Category Archives: Leadership Development

Leadership Development Topics and Resources.

NY Times Hardcover Business Best Sellers – October 2009

Posted on by
Reply

New York Times – Hardcover Business Best Sellers – October 2009

 

Yawn… Eleven months and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers continues to dominate the NY Times hardcover business best seller rankings. We love this book, and yet it still seems a little unbelievable that one book could remain on top of such a dynamic list for so long. (To read our review of this outstanding book, check out our July 2009 best seller rankings.)

 

Upon further review, we understand why Gladwell can stay at Number One: Nearly all of his challengers deliver books with no real substance, very little entertainment value, and they fill no unmet need of the book-buying public. From the boring premise of Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford to the asininely unnecessary The 50th Law, by 50 Cent (and Robert Greene), to the clearly miscategorized What Happy Working Mothers Know, by Cathy L. Greenberg and Barrett S. Avigdor, the NY Times business list is thin, at best.

 

Given the absolute drivel populating this month’s list, we simply cannot recommend anything in the Top Five not written by Gladwell. From Numbers Six to Fifteen, there is only Jim Collins’ How The Mighty Fall at Number Seven that is worthy of a leader’s time. (Might we recommend you take a look at some classically good leadership books instead?)

The Top Five – NY Times Business Hardcover Best Sellers October 2009 (to view the entire list, follow this link):

 

This
Month

 

Last
Month

1

OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed — it has to do with luck and opportunities as well as talent — from the author of “Blink” and “The Tipping Point.”

1

2

THE HEALING OF AMERICA, by T.R. Reid. (Penguin Press, $25.95.) How other industrialized democracies provide health care for all at a reasonable cost.   

9  

3

WHAT HAPPY WORKING MOTHERS KNOW, by Cathy L. Greenberg and Barrett S. Avigdor. (Wiley, $19.95.) How to be a successful parent and professional without sacrificing personal happiness.

 

 

4

THE 50TH LAW, by 50 Cent and Robert Greene. (HarperStudio/HarperCollins, $19.99.) Conquering fear to attain power: a philosophy of life.

  

5

THE TOTAL MONEY MAKEOVER, by Dave Ramsey (Thomas Nelson, $24.99.) Debt reduction and fiscal fitness for families, by the radio talk-show host.

     
     
     
     
     

 

 3

 

 

Stop Managing Activities and Start Seeing Results

Posted on by
1

Keep Everyone Busy So You Can Kill Creativity

In the current economic climate (one that we’ve dubbed The Great Necession), it seems that companies are so concerned about productivity that they’re forgetting about innovation and creativity.

Whether we’re all trying to cover our asses as managers or whether we truly believe that micromanagement and piling on the busy work is the key to survival during The Great Necession, we have become obsessed with ensuring everyone still employed is constantly busy.

Understandably, many workers are doing their job and that of their laid off former coworkers; though even this doesn’t explain what we’ve observed over the past several months in workplaces across America. Too often to be a coincidence, we’ve watched in disbelief as more and more managers unnecessarily micromanage the activities of their charges in an effort to magically drive more output.

We’ve become so concerned with keeping everyone busy that we don’t leave time for our employees to be creative or creatively solve problems.

Manage the Results, Not the Activities

Often because they don’t fully understand the goals, junior managers fall into the trap of managing or micromanaging the activities of their subordinates. When desperate, even seasoned leaders will sometimes scramble to drive productivity through the micromanagement of daily activities.

The Great Necession has created more than a little desperation in the workplace.

The key to reaching your team’s goals as leaders is to clearly identify the goals and then monitor and manage the output of those contributing to the achieving of these goals. When you try to manage the inputs (the activities) instead of the outputs (the results), you most often find you’re driving fast, though in the wrong direction. Additionally, you cannot hold your subordinates accountable for the results that the overly-managed activities attain.

When you tell someone not only what to do, but also how to do it, you own the results – good or bad.

We Need Creative Problem Solving to Solve Our Current Problems

Left to their own accord, people will always find ways to do it cheaper, faster, better and safer. If you’re micromanaging their activities, you leave them no time to improve your products or processes; and thus, no time to help pull your company through the tough times.

