Two Voices-Humility and the Effective Leader
Filed under: Career, Fresh Voices, Leadership, Leadership Skills, Life and Business, Management Education, Professional Growth, Talent Management, Values, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Note 
from Art: One of the true joys of my blogging experience comes from meeting and collaborating with some remarkable people. Mary Jo Asmus is one of those remarkable people. She writes an outstanding leadership blog offering powerful and relationship-focused perspectives on all things leadership. I don’t miss a post of hers and encourage you to check out her site and make certain to subscribe. We collaborated a few months ago for Two Voices on: The Words of a Leader, and enjoyed the experience and the reactions so much that we vowed to do it again.
Well, we’re back. Mary Jo reached out to me a few weeks ago and raised the topic of “Humility and the Leader,” and we were both so interested in exploring this issue that we went off to our separate corners and the output is reflected in the two posts below. While the posts don’t necessarily reflect a point-counterpoint perspective, they do bring two unique perspectives to what turned out to be a challenging issue. My gut indicates that we might even elicit some interesting feedback from the many thoughtful readers that frequent our respective blogs.
OK, enough of my blathering and time to get to the posts. Thanks, Mary Jo for your inspiration!
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Humility and the Effective Leader-Mary Jo’s Thoughts
So often, when we think of leadership, we think in terms of the charismatic leader, or the bold leader. We think of leaders as bigger than life, exuding confidence and perhaps, arrogance.
For most, “humility” isn’t a word that comes to mind when considering the leaders we think we know. This is unfortunate, because the best leaders I know have been able to stay self confident without crossing the line into arrogance through the simple act of remaining humble. It isn’t easy, especially for leaders who’ve had big success.
When we are humble, we understand and invite the gifts that others bring to our effective leadership.
When we are humble, we invite participation by others.
When we are humble, we are open to new learning.
When we are humble, we have empathy and compassion.
Arrogance breeds behavior that isn’t inclusive, diverse of thought, creative, or enlightening. We know that we are not humble when we’ve become arrogant.
How do we know when we’ve crossed the line into arrogance?
Be vigilant. Listen to yourself. You’ve crossed the line into arrogance when:
- You take all the credit: real leaders know that their success is a group effort. When we are humble, credit goes to all who share in your success.
- You are the smartest person in the room: learning has ceased. You feel as if you have nothing new to learn from those around you. When we are humble, we are in a state of inquiry; not knowing all the answers, which allows us to continually learn.
- You judge those around you as “less” than yourself: you’ve put yourself on a pedestal. Nobody can do anything better than you can. It’s not important where you are in relation to everyone else. What is important is that we push our own edges outward to continually evolve.
- You’ve lost empathy and compassion: you just can’t seem to identify with those in a tough spot or feel sympathy for those in sorrow. When we are humble, we can walk in the shoes of others and we can reach out to them.
Are you staying humble, or have you crossed the line into arrogance? Spend some time thinking about this question and asking for feedback from those you trust on what they are observing in your behavior. And if you’ve crossed the line, call your executive coach to help you get back to humility.
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Humility and the Effective Leader-Art’s Thoughts
I concede the dictionary war to all of you that will turn to the word “humility” and see a definition that says, “a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness,” or, something as profound as “the quality or state of being humble.”
These are not definitions and words that you tend to associate with successful leaders, and yet, I cannot help but observe that many of the most impactful and successful individuals that I’ve worked with and around have an element of humility in their demeanor and an approach that exudes a quiet but positive self-confidence.
Is humility one of the secret ingredients of successful leaders?
To me, humility in a leader is best described as having the self-confidence borne of experience to be comfortable in your own leadership skin, without having to project to the world that you’re on top and in charge.
To be humble as a leader does not mean that you are weak, but rather that you are thoughtful, considerate and confident in the people around you and their ability to solve problems and learn and solve more problems.
It takes time and experience and self-awareness and raw courage to develop and project humility and confidence at the same time. Both are essential.
We generally don’t come into the leadership world with a sense of humility. Many of the mistakes of early leaders stem from a misguided belief that To Assert = To Lead.
Unfortunately, many carry this belief in assertion equals leadership with them as they climb the ladder. The earlier over-stated and over-projected self-confidence often evolves into arrogance and then hubris. The collateral damage from the leaders that follow this evolutionary path is huge.
The path towards confident humility is considerably more difficult and is filled with its own opportunities for derailment. Those that act humble may be misperceived as weak or uncertain. The To Assert =To Lead crowd likes to hire their own kind in some form of twisted Darwinian practice that ensures the survival of their kind, fully understanding that they may very well be hiring the individual that steps on their back in the climb up the ladder.
