On Leading Change

I recently finished reading Leading Change – Overcoming the Ideology of Comfort and the Tyranny of Custom by James O”Toole.

The aim of this book, as summarized best by the author, is to address three related questions: “1) What are the causes of resistance to change? 2) How can leaders effectively and morally overcome that resistance? 3) Why is the dominant philosophy of leadership, based on contingency theory neither an effective nor a moral guide for people who wish to lead change?”. The book addresses these questions through two parts. The first one focuses on the leaders, particularly on values-based leadership (so-called Rushmorean leadership). The second, on the followers with a focus on why people tend to resist change, and strategies to overcome that resistance.

What I particularly enjoyed about this book are the numerous reviews of other classics within these subject areas, which helps the reader further anchor the thoughts being introduced and how they are supported and/or are different from those introduced by the author. A recommended read in the areas of leadership and change!

Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “In complex, democratic settings, effective leadership will entail the factors and dimensions of vision, trust, listening, authenticity, integrity, hope, and, especially, addressing the true needs of followers.”

2- “As Nelson Mandela understood, people will follow only leaders who take them where they want to go. Leaders thus beget followers, and they do so by allowing the followers to take the leader’s dream as their own. This can occur only when leaders acknowledge the legitimacy of followers’ competing beliefs and diverse values. Hence the overall conclusion from our inquiry: for leadership to be effective, it must be moral, and the sine qua non of morality is respect for people. (This is the concept of leadership we are calling Rushmorean).”

3- “In sum, Rushmorean leadership is not about voting; it is about the democratic value of inclusion. There is nothing oxymoronic, chaotic, or ineffective about leadership based on that moral principle.”

4- “What we will find is that people in organizations resist change advocated by their leaders for exactly the same reasons that the leaders of organizations resist change advocated by outsiders.”

5- “In general, the successful processes of change initiated…had the following things in common: 1) Change had top-management support. 2) Change built on the unique strengths and values of the corporation. 3) The specifics of change were not imposed from the top. 4) Change was holistic. 5) Change was planned. 6) Changes were made in the guts of the organization. 7) Change was approached from a stakeholder viewpoint. 8) Change became ongoing.”

6- “Here’s a sample of some of the most popular hypotheses: 1) Homeostasis, 2) Stare decisis. 3) Inertia. 4) Satisfaction. 5) Lack of ripeness. 6) Fear. 7) Self-interest. 8) Lack of self-confidence. 9) Future shock. 10) Futility. 11) Lack of knowledge. 12) Human nature. 13) Cynicism. 14) Perversity. 15) Individual genius versus group mediocrity. 16) Ego. 17) Short-term thinking. 18) Myopia. 19) Sleepwalking. 20) Snow blindness. 21) Collective fantasy. 22) Chauvnistic conditioning. 23) Fallacy of exception. 24) Ideology. 25) Institutionalism. 26) Natura non facit saltum. 27) The rectitude of the powerful. 28) “Change has no constituency.”. 29) Determinism. 30) Scientism. 31) Habit. 32) The despotism of custom. 33) Human mindlessness.”

7- “…The possession of the skill of overcoming resistance to change is what separates the mass of individuals with good ideas from the few leaders who are able to implement them.”

8- “Thus even though progressives may argue that change will not affect the power, prestige, and positions of the haves, the haves understand intuitively that in fact change must undermine their ideology, upset their belief system, and discomfit them greatly.”

9- “The current focus of leadership studies in business has a misplaced emphasis on helping haves (corporate leaders) overcome resistance among the have-lesses and have-nots in their organizations. As we see from the foregoing analysis…the far greater problem in overcoming resistance among the haves. In fact, it is progressives inside and outside corporations who face resistance from the people who have the most power to resist: the established leaders.”

10- “Conflict, tension, and turmoil are the order of the day – today and tomorrow. Thus, great leaders recognize that there is a never-ending struggle to balance the constant and never-abating demands of those with different objectives…Because it is not possible to ignore, nor to completely satisfy, the conflicting demands of all constituencies, leaders live in a state of perpetual tension. Poor leaders cannot tolerate this discomfiting posture, and they attempt to resolve the tension by either giving in to the demands of those who are most powerful, or by issuing a command that represents their own will. There is another way: the values-based leadership described in this book. At its core, the process of values-based leadership is the creation of moral symmetry among those competing values…Hence, the task is to lead through the process of design, composition, tension, balance, and harmony.”

