer force of his person not leadership techniques that built a global brand.
Techniques are important and useful but your power is in your person.
Encouragement:
Today’s leadership encouragement is simple. Stop trying to be someone else and be yourself. Stopping opens the door to beginning.
Where is the line between copying what others do and being yourself? How do you determine that line?
**********
Thank you to the leadership at HSM for inviting me to attend the ELP. It was the best two days of leadership development I ever experienced.
Note: Jim Collins also presented at ELP. Jim told me he didn’t think of himself as a leader so I left him off this post. We can discuss whether Collins is a leader another day.
Thanks for the insight! Much appreciated.
Thanks for the good word Fancois! Cheers
I think it is very interesting what Jim Collins said to you …… he doesn’t think of himself as a leader …… it isn’t a title one assumes naturally. The label is usually attached by others who view your living work ethos as a positive re-enforcement of the goodness and strength in an individual ……. my dad always said be wary of whom you follow because God knows what path they may lead you down ….. so cut your own path in life and hope that friendship walks by your side, we are all fallible …….
The drive to be, to be just me
That isn’t only the person that you see
We each have to delve beneath the surface
Go to great depths
I still haven’t figured all of me out yet !
Trying to be, the best you can be
It isn’t always easy to see what others see
Maybe if they could explain in simple ways
I wonder would it make an impact
Could you make sense of the facts
Sometimes we don’t see the version others see
It can be strange how they view you and me
They’re looking at, while we’re looking in
And usually that isn’t the picture we are viewing
But maybe still just getting to know – ing ….. 🙂
Hi Imelda,
Thanks for sharing with the LF community. I appreciate your work
Cheers,
Dan
and I appreciate your work too ….. concise, thought provoking and very understandable bit size chunks of information to digest easily …. I like that, simplicity …..
Bingo. I teach Leadership Development for our corporation, and my students are attracted to leader biographies because they want to learn how to be like Steve Jobs or Colin Powell. Even though I devote an entire session to it, most never grasp that they need to find themselves as leaders. At best I will only ever be a mediocre imitation of Colin Powell, but with a little work I can be a better Greg than General Powell could.
Here’s what I tell folks: In any leadership competency there are some different general approaches you can take. For example, in the area of motivation, you can inspire with your vision, you can inspire with your personal example, or you can motivate one at a time with relationships. Or you can find a mix that works for you. So I teach the core competencies of leadership, and then we look at the various ways great leaders have done those competencies.
It’s the mixture and minor variations on all these techniques that combine to form an individual leadership style.
And, I remind them there isn’t a rule book. “If it’s stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid.”
Greg, have to agree with you totally. When I educate individuals on the competencies that can lead to leadership, I use the same line of thinking and approach. Leadership has to evolve from the inner being of the individual learning a lot about him or herself.
Question…Do you think individuals can learn leadership in a classroom or is it an innate characteristic in the individual and all a classroom does is bring this attribute to the surface? I would be interested in your thoughts. Thanks
Jim,
I’ll chime in before Greg on this question.
Jim Collins believes leadership is learned.
Marcus Buckingham believes leaders are born. At best you can improve someones skills but in the end leadership is about who you are.
No comment beyond that… 🙂
Dan
Ouch Dan, does sittin on that fence hurt!? (kidding)
One cannot predict the framework of Leadership needed to bring about future success to an organization based on copying the historic Leadership characteristics of another person or even an entire organization.
No disrespect to Jim Collins, but his batting average on identifying and highlighting leadership companies is pretty dismal. Check the 10-year stock prices on the 11 companies he featured in “Good to Great.” Fannie Mae, just to name one. Enough said.
Applying behavioral leadership competencies within an organization is driven more by the characteristics and culture of the organization versus some generic list of leadership competencies from a book.
I think that elite leaders are elite because of something they’re born with. However, about 90% of what leaders do can be check-listed, which means it can be taught. Most leadership jobs are a mash-up of what I consider four different skill sets: leadership, management, administration and supervision. The 90% that’s learnable is usually sufficient to be competent in those jobs.