As leaders, it rests on us to guide our companies through this economy. Your people are counting on you to do just that. It’s time to lead again: Resist the temptation and stop managing the activities and just manage the results. It’s easier. Of course, do this only if you want creative solutions to your company’s problems.

TheManager’s Leadership Book Review

Posted on by
1

Don’t Bring It to Work – Breaking the Family Patterns That Limit Success, by Sylvia Lafair, PhD

I absolutely love it when an expert in a non-business field brings their knowledge to the business world. Whether it’s a former all-star athlete turned successful businessman (ala Julius Erving), or a rehabbed musician turned stock trader (ala Guns N’ Roses’ bassist Duff McKagan), they almost always provide interesting and important perspectives on how we conduct business, and how we lead and manage others.

One of the biggest problems in business today is that we already have all of the answers and we feel don’t need any new blood changing the way we do things. I’ve always been fascinated by the closed minded who fail to embrace or even believe that someone from the outside – armed with a fresh perspective – can make a positive impact. The fact that so many continue believe this despite the myriad of examples of outsiders who successfully bring change is nothing short of astounding. Dr. Sylvia Lafair is one such example of an outsider successfully delivering change.

Lafair, a former family therapist who now serves as the president of Creative Energy Options, Inc., brought her expertise to the business world and with it a unique point of view about office politics, leadership and workplace roles and relationships. From working with dysfunctional families to years of providing leadership training and insights into workplace behavior and relationships for corporations like Microsoft, Dr. Lafair operated in the greatest leadership laboratory of all time: The real world. In the process, she also penned a great read that captures the very essence of what’s holding so many leaders back: Their reliance on destructive family patterns. Her book, Don’t Bring It to Work, shows us that our behavior cannot exist independently from our interpersonal relationships, despite the facade we think we portray.

Charity Isn’t All That Begins At Home

If you buy in to Lafair’s premise, then virtually everything that’s holding you back at work is closely related to the role(s) you play at home. Whether you are a persecutor or pleaser at work, chances are you play this role in your personal life, as well. In fact, according to Lafair, you are basically compelled to play the same role at work that you do at home – you are simply more comfortable this way – unless you can be made aware of your behavior, understand it and then transform yourself by taking appropriate actions. (By the way, if you don’t buy in to this premise, then you’re likely a rebel at both work and at home; which means, of course, that Lafair is still right.)


Certainly, it’s not that uncomplicated; and bravo to Lafair for not trying to insinuate that we simply live in these roles and those are our only issues. Equally important to the role you play are the roles of those around you. If you are not aware that you are a slave to your personal patterns, then you are likely to have conflict with those who do not fit into your “ideal.” As Dr. Lafair puts it: “When our colleagues and bosses don’t match our expectations, we realize this in a matter of seconds, and just like that, the seeds of conflict are sewn.”

Unlike the typical easy-read coping tomes such as The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Who Moved My Cheese, this book requires real dedication from the reader. In other words, it is not for the casual passerby who just wants to polish this or that about their behavior at the office. Just like real change, this book requires work.

The Recommendation

There is no doubt that I recommend this book, I do. My dilemma is whether it is more leadership, self-help or team dynamics. The truth is that Don’t Bring It to Work can help your personal and professional development much in the same way as Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits does. Just as 7 Habits applies as much to your home life as it does to your work life, so does Don’t Bring It to Work. And, just as Covey’s work is as much about leadership as it is about personal improvement, so is Lafair’s.

The mix of real world examples with a sometimes textbook feel (likely from the massive amount of footnoting early on) is actually very well done. I especially applaud Lafair for her inclusion of a recap called “Takeaways” at the end of each chapter. Because the concepts are sometimes very deep and the material sometimes very new to the reader, having this brief recap at the end of the chapters is very helpful.

While many can benefit from this book, I especially recommend if for two specific people: First, for the young manager who is tiring of seeing his colleagues promoted at greater frequency; and second, for the self-actualized leader who cannot seem to find anything wrong with her style or approach, yet her team is still a mess.

(To order Don’t Bring It to Work, visit Amazon.com.)

How Does a Young Manager from the Outside Convince an Interviewer that He Can Lead?

Posted on by
1

How Do You Convince an Interviewer That You Can Lead?