11- “If one wishes to learn this particular art, the first piece that must be put into place is personal acknowledgment that no other form of leadership can be both moral and effective. Once a leader makes that difficult commitment, all the other pieces will eventually fall into place, bit by bit.”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

On Leading Change

On The Human Side of Enterprise

I recently finished reading the classic The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor. Below are selected excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “It seems clear to me that the making of managers, in so far as they are made, is only to a rather small degree the result of management’s formal efforts in management development. It is to a much greater degree the result of management’s conception of the nature of its task and of all the policies and practices which are constructed to implement this conception. The way a business is managed determines to a very large extent what people are perceived to have “potential” and how they develop. We go off on the wrong track when we seek to study management development in terms of the formal machinery of programs carrying this label.”

2- “All managerial decisions and actions rest on assumptions about behavior…We can improve our ability to control only if we recognize that control consists in selective adaptation to human nature rather than in attempting to make human nature conform to our wishes.”

3- “The desirable end of the growth process is an ability to strike a balance – to tolerate certain forms of dependence without being unduly frustrated, and at the same time to stand alone in some respects without undue anxiety.”

4- “The power to influence others is not a function of the amount of authority one can exert. It is, rather, a function of the appropriate selection of the means of influence which the particular circumstances require. Conventional organization theory teaches us that power and authority are coextensive. Consequently, relinquishing authority is seen as losing the power to control. This is a completely misleading conception.”

5- “The central principle of organization which derives from Theory X is that of direction and control through the exercise of authority – what has been called “the scalar principle.” The central principle which derives from Theory Y is that of integration: the creation of conditions such that the members of the organization can achieve their own goals best by directing their efforts toward the success of the enterprise.”

6- “Confidence thus rests heavily on the subordinate’s belied in the integrity of the superior, When one is dependent, any suspicion that the superior cannot be fully trusted arouses anxiety.”

7- “To be sure, some people are dishonest. The question, however, is whether it is cheaper to setup procedures for dealing with the bulk to honest people or to build procedure for dealing with the dishonest few. In this field (retailing) at least, the data are clear: the former strategy is economically superior.”

8- “There are at least four major variables now known to be involved in leadership: (1) the characteristics of the leader; (2) the attitudes, needs, and other personal characteristics of the followers; (3) characteristics of the organization, such as its purpose, its structure, the nature of the tasks to be performed; and (4) the social, economic, and political milieu…This is an important research finding. It means that leadership is not a property of the individual, but a complex relationship among these variables.”

9- “Let us consider some of the important environmental conditions which affect the growth of managers…(1) economic and technological characteristics of the industry and the firm, (2) policies and practices of the company, and (3) the behavior of the immediate superior.”

10- “If a climate and soil conditions conducive to growth are created by the way management manages, the cream will rise to the top, in the sense that individual managers throughout the whole organization will be involved in a process of self-development leading to the realization of their full potentialities.”

11- “In view of the complexities and difficulties involved in improving managerial competence through classroom learning, our expectation should be modest. This is not to undervalue the contributions of classroom education, but to suggest that managers sometimes expect formal education to relieve them of responsibility for the growth on the job of their subordinates.”

12- “What distinguishes such groups (really good top management team or series of staff meetings or committee)? … (1) The atmosphere…tends to be informal, comfortable, relaxed…(2) There is a lot of discussion in which everyone participates…(3) The task or the objective of the group is well understood and accepted by the members…(4) The members listen to each other!…(5) There is disagreement…(6) Mist decisions are reached by a kind of consensus in which it is clear that everybody is in general agreement.”

13- “Management is severely hampered today in its attempts to innovate with respect to the human side of enterprise by the inadequacy of conventional organization theory…It is not important that management accept the assumptions of Theory Y. These are one man’s interpretations of current social science knowledge, and they will be modified…It is important that management abandon limiting assumptions like those of Theory X, so that future interventions with respect to the human side of enterprise will be more than minor changes in already obsolescent conceptions of organized human effort.”

14- “The purpose of this volume is not to entice management to choose sides over Theory X and Theory Y. It is rather, to encourage the realization that theory is important, to urge management to examine its assumptions and make them explicit. In doing so, it will open a door to the future.”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

The Human Side of Enterprise

On Contrarian Leadership

I recently finished reading The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample.