Alternatively, I submit that humble leaders are never weak. Like some martial arts experts, they have the skills to strike and defeat, but choose to use them only to defend or to fight for what is right. Fighting or striking out is the last resort of the incompetent who lack the wisdom and intellectual tools and substance to fight fair over concepts and ideas. One of the strengths of the humble leader is that everyone knows that he or she is capable of fighting and winning. This “walk softly and carry a big stick” approach buys the ability for the leader to cultivate his or her humility.
Like so many difficult tasks in life, there is no magic pill or simple guidance that anyone can offer on becoming an effective leader. You learn by doing and YOU choose your own style. I regard leadership both as a profession and as a journey and I encourage people that when they come to the fork in the road on choosing a leadership style, to turn away from the To Assert = To Lead path and start down the more difficult road and spiritual journey that focuses on others over self. I also encourage them to keep their eyes wide open and carry a big stick.
The Bottom Line:
Never underestimate the ability of the quietly confident and slightly humble leader to inspire others to move mountains.
Leadership Caffeine-Engage With a Purpose
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Leadership Caffeine, Leadership Skills, Management Education, Organizational Transformation, Performance, Professional Growth, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Warning, this post has been rated “I” for Intense by the Leadership Bloggers Association due to graphic intensity, strong and slightly colorful language and frequent cajoling to get it in gear and get moving. It’s also been rated “M” for excessive Comingling of Metaphors in an attempt to make a point.
A fair number of leaders that I encounter are busy floating along on the current created by the urgent daily events in the workplace. This never-ending flow of “stuff to do” numbs their leadership senses and dulls their performance edges as weeks and months and quarters give way to more weeks, months and quarters. It’s like sitting in the leadership equivalent of a lazy river at the local water park.
It’s time to quit doing everything and getting nothing important done in the process.
The best leaders that I know refuse to let the daily flow of activities derail them from their primary mission of driving results by helping people drive results.
These performance-focused leaders are intense. They engage with a purpose and view every encounter with an employee or a team as an opportunity to learn, to evaluate, to teach and to improve.
You know these characters. They are the ones that get things done and leave their people stronger and smarter in the process. They are also the ones that all of the motivated people want to work for in an organization. While they may not exude warmth or encourage group hugs, they do exude a sense of caring for the people that strive, learn and push the envelope on performance.
One of the keys to becoming a performance-focused leader is to master the art of asking the right questions. Constantly. These leaders engage with a purpose and maintain a high Questions to Comments ratio at all times. This high ratio allows them to learn, evaluate and identify opportunities to teach all at the same time.
Remember, they seek to understand, to evaluate and to teach and ultimately to impact performance.
To understand a performance-focused leader and the constant questioning, you need to understand the questions running through their minds:
- How does this issue tie to our strategy? Does it change anything? Does it offer new options?
- How hard and how thoroughly has this individual thought through the issue at hand? Has he/she connected the issue to our strategy?
- How complete is the proposed solution?
- How can I coach this person? Is there real-time feedback to offer here? Is there a coachable opportunity?
- Is this individual earning my trust and the trust of teammates?
- Have my repeated encounters with this person raised a red flag?
- Have I just learned something that I did not know?
And many more.
One performance-focused leader described her every encounter with her colleagues as an opportunity to determine whether she was doing her job. “If they have a good grasp of the situation and have a well-developed idea or solution that aligns with our core strategies, then I’ve done something right. If the individual is weak in any of those areas, then I’ve failed to educate and support properly and chance are other people are struggling with the same lack of knowledge or insight. That’s a sign that I need to step it up.”
And while my intense, performance-focused leader might sound like a passionless automaton…a Leadership Terminator, focused on search and destroy, that is not the case. They’ve learned to engage with a purpose without being jerks.
6 Suggestions for Improving Your Ability to Engage with Purpose
1. Recognize the “Lazy River” syndrome that dominates our days. It usually starts with our willful submission to the tyranny of the calendar. We allow our days to be filled with meaningless chatter in endless meetings where people debate trivial nuances instead of hard issues. Regain control of your calendar and fill it with activities that focus on the right priorities. Or don’t fill it all. Leave it open enough to engage and observe your people and teams in all variety of settings.
2. Set the right priorities. They include items that deal with creating value, building competitive advantage, innovating and winning. Assess your own priorities and the priorities of your team members by attempting to connect activities to value creation with no more than one or two degrees of separation.
3. Teach your team members the questions that you want them to ask as they fight through their days. Does this fit? Is it a priority? Can I see how it either creates value or will help someone create value? Teach them your questions.