Recently, a reader posed a question after finding our article explaining how young managers can lead older subordinates. Because his question (posted below) required more than just a passing comment as a response, we decided to dedicate an entire post to properly address it.

Recently I interviewed for a leadership position in a big and reputable organization. The company is considering internal candidates also for the position. This position is likely to lead a huge team which also includes experienced and older team members, many of whom would’ve been interviewed for the same position. The interview panel felt that it would be a humongous challenge for me to lead such a team. Although the panel seemed satisfied with my professional exposure, they considered the people challenges to be the most difficult part of the job. In the subsequent round of interviews, what do you think my approach should be to the people management aspect? – Sourabh De in Mumbai, India

Great question, Sourabh. Our answer is going to assume that you’ve previously led a large team and/or subordinates with more experience. If neither of these is the case, you’ve got a tremendous uphill battle ahead of you. Companies – especially large, reputable ones – are exceedingly unlikely to gamble with important roles like the one you’ve described. If they rolled the dice and hired the untested from outside for key management positions they certainly wouldn’t be large or reputable for very long. While it is perfectly acceptable for these companies to promote an inexperienced top performer from within, it would be institutional suicide if they put unproven outsiders in important leadership roles.

Keep the Focus on the Interviewers, Not the Interviewee

As you are obviously neither untested nor inexperienced, you should still have a shot at the position. To help keep your focus on the task at hand, it’s important to understand there is a reason you are being interviewed in the first place. Certainly, we can assume there are no clear frontrunners currently employed with this company; because great companies don’t waste their people’s time assembling a panel to interview outsiders who have no chance of joining the team. We also have to assume, however, that your skill set is similar to at least a few of their current employees.

How will you stand out and convince them you are capable of leading their team?

The key for anyone attempting to join a new company is to make yourself seem indispensable without having to explain just how much they need you. Telling the interview panel why you’re more qualified than those they already employ makes you seem arrogant and seemingly questions their ability to organically grow talent. The trick is to get them to see you as crucial to their success all on their own.

This is accomplished by keeping the focus on those conducting the interview; and by you keeping quiet when possible. Just as there is a greater likelihood of being successful on a sales call when you let your prospect dominate the conversation, you stand a better chance of landing a job when you allow the interviewer to do most of the talking. People love to hear their own voice, and when you ask their opinions and genuinely listen to their answers with interest, they perceive you as much brighter and more likeable and qualified than if you spoke non-stop during the interview.

In your next interviews, be sure to ask well thought out questions and listen carefully to the responses. This will make you seem mature beyond your years, and may help them see you as the leader of their large team.


What Are Their Goals?

As you prepare your questions for your next round of interviews, it’s important to know as much as you can about the goals of the company and, especially, the individual needs of those on the interview panel. Do you have a “coach” or friend who works for this company? If so, ask them about the hot buttons of each member of the interview panel, and then fashion your questions so that you allow the interviewers to showcase their strengths and fully explain their desires. If you do not have a coach, then you’ll have to use what you already know about the panel to determine their wants.

Obviously, it’s easier if you’re dealing with a single interviewer, but the key to getting people to tell you their goals is to ask them. In cases where you’re dealing with an interviewer one-on-one, you could probe for goals during the interview by asking the right questions and paying attention to the responses. Posing questions such as “assuming you hire me for the position, how will you know if I am successful?” may allow you some insight into whether the interviewer expects only mediocre results from the role or genuinely believes it could chart the future for the company. It also helps the interviewer picture you in the role (this is critical).

Play To Your Strengths

Because we can assume there are no insiders who are truly frontrunners for the position, it’s time to identify your unique strengths and play to them. Without sounding arrogant, you’ll want to align your strengths with the needs of the company and of the interviewers.

More than anything Sourabh, it’s important to present your strengths in a way that ensures those doing the interviewing that you will be an asset because 1) you are an expert at gaining trust and assimilating a new team quickly; 2) you excel at leading large groups; and 3) you are especially adept at leading older subordinates.