As the author best states: ”The purpose of the this book is to get you to think about leaders and leadership from a fresh and original point of view – from what I call a contrarian perspective…The Key is to break free, if only fleeting, from the bonds of conventional thinking so as to bring your natural creativity and intellectual independence to the fore.” He further argues that: ”One of the important and contrarian point we can make about leadership is that it is highly situational and contingent; the leader who succeeds in one context at one point in time won’t necessarily succeed in a different context at the same time, or in the same context at a different time.”

The principles of such leadership are then discussed over ten (10) chapters as follows: 1) Thinking Gray, and Free 2) Artful Listening 3) Experts: Saviors and Charlatans 4) You Are What You Read 5) Decisions, Decisions 6) Give the Devil His Due 7) Know Which Hill You’re Willing to Die On 8) Work for Those Who Work for You 9) Follow the Leader 10) Being President Versus Doing President. The author then concludes the book with an illustrative example through his experience at the University of Southern California.

A great recommended read that brings fresh perspective on servant leadership!

Below are key excerpts from the book, that I found particularly insightful:

3- “The essence of thinking gray is this: don’t form an opinion about an important matter until you’ve heard all the relevant facts and arguments, or until circumstances force you to form an opinion without recourse to all the facts.”

4- “…clients who benefited most from my services were leaders who never became too dependent on me, who always maintained their intellectual independence, and who never kidded themselves that expertise could be a substitute for leadership.”

5- “The key contribution of the supertexts is not a set of timeless truths about leadership, but rather some timeless truths about human nature. One of the great fallacies of our age (and perhaps any age) is the belief that we are fundamentally different from our ancient forebears, that we have somehow outgrown the barbaric and benighted practices of centuries and millennia past…we are every bit as human, and no more human, that the characters in the Old Testament or the people of sixteenth-century Florence.”

6- “All leaders, whether contrarian or otherwise, are heavily influenced bu what they read. Indeed, in many cases leaders are directed and inspired as much by their readings as they are by their closest advisers…In reading as in so many other areas, maintaining one’s intellectual independence is an essential prerequisite for effective leadership.”

7- “The contrarian leader’s approach to decision making can be summarized in two general rule: 1) Never make a decision yourself that can reasonably be delegated to a lieutenant. 2) Never make a decision today that can reasonably be pt off to tomorrow.”

8- “The challenge for the leader isn’t to delude himself into thinking that people are intrinsically better or worse than they really are; rather, it is to find ways to bring out the best in his followers (and in himself) while minimizing the worst.”

9- “An outstanding candidate (for an open position) must be at least two notices above the leading insider in order to be a good risk.”

10- “In the long run the most difficult part of building a diverse team of lieutenants is to integrate people whose intellectual and moral perspectives cover a wide spectrum and are not simply isomorphic with those of the leader.”

11- “It has been my experience that money is often as essential element in attracting and retaining outstanding people…however I don’t believe money is a very effective tool for inspiring people to reach for and achieve extraordinary goals; rather, the actual motivation in such instances seems to be pride or the desire to beat out the competition.”

12- “The challenge is for the person at the top to be such an excellent supervisor – fair, supportive, demanding, a good listener, motivating, and inspiring – that these values will be internalized and replicated via people chains at every level in the organization.”

13- “The contrarian leader knows that he himself must answer the question of what’s right both a worldly and a moral perspective. This at times will make his experience more exhilarating than that of other leaders, and at times more excruciating. But it will always be his experience – one for which he willingly takes responsibility  And what could be a greater or more meaningful adventure in leadership than that?”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

The Contrarian’s Guide To Leadership

On Authentic Leadership

I recently finished reading Authentic Leadership – Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value – by Bill George. I selected this book based on its appearance on Martha Heller’s blog posting entitled Leadership Books Recommended by CIOs and Technology Executives: http://blog.hellersearch.com/Blog/bid/124393/Leadership-Books-Recommended-by-CIOs-and-Technology-Executives . Authentic Leadership was recommended by both Paul Hanson and Dan Wakeman.

As best summarized by Bill: ”Its (the book) message is simple to state but challenging to realize: we need authentic leaders to run our organizations, leaders committed to stewardship of their assets and to making a difference in the lives of the people they serve.” The book is structured as follows:  ”First, I will describe authentic leaders and how they develop. Next, I will look at how authentic leaders build authentic companies, because that is the crux of leading. Third, I will show how authentic companies compete more effectively in the market, and, finally, how authentic leaders look beyond the bottom line.”