The 10%, though, is in the area of vision and inspiration, and that’s where the spectacular magic happens. To me the difference is this: the best leaders are innately interested in people; they connect. That’s a struggle to learn if you aren’t wired for it.
Well stated, Greg. Excellent points on 90% learned and 10% innate. Interestingly enough, I find most managers don’t apply the 10% – perhaps they are not aware….
Hi Greg,
Your comment makes me think about Warren Bennis’ statement: “The point is to become yourself.”
The trouble is you can’t make a list of to do’s to become who you are.
I must admit that it took me way too long to see this idea. Without it, we focus on strategies and techniques and when we do we lose ourselves.
Frances Hesselbein nailed it, “Leadership is a matter of how to be not how to do”
Thanks for sharing,
Dan
Good morning Dan. I am glad you had such a great experience and take the time to share some insights with us. The message that rings loud and clear I guess is that we need to be ourselves and not a better version of someone else. I will not fudge and tell you I don’t try to emulate leaders and others I have met in my life but like Greg states, the adaptation has to be customized to ourselves for it to have true value. I firmly believe there are good behaviors that we can learn from just about anyone we meet and sometimes it is not something I always pick up on the first encounter. I have learned a lot right here on LF and the diversity of approaches, opinions, and comments always provide me with plenty to think about and fortunately for me I find myself incorporating and adapting plenty of these “gold nuggets” to my daily work and personal life and for that I am eternally grateful. Namaste. 🙂
Al, I’m with you in that I read leader biographies looking for things to emulate. I think the wisdomis in recognizing those things that fit with who you are, and knowing when you’d have to struggle to pull something off. Of course, who I am is only a partially-explored frontier, so . . .
Hi Al,
You always lift me. Thank you.
Love the expression “better version of someone else.” NICE
When I think about being “yourself,” I think about how you share who you are as well as what you think. In my book, that combination reflects the power of authenticity.
Sounds like a love fest… 🙂
Best,
Dan
Dan – your blog starts my day and now I have my peers asking me to print this off daily and pin it on our board!
Thanks
Hi Basudhaa,
It always feels good to be useful. I think we all love making a contribution. Your kind words made a contribution to me.
Cheers,
Dan
Thanks for sharing this important idea – from everything that I’ve read, observed, or discussed, there don’t seem to be a huge number of universal “best practices” that guarantee a leader to be successful.
An underlying theme, which you illustrate here: The best leaders don’t ask themeselves, “what do the best leaders do?” …they ask themselves, “what needs to be done, and how can I do it?”
Tim,
Sahweet! I hear the emphasis on “I” in your final question. Love it. Thanks for adding your clarity.
Cheers,
Dan
Thank you to Bob Burg and Dan Rockwell for kick starting my brain today!….
Id like to add….that I’m not seeing anything here regarding how the circumstances that an individual finds themself in contributes to their success as a leader..As an anthropologist of sorts, and a observer of trends and human behavior, I guess I am a believer in the Outliers concept (Malcolm Gladwell) which empasizes that there is both a genetic component and an environmental component to most outcomes…I am not really referring to what someone can Learn about Leadership, per se, in a classroom….but more, the decade, the surrounding market and or global needs/trends, the overall socioeconomic status and education of an individual, and the decisions that often happen in the blink of an eye, often many, over time…. to contribute to one’s leadership and success.
Just some thoughts…
Dena
Hi Dena,
Jim Collins’ new book includes research on “luck” or “good fortune.” Those of us who hold that God is involved in the world may be uncomfortable with the expression “luck.” Regardless ….
Jim says, The critical question is not, “Are you lucky?” but “Do you get a high return on luck?” pg 179.
Calvin Klein indicated he has been very lucky. However, one has to be talented enough to see the luck and then to leverage it.
Just some thoughts,
Dan
Dena, love your train of thought – if we ever sat down for coffee I bet we’d have a hard time being done in an hour. I suspect you might be a kindred “deep thinker” spirit.