The best way I’ve found to give interviewers a sense that you possess these qualities is to identify these as potential pitfalls for whomever they choose. Whether they ask you directly or not, you should find the opportunity to state that the major challenges (as you see them) for the successful candidate are points 1, 2, and 3 above; making certain to provide examples when you 1) quickly gained trust; 2) excelled at leading a large group; and 3) you successfully and joyfully led older subordinates.

Stay Positive

Above all else, stay positive. This company certainly doesn’t want someone in the role who is going to hurt the morale of the team or undermine the authority of their peers. A negative attitude, even if it’s toward a competing candidate, will make you seem disingenuous.

Although you’re certain that you are the best person for the position (or you have no business getting this far in the interview process), you must avoid comparisons that paint the other candidates (either individually or collectively) as unqualified. In their minds, the interview panel has assembled a diverse group of highly talented people; any of whom might be a perfect fit. If you acknowledge this with a positive attitude and highlight where you will be able to overcome the major obstacles, you stand a much better chance of landing the role.

…

Best of luck and please let us know how it turns out.

Leaders Don’t Get Too Caught Up In The Details

Posted on by
2

 

Low Hanging Fruit and the Cost of Perfection

Imagine a small airplane flying low over a crowd at a baseball game. The door of the plane opens and a smiling man appears with a large sack. He turns the sack over just as the plane flies over the bleachers and millions of dollars in various denominations begin to flutter down to the amazed crowd below. The plane makes a dozen more passes, and each time the man empties sacks of bills onto the crowd.

Now imagine you are in this crowd and you see hundreds, fifties, twenties, tens, fives and ones all floating toward your waiting hands. As the bills come within reach, you feel compelled to collect only the fives and ones because you know they’ll be easy to spend and they’ll work in most vending machines. Additionally, you decide to straighten each bill as it reaches your hand and you arrange all bills in sequential order by serial number and denomination as you collect them.

Of course, these decisions hinder your ability to gather the maximum amount of money, but you really want to make sure these dollars are perfectly displayed in your wallet once the money shower subsides.


Crazy? Probably, but managers in businesses of all shapes and sizes make similar decisions every day. While rationale people would grab every bill just as fast as possible, managers locked into some strange quest for flawlessness worry too much about perfection and not enough about the goal – costing their companies millions in actual losses and even more in lost productivity.

 

Leaders Grab the Low Hanging Fruit

 

Often in sales we talk about Low Hanging Fruit (LHF). This overused phrase refers to the sales that are so easy to make you just have to walk up to the great sales tree, reach up and pick the customer of your choice. This phrase is so hackneyed and misunderstood that it nearly cracked the Top Ten in our list of the 25 Most Annoying Business Phrases of All Time.

 

The concept of LHF in sales came about because inexperienced salespeople would often pass up the sure thing only to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to close a sale that would eventually yield them less commission. In leadership, LHF refers to the opportunities that take little effort. These opportunities are often not glamorous, causing unfocused managers to chase shinier objects (leaving the LHF to rot on the vine).

 

Leaders, of course, maintain the goal in the forefront of their minds. This keeps them focused and allows them the wisdom to grab the Low Hanging Fruit; and to avoid the traps of shiny objects and the ill-advised pursuit of perfection. Leaders do what is best for the company and not just what feels best at the time or makes them appear to be in control.

 

Perfection is a Joke, and it Costs Too Much

 

I once worked with someone who was put in charge of overseeing the migration of the company’s website from provider X to provider Z. While X had done a fine job with the site, the company just felt it was time to change. No biggie, this happens. Unfortunately, my colleague got so caught up in how every page of the new website looked (she argued for weeks about shades of blue that were indistinguishable to the naked eye), that the designers at provider Z left out major functionality that would have converted twice as many visitors. Additionally, the new website performed poorly with search engines like Google because my colleague was too busy picking just the right images to notice that the content was incorrect.

 

A leader who was focused on the goal would have known that search visibility and conversion were the primary objectives of the website, and that there were no secondary objectives. This leader would have looked at the opportunity to build the site correctly as Low Hanging Fruit and would never have been caught up in unimportant details like Cornflower blue v. Dodger blue.