What sets this book apart is its call for authenticity in leadership (“discover and cultivate that authentic self”) – as opposed to being prescriptive, as is the case with most books in its category. Bill brings corporate America back to its root – authentic, genuine, worthy of trust, reliance, and belief. A highly recommended read that stresses the need for new leadership – authentic leadership!

Below are excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “We need authentic leaders, people of the highest integrity, committed to building enduring organizations. We need leaders who have a deep sense of purpose and are true to their companies to meet the needs of all their stakeholders, and who recognize the importance of their service to society.”

2- “I believe that leadership begins and ends with authenticity. It’s being yourself; being the person you were created to be. This is not what most of the literature on leadership says, nor is it what the experts in corporate America teach…They describe the styles of leaders and suggest that you adopt them. This is the opposite of authenticity. It is about developing the image or persona of a leader.”

3- “There is no doubt that  CEOs have tremendous influence on the results of corporations. However, if we examine more closely the great success stories of the past twenty-five years…we see that each was built by a team at the top, not by a single person.”

4- “The key is having people around you who complement your weaknesses and make up for your lack of experience.”

5- “To become authentic, each of us has to develop our own leadership style, consistent with our personality and character. Unfortunately the pressures of an organization push us to adhere to its normative style. But if you conform to a style that is not consistent with who we are, we will never become authentic leaders.”

6- “Dimensions of Authentic Leaders: 1) Understanding their purpose 2) Practicing solid values 3) Leading with heart 4) Establishing connected relationship 5) Demonstrating self-discipline”

7- “The medium for developing into an authentic leader is not the destination but the journey itself – a journey to find your true self and the purpose of your life’s work.”

8- “…For each of the dimensions, a developmental quality is required for leaders to be effective: 1) Purpose: Passion 2) Values: Behavior 3) Heart: Compassion 4) Relationships: Connectedness 5) Self-Discipline: Consistency”

9- “Balanced leaders develop healthier organizations. By appropriately delegating their work, balanced leaders are able to make more thoughtful decisions and lead more effectively. Their employees make higher levels of commitment to the organization. In the end they achieve better results on the bottom line.”

10- “These five characteristics of the authentic company parallel closely the five dimensions of the authentic leader: 1) Purpose: Mission and vision 2) Values: Company values 3) Heart: Empowering employees to serve customers 4) Relationships: Enduring and committed organization 5) Self-Discipline: Results for all stakeholders”

11- “Articulating an organization’s value is straightforward, but gaining alignment of all employees throughout the company is much more difficult…Inculcating values throughout an organization starts with the leader, who sets the standard of behavior for everyone in the organization. The leader has to work hard every day to gain alignment with the company’s values, reinforcing positive actions and swiftly taking action with employees who do not emulate these values.”

12- “Companies that devote themselves to maximizing shareholder value will ultimately fail to do so. It is true that a sharp eye to cutting costs can result in significant improvements in a company’s short-term position, but unless the cost cuts are followed by  much larger long-term investments, the company is bound to lose its way. Shareholder value will stagnate and eventually decline.”

13- “Some executives mistakenly believe serving all stakeholders results in trade-offs and compromises shareholder value…In serving all the company’s stakeholders, the company’s sustained success makes shareholders the ultimate beneficiaries.”

14- “Pitfalls to Sustainable Growth: 1) Working without a clear mission 2) Underestimating the core business 3) Depending on a single product line 4) Failing to spot technology and market changes 5) Changing strategy without changing culture 6) Going outside core competencies 7) Counting on acquisitions for growth”

15- “(On Acquisitions)…The key is the integration process. Acquired companies can bring great creative and technical capabilities with them and challenge the existing organization to sharpen its innovative skills. They can also strengthen the management team with new talent and new approaches to serving customers. As the result of an effective process of integrating acquired companies, companies develop more enduring organizations.”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

Authentic Leadership

On The Age Of Unreason

I recently finished reading The Age of Unreason by Charles Handy.

As best described by the author: ”The purpose of this book is to promote a better understanding of the changes which are already about us, in order that we may, as individuals or as a society, suffer less and profit more.Changes, after all, is only another word for growth, another synonym for learning. We can all do it, and enjoy it, if we want to. The story or argument of this book rests on three assumptions:

1) That the changes are different this time: they are discontinuous and not part of a pattern; such discontinuity happens from time to time in history, although it is confusing and disturbing, particularly to those in power.