I believe that less (maybe substantially less) than half the factors of any given situation are controllable, the rest are ones like you list. Those are the ones that give the situation unique shape and limit appropriate responses. I think leaders who can recognize the impact these metafactors have on any given situation are the most adept at quickly finding the most effective responses.
It may be a fatal leadership flaw to assume if one copies what others has done that you will experience the same ‘success’–either financially or what you bring to those doing the work. What worked for the three you noted, worked in a specific time, space and market that is then, not now.
A copy of a copy of a copy clearly degrades–with a possible digital world exceptions, time will tell on that. The multiplicity (also an interesting movie) of access points and information requires a continuous rethink on leadership style. A command and control style worked and still works in some arenas, though less and less it seems. What worked in fashion 20, even 10 years ago, may be a footnote to more immediate responsivity. Remember television used to have the big ‘fall season’, fashion had the ‘spring line’…soon they may be just vestiges of a more controlled/limited market history and ploy.
Keep learning from the ‘masters’ and at the same time, forge your own path. As you have done with many others Dan, you dig into their learnings, their lapses and how they gained strength in those adverse moments. That, for me, is more powerful than profit percentage, the bottom line. There’s financial legacy and then there’s human (EQ?) legacy…
“To lead people, walk beside them… As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate… When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!'”-Lao Tzu
Hi Doc,
Absolutely love your insights.
My big take away from your comment is: “Keep learning from the ‘masters’ and at the same time, forge your own path.” Love that you put “masters” in quotes. I think it speaks volumes.
I briefly mentioned Jim Collins’ new book to Dena in the comment above. You may enjoy exploring Jim’s work on circumstances etc… something he calls, “Luck.”
Best to you,
Dan
Doc, props for the Lao Tzu quote – it’s wonderful. And your recognition of the transient or situational value of techniques reminds me that leadership is really built around principles. The tactics will change. Thanks.
Hi Doc, your comments have uncovered some basic truths that in your typical eloquent fashion ring deep and to the core. Like Greg I also love your quote and am particularly fond of the “silent” leader not so much for her silence but more so for her annonimity when applause enters the room. I particularly agree that many skill sets can be learned as already mentioned in areas of supervision, management, and administration but the innate intangibles I feel are genetically endowed and developed with appropriate modeling throughout our formative years. I find it hard to learn honesty, integrity, trust, and humility. Our non-logical talents were exposed and surfaced as we witnessed them in our parents, teachers, mentors and our spiritual leaders.
Finally yes it might be easier for some more than others to perform and hum the song of leadership but the seed of true love and passion for people won’t germinate unless internally sown and fertilized and that is a conscious choice that great leaders make.
Martin Luther King did not have a plan, he had a dream and his followers bought into that dream and he was solely the instrument that helped them make it THEIR dream. Textbooks and classrooms won’t teach you that. People will follow leaders not for what they do or how they do it but for Why they do it and when inspired it becomes their Why as well.
As you so rightly suggest Doc, it is way easier to hold hands sideways and glance and keep an eye upon each other for we all will at some point slip. Holding hands breeds unity and friendship and makes a fist impossible. ” I value the friend who for me finds time time on his calendar but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar.” (Robert Brault-free-lance writer)
Cheers 🙂
(I have Jim’s book on my ‘to read’ tower Dan, thanks.)
One of the recently re-read tomes (might have been Collin’s GtG), cited the restaurant field where they hired for attitude not for skills. You can teach skills, not attitude was the comment. SW airlines has hired for attitude for a long time.
To riff off of that, ‘you can teach skills, you can’t teach spirit’…or can you!?
And from experience, being, figuratively and/or literally, side by side allows a more aligned vision…knowing too, sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow. Saw another leadership quote, something like…”there goes the team I lead, I had better catch up!”
Or, as we said in the Army, “I am their leader, which way did they go?”