4. Ask the same questions at every encounter. People will learn what’s important.
5. Do something with what you learn from asking the right questions. See also the memo that says your priority is to drive results by helping people drive results. Start helping more and being an obstacle less.
6. Resist the “results at all costs” temptation. While this entire post is about driving results, as soon as you cross the white line of effective, people-focused, respectful professional leadership practices and enter the “ends justifies the means zone,” you’ve sold your leadership soul. Don’t go there.
The Bottom-Line
Time is precious and leading is a privilege. No one can afford to squander either the time or the privilege that they’ve been entrusted to execute. Walk in the door with a sense of purpose. Create and instill this sense of purpose in the people around you and drain the water out of the Leadership Lazy River. You and your team can do better. Today.
Examples in Effective Top Leadership-The Ambassador
Filed under: Career, Leadership, Life and Business, Performance, Professional Growth, Values
Note from Art: This Saturday feature is best served with a cup of coffee and some time to reflect on the leaders that have influenced you in your life and career.
In contrast to last week’s Effective Top Leadership feature where I focused on an example inside a multi-national firm, this one is squarely in the small business category, topping out at about $20 million in annual revenues. While it was not a large firm, this organization and its founder left an indelible impression on customers, employees, suppliers and the southeastern U.S. communities that the firm served.
Like all of these examples that I will describe in this Saturday feature, the passing of time and the fact that I was a temporary observer, in this case eight years as a supplier, ensures that my view is narrow and personally biased. Nonetheless, fourteen years after the passing of this founder, I recall observing him and his business and his employees and his approaches as clearly as if the events all occurred yesterday. In my opinion, the sign of quality is truly the permanent memories that these effective leaders impress upon us as we navigate our own careers.
The Ambassador
I suspect that this individual was larger than life in my mind in part because I was a young professional learning the ropes in an industry, and this gentleman, The Ambassador, was a founding father respected for his tremendous success in the marketplace and revered for his firm but genteel approach to dealing with employees and suppliers.
A new job with a different firm in the same industry put me in a position to work closely with The Ambassador’s firm and on occasion to be in his company in meetings or one memorable personal driving tour of his home town.
As the years ticked by and I forged some close business relationships with the individuals in his firm, I learned a great deal about what made that firm successful and how his leadership practices and ultimately, his presence alone, motivated his employees to strive for excellence.
Observations and Lessons Learned:
-Dress for success…this was a customer focused business from salesperson to technician to receptionist, and I’ve never since walked through a business where people were so well dressed—dark suits, white shirts, a colorful tie and a properly folded handkerchief elegantly protruding from the upper suit-coat pocket. The mirror in the restroom had a little sign on it that said, “Remember, this is what the customer will see.”
-The Demeanor… everywhere you went, people smiled at you, introduced themselves and were happy to explain what they did for the business and for customers. I have no doubt that this was politely drilled into the operating routine inside the firm, with the intent of showcasing the operations and the people to prospective and current clients. It worked. You could not leave an encounter with the staff without thinking about what an impressive and comfortable organization this must be to do business with…regardless of whether you had toured headquarters or the smallest of the regional facilities.
-The People…were top flight professionals and individuals that you were equally comfortable with servicing your business or conversing with at the Sunday afternoon church picnic.
-The Commitment to Training…selling was a profession to The Ambassador, and he had been the best in his day. To take a job as a salesperson here was to commit to this profession with your heart and mind. You would attend sales training. You would attend vendor product training. You studied, you learned and you were evaluated on performance…and on your character as a salesperson. Dishonest and slippery salespeople that didn’t understand how to build lifetime relationships with clients need not apply.
-The Pride…employees used the name of their firm frequently in discussions and it was clear that the name meant something very personal to each of them. As it turns out, almost every employee had a story of how they came to be part of the organization and why they owed their founder for positively affecting their lives. The Ambassador had hand selected the majority of his team.
-The Results…this firm was a leading force in its markets and deeply embedded in the culture of the communities that it served. Getting involved in the community, joining the country clubs, volunteering and becoming visible were both part of the brilliant marketing approach of the firm and representative of The Ambassador’s pride and love of his part of the country. Winning was expected, great sales results were part of the culture and customer satisfaction was part of everyone’s DNA.
The Man:
I only knew this individual from a distance, with a few delightful encounters and what seems like countless tales of his ethics and professionalism from his staff. Perhaps the second most distinct memory of him was his ability to work a room, and thus my nickname of “The Ambassador.”