2) that is is the little changes which can in fact make the biggest differences to our lives, even if these go unnoticed at the time, and that is is the changes in the way our work is organized which will make the biggest differences to the way we all will live; and

3) that discontinuous change requires discontinuous upside-down thinking to deal with it, even if both thinkers and thoughts appear absurd at first sight.”

The book covers the various aspects that these changes affect including professional (organizations where we work), personal, and government. The author’s main objective is: ”If people start to think unreasonably  and try to shape their world the way they think it ought to be, then I shall be content.”

A very deep and insightful analysis of the world we are living in, and the necessary shift in the way we think and act within it. The breadth of areas covered in this book and its completeness are to be commended.

Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “It is best, I realized, to think of learning as a wheel divided into four parts: questions, theories, testing, and reflections. I describe it as a wheel to emphasize that it is meant to go round and round. One set of questions, duly answered and tested and reflected upon, leads on to another.”

2- “Learning is not just knowing the answers…It does not help you to change, or to grow, it does not move the wheel…Learning is not the same as study, nor the same as training…It is a cast of mind, a habit of life, a way of thinking about things, a way of growing…Learning is not automatic, it requires energy, thought, courage and support…Learning is not for the intellectuals, who often shine at the theorizing stage, but are incurious and unadventurous and therefore add little to their experience as they go through life. Learning is not finding out what other people already know, but is solving our own problems for our own purposes, by questioning, thinking and testing until the solution is part of our lives.”

3- “I am suggesting, on the basis of good evidence, that those who learn best and most, and change most comfortably, are those who a) take responsibility for themselves and for their future; b) have a clear view of what they want that future to be; c) want to make sure they get it; and d) believe they can.”

4- “…the organization of today is made up of three very different expectations, managed differently, paid differently, organized differently…The first leaf of the shamrock represents the core workers…these are the people who are essential to the organization. These are the people who are essential to the organization. Between them they own the organizational knowledge which distinguishes that organization from its counterparts…If the core is smaller, who then does the work? Increasingly, it is contracted out to organizations I call the second leaf of the shamrock…The third leaf of the shamrock is the flexible labor force, all those part-time workers and temporary workers who are the fastest growing part of the employment scene.”

5- “Alongside the emerging shamrock organization we can discern the gradual development of the federal organization…Federalism seeks to make it big by keeping it small, or at least independent, combining autonomy with cooperation. It is the method which businesses are slowly, and painfully, evolving for getting the best of both worlds – the size which gives them clout in the marketplace and in the financial centers, as well as some economies of scale, and the small unti size which gives them the flexibility which they need, as well as the sense of community for which individuals increasingly hanker.”

6- “The Japanese have a nice way of developing their high-potential young people. They actually have a fast-track route for them, but instead of it being a vertical fast-track up though the organization, it is a horizontal fast-track, a succession of different jobs, real jobs with tough standards to be met, but all at the same level. The advantages are that not only does the yound person get a wider view of the organization, he or she gets a chance to test our their talents and skills in a wide variety of roles.”

7- “The new formula for success, and for effectiveness is I3=AV, where I stands for Intelligence, Information, and Ideas, and AV means added value in cash or in kind.”

8- “The research made it clear that there is no optimal pattern for a marriage. All patterns are possible. It seems essential to have a joint understanding of what the pattern is, how and when it might change, what the consequences are for living in a certain patterns and what are the costs and benefits. People clearly can change their pattern and what are the costs and benefits. People  clearly can change their pattern if both parties want to. Separation and divorce often seem to occur because one partner wants to change the pattern and the other does not.”

9- “The upside-down school would make study more like work, based on real problems to be solved or real tasks to be done, in groups of mixed ages and different types of ability, all of them useful.”

10- “Inevitably, now, government will have increasingly to deal direct with individuals rather than with organizations, will have to rethink the categories it puts people into, and find some new ways to organize the collection and distribution of wealth if the organization cannot do it for them.”

11- “The Age of Unreason is inevitably going to be something of an exploration, but exploring is at the heart of learning, and of changing and of growing. This is what I believe, and this is what gives me hope.”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

The Age of Unreason

The Leadership Moment

I recently finished reading The Leadership Moment – Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All – by Michael Useem.