The idea about whether leadership is innate or learned is an interesting point of debate. Obviously most leaders rely on both the capacity for leadership and the willingness to learn how to do it well. That’s why you “see” leadership in the personalities of each of the men you described. Their personalities made it possible for the tools of leadership to work for them. That’s why you cannot “be” like other impressive leaders. You can make note of and aspire to attain the attributes, the characteristics, the approaches and the tools, but only Calvin Klein is going to be Calvin Klein. I am enjoying the posts on this blog. Thanks for sharing your insight. MMF
Hi Meagan,
I’m thankful you joined the conversation.
Regarding learning… I asked Jack Welch how leadership had changed him. His answer wasn’t what I expected. He said he has a gift for learning about leadership.
Obviously his fiery temperament and candor are components to his success. However, he learned as he went. Without that, I’d think we would all eventually fail.
Cheers,
Dan
Whether or not leadership can be learned, I think all leaders are learners.
Jamon!
Doc, you stumped me with “Jamon” unless you are speaking Spanish! 🙂
oops, left a space out…Ja mon!
(not talking Spanish ham, lol)
Once again, great post. I think it is important to learn from all sorts of different sources – good leaders, bad leaders, books, and blogs. However, when all is said and done, it is the way the individual personalizes those lessons which determines his/her success as a leader.
Carrie,
You sure can boil things down to the essence. “Personalize those lessons.” That completely different from copy those lessons.
Thank you,
Dan
excellent chat!! thanks Dan….I am interested in Jim Collins’ book…will investigate….
as far as luck goes….no such thing….my opinion….
we set our lives up to be “open to the knowing”….and let the best unfold….for some, its what we define as “great leadership”….Im guessing, those leaders you were with….had an undeniable sense of their own power, cuz they were open to it….and continued to listen and learn….hence how those environmental circumstances some may call luck….present themselves to people like Calvin Klein….
we all have this power….many cannot hear, many choose to be locked down….you only have to have one experience of “luck” in your lifetime…to be made aware of that power….it is a choice to continue to pursue it…
happiness….luck….success….leadership….love…..
Cheers!
Where is the line between copying what others do and being yourself? How do you determine that line?
I think the line can only be found with an abundant amount of self awareness. We may *think* we are being leaderlike by copying someone else or being what we “think” a leader is, but it may be coming across like a fun house mirror – something with straightforward intent morphed into an oddity. Better to let your true self shine through.
Great post Dan.
In my experience, I would also have to say that a certain amount of imitation is expected as people grow up and into new leadership roles. It’s a natural part of the learning process that begins in childhood. However, our culture in many ways tends to reward conformity and hinders a great deal of creativity and free thinking. Especially in our current educational system. So what happens is that the majority of us wound up being GREAT at finding out what the rules are and following them. With a few that resisted conformity to such an extent that they have blazed a new trail of their own. (all the great thinkers and innovators)
Our society is teeming with copycats and parrots precisely because this is what our culture has bred due to what I mentioned above.
One of the catalysts we need more of is for current leaders to fully grasp the predominant conditioning of conformity that has created current society, recognize that it is in the best interests of the majority to grant permission and reward free thinkers. And do so as young as possible.
Another element that came to mind on this is in regards to invoking change from old to new ideas. For a new breed of leader to emerge, it will require that we know how current leaders think and operate. We must learn the lingo and the terrain. Speak their language. Understand them. So that we have a better chance in the adoption of new and innovative ideas that could pave the way for some much needed paradigm shifts.
Dan, I heard all the three leaders mention one common thing during the sessions in NY the other day: the necessity of clearly communicating the mission to the organization. Both Jack and A.G. took a very structured approach to achieve this. Calvin relied on his powerful personality. But they were all aiming for the same.
Working as a management consultant I’ve seen many organizations over the years that work on improving skills, without ever stepping back for a moment to re-think their purpose and communicating it properly.
Being yourself is crucial because you’re only ever going to be able to be you…
The trick is developing a level of self-awareness that allows you to see the gap between self perception and the perception of others’ view of you.