 

The Devil is in the Details

 

In today’s business world there is no room for perfection. Those lucky enough to still have a job are likely carrying the weight of several laid-off coworkers. True leaders understand this and do everything they can to maximize the ROI of their activities and decisions. They do not get caught up in colors or sequential bill stacking when the future of the company is at stake. As bad as it may sound to the dilettante managers, leaders understand that good enough is sometimes good enough.

 

Gaming and Cheating in Business – Why Companies Always Lose When They Cut Corners

Posted on by
1

The Short Term or the Long Term

I’m often asked by young managers whether a given decision should be made for the short-term or the long-term well-being of a company; and I always give the same answer: both. No matter what the issue is, the ultimate decision should weigh the pros, cons and consequences over both the long and short terms.

That is not to say that I think that both are equally important – on the contrary – there is no doubt that the long-term health of a company is always more important than the company’s short-term health. Always. Always. Always. And, before you argue that without short-term strength a company will not have a long term; I’ll concede that you are right… and that you just proved my point.

Short-Term Health v. Long-Term Health

While the argument for short-term health versus long-term health may rage in your office, the truth is that no decisions ever really come down to an either/or – it is not a simple dichotomy. Sound company decisions always weigh long-term health against some potential short-term gain or loss. For example: do we take the gain today knowing that we will lose something (but not everything) in the future?

A decision made in favor of a company’s short-term viability so that this same company can be around in the future is indeed a decision made for both the short and long term. I would argue, in fact, that the company’s long-term health was likely the primary deciding factor in choosing the short-term strategy. You simply cannot make short-term decisions that disregard the company’s long-term well-being and expect to be in business in the future.

Short-Term Health v. Short-Term Wealth

Is it short-term health or short-term wealth you seek? Before you tell me that the two are never mutually exclusive, let’s ask the former executives of Lehman Brothers.

Because nearly all of us are paid more on the short-term outcomes we drive for our companies rather than what we provide over the long term, it is easy to see why some companies will game and cheat to maximize short-term revenue at the sake of long-term viability.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”

We’ve previously shared this Upton Sinclair quote and it is as fitting in this context as it was in earlier posts. Why would middle managers even begin to try and understand the importance of a company’s long-term viability when 99% of their compensation is related to the short term? We should not be surprised, then, that many companies – and even whole industries – routinely mortgage their futures for the sake of a few dollars today. (Mortgage indeed.)




Gamers and Cheaters – Hall of Shame

While there are a number of industries that routinely cut corners to drive a few short-term dollars to their bottom lines (the banking and casual dining industries come to mind immediately), we decided to focus the remainder of this article on two specific industries that habitually game and cheat, and still don’t get it.

The first industry is known in the automotive business as “Third Party Lead Aggregators.” Basically, these companies acquire contact information from consumers who are reportedly in the market for a car, then sell these as leads to automotive dealers.

Because the aggregators sell leads at a fixed price to car dealers, though purchase the leads from their affiliates and the open market at variable prices, the push to achieve a suitable margin (in the short term) means that the aggregators must purchase a significant number of lower priced, lower quality leads to mix in with a few higher priced, higher quality leads. While this behavior results in greater short-term profits, it comes with an increase in customer churn and a reduction of long-term loyalty.

Think of it as watering down the lobster bisque. In the short term you make more money, though over the long run people stop coming to your restaurant.

What About Watering Down the Herbicide?

There’s actually an acceptable practice in business for cheating and gaming one’s customers known as the Least Noticeable Difference (LND). This is a product strategy that involves improving gross margin via minute degradations to the size or ingredient quality of a product. The key is to ensure that the quality or size is reduced just enough so that most consumers will never notice.

The other cheating industry we wish to highlight is one that seems to thrive on making LND changes (on a weekly basis). Welcome to the lawn service business. This industry is dominated by national players like TruGreen ChemLawn, Scott’s and ServiceMagic; but also populated by countless local players with such creative and fun names as Grasshopper Lawn Service and Bizzy Bee Lawn Care.

You can’t blame this group for cheating. All of their customers live in nice homes and hire someone else to cut their lawns and kill their weeds – i.e., they’re not really paying attention. Additionally, much of the work in this industry involves spraying a clear liquid on grass; the results of which are not realized for weeks. Who wouldn’t be tempted to cheat and water down the herbicide?

