For a fascinating discussion on a provocative topic, check out the latest from Bret Simmons in, “What’s Your Experience with Leadership?” Bret kicks off the discussion with the question, “Is leadership at the top really as bad as I think it is?” Grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable and click over to the post and enjoy the great back and forth comments from some sharp people.

One of the thoughts that jumped to mind as I followed the discussion on top leader quality was the fact that I’ve truly enjoyed the opportunity to learn from some remarkable executives during my corporate career.

While the lousy leaders make great blog copy, the great leaders are the ones that shape our own perspectives and practices.  As part of my small token of gratitude to these fantastic individuals, I’ll spend what I hope is a long string of Saturdays sharing the lessons learned one leader at a time.

A few ground rules for this new feature:

  • I will emphasize the positive examples and great lessons learned.  To the best of my knowledge, all of the leaders that I’ve encountered were human and made mistakes.  This series will be wholly unbalanced in favor of sharing the positives.  That’s the point.
  • I will not disclose the names and companies.  It’s not my place to call people out in public…good or bad.  The names and companies are not the focal point, the good leadership practices are.
  • I hope that you feel comfortable sharing your own examples.  Your contributions will make this a richer experience for all of us.

Enjoy!

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This “Best Run Company” Reflected It’s Leader’s Sense of Pride in People and the Business

I hesitate to lead off with this example, because it is so rich in content and lessons that I could probably write at least a good chapter in a book.  However, I’ll step out of character and provide the short-story here, and save the rest for future posts.

This second-generation industrial manufacturer oozed excellence from the top to the bottom.  The first impression was one of “the cleanest company I’ve ever witnessed.”  From the spotless factory floor and impeccably clean and tastefully decorated offices to a company cafeteria decorated with pieces and pictures of the company’s past, everywhere you went, people and facilities were pristine.

As I moved beyond my superficial view of the facilities to get to know the employees and managers, I couldn’t help but compare this organization to something straight out of Stepford (The Stepford Wives), where perfect people happily ply their trades producing excellent quality products, remarkably dedicated distributors and fiercely loyal customers.  Of course, the year over year over decade results were remarkable.  I’ve rarely ever seen so much black ink and so many graphs moving in the right direction.

Over the period of a couple of years, I was fortunate to spend quality time with the CEO as well as a number of his top managers.  I also spent a great deal of time in the global facilities.  After awhile, I started to see the behaviors and approaches that generated so much success.  Without exception, the impact of this leader could be seen and felt from the top to the factory floor worker 6,000 miles away.

The Practices and Lessons of this Successful Leader

  • The leader oozed pride in the history of the business and confidence for the future.  And while one could imagine pride and confidence quickly turning into hubris, he put that in check by cultivating a fierce sense of challenge and desire to achieve.
  • Talent selection was a core competence and this leader took a personal interest in every key hire and a great number that you might not view as key.  He hired people that fit the mold in a good way.  There was no doubt that he wanted soldiers and officers….not emperor wannabes and he hired buttoned-down, levelheaded, super sharp people that enjoyed following.  (Perhaps you will view this as a negative, but it worked in this environment.)
  • New leaders were carefully cultivated and developed from inside.  This was a key part of reinforcing and perpetuating the culture.
  • People genuinely enjoyed their work and their working environment.  I rarely ran into anyone with a sour attitude and in a conversation with the CEO, he remarked to me that, “There’s no room for miserable people here.  We like to send them to our competitors where they can be miserable all that they want.”
  • I’ve rarely observed a team of managers working harder at being excellent in every aspect.  The commitment to operational excellence was absolute and failures were tolerated as long as they turned into plans for success.  Invariably, they did.
  • Top managers worked in the trenches.  Constantly.
  • No one wanted to disappoint the CEO.  While leery that this was a case of Hitler’s officers not wanting to pass along bad news, I came to believe that the motivation was out of pride and respect.

The Bottom Line:

I certainly could share a list of blemishes and flaws and philosophical differences that I saw in this firm and the leadership, but in this case, the positives grossly outweighed the negatives.  People loved their work, they loved their firm—an increasingly rare situation, and they respected their leader.  The formula here worked, the company was (and is) remarkably successful and thousands of successful careers were built in the process.