LEADERSHIP SPECIAL .......................Developing leaders in a business…. The Will to Lead(1)

LEADERSHIP SPECIAL Developing leaders in a business…. The Will to Lead(1)

In his book The Will to Lead, Marvin Bower, McKinsey’s managing partner from 1950 to 1967, urges senior managers to abandon command-and-control structures and adopt a program to develop leaders, starting with themselves. In this excerpt, he explores the attributes of leadership.

The shortcomings of command-and-control management are becoming ever more apparent. The hierarchy of bosses organized into ranks, with each superior exercising authority over subordinates who do exactly what their boss wants, has long been the dominant form of corporate organization. But recognizing that they are handicapped by their current systems, many companies are now questioning the way they manage themselves. They are striving for greater effectiveness and flexibility to cope with and capitalize on the fast-moving, ever-changing competitive conditions they see just ahead.

I believe that the old command system must be replaced. Fixing it is not good enough. My view is that authority should be replaced by leadership. By that, I don’t mean that a business should be run by a single leader, but that it should be run by a network of leaders positioned right through the organization. Leaders and leadership teams working together will, I suggest, run a business more effectively than a hierarchical, command-and-control structure.

What makes a leader?

Leadership scholars define a leader as a person who sets attractive goals and has the ability to attract followers, or constituents, who share those goals. Above all, a leader must be trusted and respected. Trust between a leader and constituents opens up two-way communication, making it possible for them to realize their common goals.

Anyone who aspires to lead must develop certain qualities and attributes. By “qualities,” I mean elements of character or personal makeup that are typically difficult (but not impossible) to learn. People usually bring their qualities with them when they join a company. “Attributes,” on the other hand, are more like skills and hence easier to learn. Fortunately, the attributes needed for leadership far outnumber the qualities.

Trustworthiness

Leadership scholars are virtually unanimous in putting trustworthiness at the top of the list of qualities required by any leader. Trustworthiness is integrity in action. Pearl S. Buck, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for Literature, put it thus: “Integrity is honesty carried through the fibers of the being and the whole mind, into thought as well as into action so that the person is complete in honesty. That kind of integrity I put above all else as an essential of leadership.”

Anyone seeking to be a leader should always tell the truth, if for no other reason than it is simpler. Richard Heckert, retired chairman of DuPont, put it this way: “If you always tell the truth, you won’t have to remember what you said.”

I have observed that the executives I trusted most were truthful about unimportant as well as important things. They went into detail to be accurate about small things, even correcting statements about things that did not matter. High-precision truthfulness is a good way to gain trust, the ticket of admission to leadership.

Ralph Hart, former chairman of Heublein and president of Colgate-Palmolive, spoke of an incident early in his career when he was hired to sell adding machines to small stores. He was given no training, just provided with samples and sent straight into the field. When he began his route, he was too nervous to enter the first store. As it was late in the day, he decided to wait until morning and begin fresh. But the next day he was still nervous. Finally, near closing time, he approached a store owner, who wasn’t interested:

“I asked, ‘Would you at least look at them?’ So the store owner started asking me questions, and I kept on saying, ‘I don’t know, but I‘ll find out.’ Finally the owner agreed to purchase an adding machine. I was mystified, and asked him why he finally relented. He replied, ‘Anyone who has a salesman as honest as you are must have a good product.’ That was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. It’s something that I never forgot—be honest and tell the truth.”

Fairness

In my years as a consultant, the most frequent complaint I heard (in confidence) about bosses has been about some form of unfairness. To get something done, the boss had used authority carelessly. In the eyes of subordinates, what the boss wanted done was unnecessary, too difficult, or impossible in the time given.

In America, to be called an unfair boss is damning, and even implies a flawed character. Conversely, a boss who is tough but fair is to be admired. In dictionaries, “fair” is variously defined as equitable, unprejudiced, impartial, dispassionate, and objective.

However it is defined, Americans—possibly because of their intense involvement in sports—are quick to recognize what’s fair and what’s unfair. They will forgive much, but seldom unfairness. Unfairness in a chief executive is particularly serious, because he or she sets the example for everyone else in the company.