…

Over the last few weeks the crab grass began to spread (again) in our yard. As we seem to have to do every few months, we called our lawn service to complain. What did they do? The same thing they always do: They apologized profusely, blamed it on the “increase in rain” and promised to come out “tomorrow and treat the lawn again, for free.”

“Not good enough,” I replied. “You’re fired.”

While most of their customers are probably fooled by their reactionary customer service and gladly allow them to continue, we simply could not reward this gaming and cheating behavior any longer. The truth is they simply don’t use enough herbicide during their weekly treatments to be effective, and they know it. They’ve watered it down to maximize their margins and they’re crossing their fingers that you’ll never notice. If you do, they simply apologize and “give” you an immediate treatment for “free.” What they’re actually giving you in this one-time treatment is something they should have been giving you all along: Quality.

LNDs: No One Can Eat Just One

Used once, an LND strategy can be an effective way to make a nice short term improvement to profits. Unfortunately we generally assume (incorrectly) that we will make these changes only when most customers will likely never notice. Like crack cocaine or Lay’s Potato Chips, we sometimes become so addicted to making these LNDs that we can’t stop until it’s too late. Our customers have left us and they’re not coming back.

…

Make no mistake, we’re not naïve. We understand that there are plenty of business gamers and cheaters who are successfully pulling the wool over the eyes of their gullible customers every day – and have done so for years. Whether it’s from collusion or a lack of competition in their industry, these businesses have (so far) been able to operate in a vacuum; living high on the hog via a long series of short-term decisions.

Odds are that this cannot last; that the customers will revolt or a new competitor will enter the fray offering real value. Whatever happens, rest assured that it will indeed happen, and that by the time the gamers and cheaters realize it, it will likely be too late. (At least that’s what we hope.)

Why We Don’t Have Leaders in the Public Sector

Posted on by
Reply

Leadership Lessons from the Public Sector

There are reasons some people are lifelong public servants and others work in the real world. Whether it’s the military, public education, a state legislature or a municipal government: a job void of profit responsibility is generally void of any true accountability. Without accountability, leadership can become unnecessary and the skill set (if it ever existed) will atrophy.

As we wrote in a recent post about school administrators, the people in these roles “are generally not great leaders… They’ve never had to live by a P&L or make real personnel decisions. They spend our tax dollars like Monopoly money, and they do all of this with no real accountability.”

Examples of this abound and we never have to look very far to reinforce this belief. Occasionally, some move by one of these leadership amateurs so shocks our conscience that we feel compelled to comment… much like a recent decision by management at an Atlanta-area county office that actually made us cringe.

Layoffs Happen

Last Friday in DeKalb County (GA), workers in the planning and development office were told there were significant layoffs coming and that they would have to wait until Monday to learn their fate.




Nothing strange here, right? Layoffs are happening all over America in the private sector, so it seems natural that these would eventually reach those working in a cash-strapped county office. The differences, however, between this layoff and those that are occurring in the real world are the communication skills and compassion shown by DeKalb County’s managers.

The 100+ employees in this office were told to return any county equipment and pack up their belongings and leave… without being notified if they were included in the layoff or not. You see, their managers wanted everyone out first, and then they would tell the lucky few (19 to be exact) to return with their things and resume their duties.

WTF?

(Excuse the texting in the middle of a post, but WTF? does not mean Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; and its use is appropriate in this case.)

While leaders in the private sector are often (rightfully) accused of being less compassionate than their public sector counterparts, employee relations as practiced by DeKalb County went the way of the three-martini lunch in the real world. Thankfully, the fear of lawsuits or bad public relations helps to keep this behavior out of the for-profit companies. When it happens in the public sector, we have little recourse but to strongly denounce it.

Okay, We Denounced It

We didn’t raise this example to simply call attention to the lousy leadership provided by government entities in the Atlanta area. Rather, we believed this instance was simply another glaring illustration of how the lack of a profit motive coupled with a promotional system based on tenure (instead of ability or merit) leads to poor leadership, morale and employee effectiveness. (If you’ve ever had to get your driver license renewed, you know exactly what we mean.)

Leaders need accountability, goals and responsibilities – complete with consequences – in order to grow and deliver value to their organizations. Where we fail to provide these to our middle managers, you can argue we end up operating like a government agency.

