Why successful managers need to lead by design, not
example
In 1993 the software startup FITS moved from Toulouse France to Scotts Valley California (a town at the edge of Silicon Valley). Their founder, Bruno Delean, had invented a radically new approach to editing photographic images - an important breakthrough given the hardware limitations of the time.
Delean's team worked tirelessly, aiming to get the software in shape for a big demo at Silicon Graphics, at that time a powerhouse in computer-aided design. The team worked day and night, stopping now and then just to eat. They were not paid that well, nor were they working for a noble cause; it was just software.
They worked because they wanted to do a good job for Delean, who was a legend among French software developers. Delean himself had done most of the coding, and was there working side-by-side with the team, always available when a tough call had to be made. He led in the most compelling, direct, and personal way possible: by example.
Just up the
street on the other side of town, Steve Luczo was re-creating what was to
become one of the most innovative companies on earth: Seagate Technologies.
Steve had taken over the helm at Seagate, and began to turn the perennially
late-to-market disk drive company into the industry's unrivaled leader.
He changed the organization's structures, routines, and culture dramatically, creating within Seagate a global development platform that brought improved technologies to customers sooner and more profitably than any firm in the industry's history. His people worked tirelessly, and mastered the science of rapid product development.
Innovation at Seagate became routine, and the company transformed storage technology as we know it. Steve Luczo led this company, but not like Bruno Delean. Steve Luczo led by design.
Leading by example shows the way, but leading by design creates a system that discovers the way. Those who lead by example are authentic, because they put their words into action - like Delean. But they are limited to what they know, and what they can do.
Delean's firm ultimately was limited to what he could imagine, and so no longer exists today. Those who lead by design do not invent, nor are they involved in the specific decisions to get the job done. Like Luczo, their names are not on patents.
Instead, they build the culture, routines, and structures within which others can flourish. Done well, such leadership creates an organization that takes us places we never imagined.
Seagate's innovations were not foretold by Luczo, but they were created by the organization that he put in place. When you lead by design your job is not to know the future, but to create an organization that discovers the future. Leading by design is especially effective in changing times, because when times are changing it is difficult for any one person to know what is next.
In fact, our successful leaders typically do not have a very good track record when it comes to predicting the future. For starters, their very own success likely came about in ways that they, themselves, did not expect when they were starting out. (That is true for Google, Facebook, and Apple, for instance. And if you look back on the predictions made (and not made) by our luminaries at any point in time, the track record is unimpressive.
In 1992, for instance, virtually no leaders in the technology world were predicting that the worldwide web would soon explode onto the scene. Like a clairvoyant caught in an avalanche, somehow our technology leaders failed to see the worldwide web coming.
Look back at what the experts were saying before many of our most profound innovations, from the microcomputer to wireless telecommunications, and you'll find they were typically off the mark. But when we lead by design, we do not pret ..
Look back at what the experts were saying before many of our most profound innovations, from the microcomputer to wireless telecommunications, and you'll find they were typically off the mark. But when we lead by design, we do not pretend to know what is next. Instead, we create an organization designed to discover possibilities that we never dreamed of.
By William Barnett (The author is the Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations, Stanford Graduate School of Business cdet140815.
He changed the organization's structures, routines, and culture dramatically, creating within Seagate a global development platform that brought improved technologies to customers sooner and more profitably than any firm in the industry's history. His people worked tirelessly, and mastered the science of rapid product development.
Innovation at Seagate became routine, and the company transformed storage technology as we know it. Steve Luczo led this company, but not like Bruno Delean. Steve Luczo led by design.
Leading by example shows the way, but leading by design creates a system that discovers the way. Those who lead by example are authentic, because they put their words into action - like Delean. But they are limited to what they know, and what they can do.
Delean's firm ultimately was limited to what he could imagine, and so no longer exists today. Those who lead by design do not invent, nor are they involved in the specific decisions to get the job done. Like Luczo, their names are not on patents.
Instead, they build the culture, routines, and structures within which others can flourish. Done well, such leadership creates an organization that takes us places we never imagined.
Seagate's innovations were not foretold by Luczo, but they were created by the organization that he put in place. When you lead by design your job is not to know the future, but to create an organization that discovers the future. Leading by design is especially effective in changing times, because when times are changing it is difficult for any one person to know what is next.
In fact, our successful leaders typically do not have a very good track record when it comes to predicting the future. For starters, their very own success likely came about in ways that they, themselves, did not expect when they were starting out. (That is true for Google, Facebook, and Apple, for instance. And if you look back on the predictions made (and not made) by our luminaries at any point in time, the track record is unimpressive.
In 1992, for instance, virtually no leaders in the technology world were predicting that the worldwide web would soon explode onto the scene. Like a clairvoyant caught in an avalanche, somehow our technology leaders failed to see the worldwide web coming.
Look back at what the experts were saying before many of our most profound innovations, from the microcomputer to wireless telecommunications, and you'll find they were typically off the mark. But when we lead by design, we do not pret ..
Look back at what the experts were saying before many of our most profound innovations, from the microcomputer to wireless telecommunications, and you'll find they were typically off the mark. But when we lead by design, we do not pretend to know what is next. Instead, we create an organization designed to discover possibilities that we never dreamed of.
By William Barnett (The author is the Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Business Leadership, Strategy, and Organizations, Stanford Graduate School of Business cdet140815.
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