Fairness and trust, of course, go hand in hand. Both are essential not only in the chief executive, but in all leaders throughout the company. Moreover, if fairness and trust become an integral part of a company’s culture, then these qualities will flourish, to that company’s great benefit.

Unassuming behavior

Arrogance, haughtiness, and egotism are poisonous to leadership. But leaders can never be hypocritically humble. They are simply unassuming in their behavior. Unpretentiousness can be learned, and it is well suited to the examples the chief executive should set.

Robert K. Greenleaf, former director of management research for AT&T, coined a useful term for the unassuming leader: “servant leadership.” In a pamphlet, and later in his book Servant Leadership, he alludes to a German tale about a group of important men who went on a long journey into the wilderness, accompanied by a servant. They got lost and fell into deep trouble. The servant was particularly helpful and became accepted as the leader of the group. His masters came to trust him because he demonstrated attributes that helped them get out of trouble. So he, a servant, became their leader, and they became his constituents.

Having a servant leadership viewpoint helps any chief executive focus on company performance and on the needs of constituents rather than on his or her own performance or image. The chief executive knows that he or she will get credit for good corporate performance as well as blame for poor performance. So the chief who is a leader can plunge wholeheartedly into leading other company leaders in improving overall company performance, knowing that chief executive performance is always being carefully watched by everyone in the company.

Successful leaders are as unassuming in the surroundings they create—or tolerate—as they are in their behavior. Casualness and informality contribute to a leadership culture. In some successful high-tech companies, everyone dresses and behaves informally; it’s integral to the company culture.

Let me add a few more examples:

• Unassuming leaders surprise visitors and company people with their offices: pleasant, inviting, and functional, but completely unostentatious in size and decor. And they leave their desks to sit with visitors.
• General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of Operation Desert Storm, was offered a villa by the Saudis, but he chose instead a small room tucked away behind his office.
• I know several executives who have “chairman” on their business cards and letterhead but not “chief executive officer,” even though they hold both titles.
• I know two chief executives who often stand in line at headquarters cafeterias and then join a group at one of the general tables.
• The McKinsey research on excellent companies, which ultimately became In Search of Excellence, found that unassuming executives walk around rather than holding meetings in their own offices.

If all company leaders have an unassuming manner—with the casualness and informality that it produces—the resulting behaviors of people will fit naturally into a leadership culture.

Leaders listen

Listening may seem like an unimportant activity, but my experience convinces me that the reverse is true. In a survey, one of the participants said: “Frankly, I had never thought of listening as an important subject by itself. But now that I am aware of it, I think that perhaps 80 percent of my work depends on my listening to someone, or on someone else listening to me.”

I have observed that a high proportion of CEOs in command companies don’t listen very well. They may even turn off people who have valuable information to provide; and one turn-off may discourage the person from coming forward the next time with even more valuable information. In fact, chief executives of command companies are generally such poor listeners that they can signal their change to leading simply by beginning to listen. The shift from telling to listening can be startling to subordinates—and I guarantee they will receive it well. Indeed, at first, they will be flattered. And emerging leaders will be surprised by how much of importance they will learn.

In meetings, chief executives often close off opportunities to learn by expressing their own views too early in the discussion. I know one chief executive of a world-class overseas company who does this constantly. His colleagues have concluded that he is subconsciously showing off his brilliance. That habit, together with the awe in which he is held, cuts him off from important facts and useful opinions.

Active listening helps assure the other person that he or she is being heard and understood. That involves not only paying close attention, but also asking brief, nonleading questions. These convey interest and understanding without necessarily implying agreement.

But a word of caution: listening customs vary around the world. One American executive I know went to England to negotiate an alliance. He was successful, but the affiliation proved worthless. His rueful afterthought: “I wish I had known then that when most Britons nod their heads, it means ‘I understand you,’ not ‘I agree with you.’”

Listening was cited as playing an important role in the election by Fortune in 1994 of six new members of the National Business Hall of Fame, each of whom was “blessed as much with forehearing as foresight”:

“Of all the skills of leadership, listening is one of the most valuable—and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. They are hear-aholics, ever alert, bending their ears while they work and while they play, while they eat and while they sleep. They listen to advisers, to customers, to inner voices, to enemies, to the wind. That’s how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities.”