What About the 100 People Carrying Boxes Filled with Desk Chachki?

DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis stepped in and said he was dissatisfied with how the process was being managed and ordered a delay of the layoffs. (We’re not sure why a county needs a CEO, but we’re glad someone with authority in the county has a little common sense.) The delay, however, will be a short one. Plans are in the works to save more jobs, but DeKalb’s planning and development office will deservedly lose more than half its current workforce… they’ll just do it with a little more dignity.

The Effect of Ego on Leadership

Posted on by
1

The Effect of Ego on Leadership

At AskTheManager.com we’ve always held to the belief that you can learn more from bad leadership examples than you can from the good ones. It’s not really cynical to think this way; in fact, we believe it’s quite healthy. It’s like seeking out the silver lining. We’ve learned so much from the poor, ineffective and insincere leaders in our lives, we feel we should thank them. And, when we closely examine the failed leadership examples of our collective past, we are faced with an overwhelming preponderance of overactive egos at work.

Of course, there are a few in the leadership development community who believe that leaders must possess the largest ego in the room to be truly effective. We disagree. Enlightened leaders – by their very nature – are as egoless as enlightened clergy. They serve, and as servants they deliver incredible results through the efforts of their entire team.

Even if you balk at the suggestion that effective leaders keep their egos in check, you cannot debate the negative impact of ego on team dynamics. Unhealthy ego is the single greatest barrier to teams working together effectively. Ego wears away the effectiveness of teams, and creates an agenda-driven environment where those with the uncontrollable egos put their needs ahead of the goals (and their teammates).

Ergo Ego

It’s not much of a stretch to understand that if the human ego can damage the dynamics of a team, and if teams are most effective when they have effective leadership, then leaders with too much ego can be damaging to their organizations.

Businesses need people to work as teams to meet their goals. Teams need effective leadership in order to function properly. When the leader makes it all about themselves, the team (and the organization) suffers.

Think about every bad business situation you’ve ever witnessed: What effect, if any, did ego play? Chances are that for most of the negative business situations in your memory bank, you can pinpoint the cause as ego-driven.


What’s a Bad Leader to Do?

If you’re an ineffective leader who recognizes they bring too much ego to the table, congratulations. Admitting you have a problem is always the first step. The next steps are a little harder.

In order to become an enlightened, effective leader (yes, this is a little redundant) you first have to realize that you don’t have all the answers. Even if you’re the owner of your company, you must understand very early on two important facts about industrial knowledge:

  • Those closest to the customers have the answers; and
  • Two heads are better than one.

As a leader, you are generally not the closest person to your customers (and you only come equipped with on head). Assuming you know it all is asinine and can be destructive to any organization. Seeking advice and answers from others not only makes you appear more genuine, it also means you’ll make better decisions.

Your next step toward shedding that melon-sized ego is to instill some humility in your routine. Humility, for those egomaniacal loons reading this, simply means that you’re humble; that you lack the pride and arrogance that makes you believe that everything is all about you. It also means that you see your major contribution as building and maintaining a motivating work environment that engages your team. (Leaders without humility believe their major contribution to the effort is the greatness that is “me.”)

Once you understand that you don’t know it all and that it’s not all about you, you can begin learning. Enlightened leaders have a voracious appetite for learning. They learn from books, from seminars and they especially learn from others. Truly enlightened leaders believe that everyone, even the receptionist and the janitor, has something to teach them. And they understand that the best way to learn is to listen.

A Spade is a Spade

Without some outside help, of course, it will be nearly impossible for the ego-driven leader to change his ways. We recommend assigning a peer or even a subordinate to call you to the carpet when you fail to provide humble, servant leadership.

Ask someone you can trust (and won’t resent) to call you an egomaniac when you step out of line. Encourage them to stand on your desk and shout at you whenever you fail to remain humble. You have to be willing to permit these constant course corrections or you have no chance to recognize and repair the destructive effects of ego on your leadership style.

The bottom line is that can’t let your ego get in the way of the goal. Your ability to overcome self-serving tendencies will determine your team’s effectiveness and anything you can do to give up your desire to be the center of attention can only help.