This gentleman was the best that I’ve ever observed at walking into a room and raising the energy level. I never tired of watching him at our annual conferences and noting his technique. He moved from person to person…starting politely at the top and he carried that attitude of “I’m honored to be here with you,” versus the ego-driven, “I’m here, please pay homage,” that so many lesser senior leaders portray.
The Human Element
My favorite memory of him outside of the many business dealings with the great people in his firm occurred just a few months before his death. I was visiting his main office along with one of my cohorts and everyone knew that The Ambassador was suffering from some form of cancer. As our meeting wrapped up, the door opened and much to everyone’s surprise, he walked in, dressed in his usual dark suit, white shirt and pocket-handkerchief, and wearing his usual “You’re here!” demeanor. While shocked at how the disease was ravaging his physical self, his persona was unaltered.
We went to lunch, enjoyed great conversation about the industry, our firm’s latest developments and his organization’s prospects for the year. Of course, he expected to be at the podium at our annual conference pulling down yet again another top producer award.
After lunch in uncharacteristic fashion, he sent his employees back to the office and invited the two of us for a ride. During the next hour, the Ambassador took us on a personal tour of his hometown, showing off with pride the churches and country clubs and sharing stories of his past and hopes for his firm’s future. I knew at the time that this was perhaps as special of a moment as you can have in business, and I sat back and soaked up the pride that he had in showing off his community.
He died a few months later.
The Bottom-Line
I did not know his family or his personal dealings, but on the professional side of the equation, this gentleman left much more here than he took from his time on this planet. The lessons on running a great business and most of all forging unbreakable relationships with customers and employees are tremendous. The life lessons of treating people with respect, helping people achieve more than they ever expected and teaching people to take great pride in their profession, no matter how mundane, are permanently etched in the minds and on the hearts of the many people that The Ambassador encountered during his walk through life.
The Dreaded Ice-Breaker-In Search of Something Better than Name, Rank and Serial Number
Filed under: Career, Innovation, Performance, Your Professional Development "To Do" List
Note from Art: In keeping with my “Lighter Fare on Friday” theme here’s an idea to help spice up your next meeting.
As a first-day seminar or workshop participant, don’t you just hate the opening few minutes where you’re thrown together with a group of strangers for the first time? You know it’s coming…everyone knows it’s coming, you just don’t know what form it’s going to show up as for this session.
I’m talking about the ubiquitous and often dreaded Ice-Breaker.
This is the part where the instructor has spent hundreds of seconds rifling through books that have titles that sound like, “Session-Opening Games that Will Make Your Audience Cringe and Ensure that theirs Standards are Low Enough for Your Lame Content.” (OK, that was a bit harsh. Sorry to the authors of bad Ice-Breakers and purveyors of lame content!)
I’ve long avoided most of the games that trainers, workshop leaders and presenters use to “break the ice” near the beginning of events. I have a “skin crawl” test on these topics. If the idea is so cheesy and there is no genuine payoff or ability to make a connection that it makes my skin crawl, I don’t want to be any where near a room that is running through this exercise. My “skin crawl” and “cheesy” filters are pretty sensitive.
However, what’s the alternative? The age-old form of name, rank and serial number or tell us who you are, what you do and what you hope to gain from being here, is just Lame with a capital L. Some session leaders throw caution to the wind and add in the “tell us something really unique about yourself.” More lame. There’s about as much energy in those activities as I observe on the 5:47 a.m. express heading for Downtown Chicago, where snoring is the favorite pastime.
An Ice-Breaker that Works:
Well, I’ve finally found an Ice-Breaker that passes my “no skin crawl, can’t be too cheesy, must have some semblance of a point” filters. I wish I could claim to have made it up, but I actually picked it up from Bob Furniss, a Call Center Industry guru, great speaker and all around good guy. I’m not sure where Bob picked it up, but since I asked his permission to use it, I sleep comfortably at night, knowing that the chain of copyright is intact.
What’s the activity? It’s called, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” I just love this game for its simplicity and for the connections that people make in the process.
The guidelines are simple. I explain to the audience that once I say “go,” they are to get up, seek out a new colleague, exchange introductions and then share views on the following:
- “If you could have a conversation with ANYONE living or dead, who would that be and what would you talk about?”
- I encourage them to have this conversation as many times as possible (I allot about 10 minutes for this activity), and I throw in the final catch. “When we wrap up, I would like to hear from you about some of the most interesting dinner guests of your classmates.”
I ask if there are any questions, and invariably one person responds with, “What are we supposed to do?” I smile and explain it one more time….repetition is good, and then I send the group off to mingle.