This seemingly simple attribute—along with open-mindedness—can have enormous importance and contribute to competitive advantage for any company.

A leader is open-minded

Over the years, I have encountered many chief executives whose minds were closed or only slightly ajar. As a consultant, I admit to being sensitive to this failing. What’s the use of hiring consultants if your mind is too closed to consider their findings?

I’ve thought a lot about why chief executives are not more open-minded, and I lay much of the blame on the command-and-control system. The all-powerful chief executive sits at the top, managing mostly from there. People don’t question chief executives much, and they seldom disagree with them. So CEOs become self-believers and commanders of others. That’s pretty heady stuff, and it feeds on itself.

Self-assurance can be a plus, but excessive self-assurance leads to egotism and even arrogance; it certainly closes minds. I’ve seen it happen.

If a leader gets an idea—say, an acquisition—he or she keeps an open mind about its good and bad features. People in the organization then feel free to come forward with both positive and negative information. By contrast, a CEO in a command company who gets an idea about an acquisition might not want to hear any negative information about it, and if that CEO doesn’t have a reputation for being open-minded, people are not likely to come forward with such information. When in doubt, people in a command company tend to keep quiet.

Any leader with an open mind makes better judgments, learns more of what he or she needs to know, and establishes more positive relations with subordinates and constituents. In a leadership company where there is no hierarchy and where people are free to speak their minds about company performance and how to improve it, people can be more productive. Consider the great competitive advantage of having an open-minded chief executive and other open-minded leaders throughout a company, all ready to receive and consider ideas and put them to work if their judgments stamp them as useful.

As constituents come to learn that their leader does indeed listen with an open mind, they’ll gain confidence in offering their opinions and in engaging in those full, free exchanges of thought that can turn into useful brainstorming sessions. Even the small ideas that emerge can be valuable, and sometimes they can be developed into ideas of real importance. The leader can easily control the time devoted to such sessions: constituents will sense when he or she wants to end the discussion and get on with other business.

It isn’t hard to keep an open mind once you accept its value. However, for anyone who is learning to be open-minded, the following guidelines may help. Never say no immediately. Of course, you have to give a response of some sort, and it should be “I’ll get back to you.” After you have taken time for thought, at least overnight, your decision in all likelihood will be better for not having been made on the spot. Whatever you decide, don’t fail to get back to those to whom you’ve promised to respond. Particularly, be meticulous in responding to anything submitted in writing.

Sensitivity to people

Most leadership scholars call this attribute “skill in dealing with people.” To me that smacks of managing or even manipulating people, as though the leader should develop mechanical approaches or a studied synthetic style. Moreover, treating this attribute as a skill focuses the mind of the leader inwardly in a self-centered way, instead of outwardly on helping or persuading constituents.

The reality is that a leader can’t motivate or persuade constituents or others effectively without having some sense of what’s on their minds. So unless they are always forthcoming about what is on their minds (which is unrealistic to expect), the leader must try to discern what they’re thinking and feeling. That’s why I prefer to call this important attribute “sensitivity to people.”

I believe a leader can develop competence in guessing what’s on people’s minds. Once my late partner Zip Reilly had convinced me to give up commanding and try persuading, I knew that I could persuade people better if I could tell what was going on inside them. It seemed to me, however, that I had to start paying attention to everyone I dealt with every day. I had to stop taking them for granted and exercise insights, intuition, perception, empathy, or some combination of these in the guesswork of trying to find out what was on their minds. Eventually I got the hang of it; I suggest that nearly anyone with the will to lead can do the same.

There is a stereotype that women have more intuition than men; my own experience backs this up. At McKinsey, we work extensively with teams. I have observed that when I have worked for some time with an all-male team and then add a woman, the team becomes more imaginative, has more and better ideas, and is more sensitive to what’s on the minds of client people. It is well to keep this in mind in making up leadership teams.

Sensitivity to people also means that leaders are sensitive to their feelings. Leaders are polite, considerate, understanding, and careful that what they say to someone is not dispiriting unless criticism is intended. Leaders, especially chief executives, must also be careful not to be overheard discussing someone’s job performance with another person. There’s nothing new in that but it’s frequently overlooked.