You can set your watch by the change in the volume in the room. I’ve run this exercise with groups of 10 and groups of 200 and the outcome is the same every time. For the first few seconds the room is quiet and within 45 seconds, the noise from conversations, the laughing and the dinner conversations is extreme.
I walk around encouraging people to switch partners and meet as many individuals as possible. I also break up groups that are congregating and keep them moving.
In large groups, I will guarantee that at least one person will cry and maybe more. That’s not a goal, but an outcome of someone thinking about talking with a relative or loved one that has passed. Others will engage in deeply philosophical conversations thinking about dinner parties with the Founding Fathers, various Saints, the Big Guy himself and so forth. In every group setting, I hear of a dinner conversation with a fascinating individual that I had not heard covered in a prior session.
What was momentarily awkward at the start turns into so much fun that I often struggle to regain control of the group. It’s a lot like herding cats to get people to wrap up their conversations and return to their seats.
OK, there’s definitely an element of silliness in this, but the dynamic works so well that I find myself uncharacteristically enjoying this Ice Breaker. This simple activity gets people out of the typical boring start of a seminar and the lame introduction mode and into relating to those in the room. In a matter of a few seconds, people establish an authentic connection with several other individuals. You learn a lot about a person by listening and observing as he/she describes their dinner guest. You gain a glimmer of an insight into values, thinking, priorities, likes and interests.
After the Ice-Breaker wraps up and I poll for fascinating dinner conversations (depending upon group size I’ll ask for 3 to 6 examples), the entire mood of the room has changed for the better. People are relaxed, comfortable with the setting and their new colleagues and ready to get down to work. It happens every time.
If you are looking for help in kicking off a workshop or seminar, or even shaking up an internal departmental or project team meeting, give “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” a shot. I would love to hear how it works and of course hear about you most fascinating dinner guests! Oh, and don’t forget to bring some tissues.
And for the record, I would like to have dinner with both Peter Drucker and W.Edwards Deming together. I’ve got some questions!
Leading in the Trenches-So You’ve Always Wanted to Teach a Class!
Filed under: Leadership, Life and Business, Management Education, Professional Growth
As regular readers know, I’m kind of an education junkie, both as a receiver and as a giver. I spend my days developing and delivering leadership and marketing training programs and coaching individuals and groups, and I spend as many evenings as possible in front of a class somewhere, working hard to learn what it means to become an effective educator.
It’s common for me to run across other professionals who discover that I’m teaching in the evenings and express their own interest in this noble endeavor. I encourage them and offer to help. However, much like the, “I would love to write a book,” crowd, many people have the desire to teach, but some subset of those interested actually take the plunge and either write the book or teach the classes.
Note to everyone interested in translating his or her professional experience into a dynamic classroom environment, it may not be as easy as you think. Not impossible, but in my experience, you’ve got to work remarkably hard to do a great job.
I’ve always respected great educators…those that inspire, motivate, open our eyes to new possibilities and embolden us to learn by experimenting. Sounds a lot like the outcome of working for a good leader, doesn’t it?!
I have not found the magic formula yet, but as I embark this evening on teaching an 8-week course on Global Business to a group of motivated professionals, it helps to review my basic approach to developing a great class. Additional advice welcomed and encouraged!
Art’s Guidelines for Having a Fighting Chance at Doing a Good Job as an Instructor:
- I treat my students…whether professionals or full-time students as customers.
- I seek feedback frequently. By the time I read the post-course instructor surveys, it’s too late to make a difference for that group.
- I probably break most of the rules of the die-hard academics. I am teaching in business programs, and view it as my obligation to balance the theory and textbook teachings and niceties with the unvarnished truth about the real world along with an ample number of practical lessons to take back into the workplace.
- I work hard to follow the talk less, ask more and encourage asking approach to leadership.
- Students are often their own best teachers, learning from each other. I create situations to facilitate this learning.
- There is a big, bold, vibrant laboratory with thousands of experiments occurring in real time right in front of our eyes…I bring these experiments into the classroom and we work to tie them to the core concepts. Many of the ideas generated in these discussions are remarkable in their simplistic elegance and potential for effectiveness.
- Leadership lessons are part of every program, regardless of the topic name. At the end of the day, all of business comes down to people, so to ignore the practical, managerial and leadership implications of issues would be doing a disservice.
- Smile, laugh and have a great deal of fun. Education is a privilege, as is the opportunity to lead and serve in business.
The Bottom-Line:
Wish me luck in the new course tonight. Of course, I prepare hard, so luck should not be an issue. Perhaps the unwitting students need the good luck, as they have no idea that they are about to run into someone that really loves what he is doing in the classroom!
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