As the author best captures it in the introduction, the book’s premise is as follows: “We all need to be ready for those moments when our leadership is on the line and the fate or fortune of others depends on what we do…It is my view that one of the most effective ways of preparing for such challenges is by looking at what others have done when their own leadership was on the line. By examining their experience and asking what they did and what they could have done, and by wondering what you would have done yourself, you can better anticipate what you should do when faced with your own leadership challenges. This book presents accounts of nine such experiences. “

The experiences are diverse, and so are the perspectives and wisdom that are shared. The reader will naturally find herself reliving them and reflecting on what she would have in these situations. Am action gripping and learning filled read on leadership!

Below are excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:

1- “Collectively, these stories and the principles drawn from them offer a threefold prescription: prepare yourself, prepare your colleagues, prepare your organization.”

2- “1) Powers of the office: power to reward, power to punish, power of budget. 2) Organizational Leadership: empowerment, reorganization. 3) Personal Leadership: expertise, character.”

3- “The single most important lesson from these moments is the overwhelming significance of vision and action. Without a clear sense of destination, we are apt to flounder about, and without knowing how to get to that destination, we will never reach it even when we see it.”

4- “Nine Leadership Moments, Nine Leadership Principles – Know yourself, Explain yourself, Expect much, Gain commitment, Build now, Prepare yourself, Move fast, Find yourself, Remain steadfast.”

5- “It is not just how many followers one has; it is also how many leaders one has created among them. The more leadership in the ranks, the more effective is one’s own.”

6- “Achieving an organization’s imperative is a leader’s calling, but sometimes we confront moments when we must do otherwise. Such moments must be relatively unique, otherwise inconsistency in our organizational leadership will be evident for all to see; but if they are unthinkingly  bypassed, our value as a leader may be doubted by everyone, including ourselves.”

7- “If you expect those who work for you to exercise their own judgement, provide them with the decision-making experience now.”

8- “If you have difficult decisions ot make and insufficient time to explain them, a key to implementation may be loyal allies who are sure to execute them through thick or thin.”

9- “A clear sense of common purpose and a well-formed camaraderie are essential ingredients to ensure that your team, your organization, or your company will perform to its utmost when it is most needed.”

10- “Expecting high performance is prerequisite to its achievement among those who would with you. Your high standards and optimistic anticipations will not guarantee a favorable outcome, but their absence will assuredly create the opposite.”

11- “Recognizing people’s diverse motives for participating is an essential first step in mobilizing their contributions. Creating an opportunity for all to succeed – whatever their motives – is an essential second step in harnessing their contributions even when the room at the top is not big enough for all.”

12- “Some of today’s small actions in mobilizing others may prove of little value, but others may have great results. Since you often cannot know which will later become critical, you cannot afford to avoid or ignore any now.”

13- “Buy-in by all those affected by an organization’s change hastens its achievement. Consultation with them, engagement of them, and appeals to them are the critical steps for building acceptance of the change.”

14- “Inaction can be as damaging to leadership as inept action.”

15- “Realizing your leadership potential depends on making a match between your vision and an organization. The challenge is to find the right opportunity, pick the right moment, and make the right move.”

16- “Consistent, unrelenting efforts to hear and reconcile diverse positions, even when rooted in deeply entrenched and immensely powerful interests, are prerequisite to overcoming any conflict and mobilizing the resources that the contending parties are withholding.”

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

The Leadership Moment

On Becoming a Leader

I just finished reading the book On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis. As the tile indicates, this is a book on leadership development – “the hows: how people become leaders, how they lead, and how organizations encourage or stifle potential leaders.” The premise upon which this book is based is best put by Warren himself – “…leaders are people who are able to express themselves fully. By this I mean that they know who they are, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to fully deploy their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. They also know what they want, why they want it, and how to communicate what they want to others, in order to gain their cooperation and support.  Finally, they know how to achieve their goals. The key to full self-expression is understanding one’s self and the world, and the key to understanding is learning – from one’s own life and experience.”

The book then goes on to further elaborate on each of the areas highlighted above. The key differentiator between this and other leadership books is that this one promotes unleashing leadership from within, rather than describe what a person should strive to be. To me, this is the only way to develop sustainable authentic leaders. Another area of focus is that of experience. Warren stresses the importance of experience as the primary and ultimate development vehicle for leaders. Education is all its forms is important – but does not substitute the need for experience whether successes or failures. The book brings to life all of the aspects discussed through the stories of many successful leaders from a variety of sectors.

A must read in the area of leadership and personal development!

Below are some excerpts I found particularly insightful:

1- “Becoming a leader isn’t easy, just as becoming a doctor or a poet isn’t easy, and anyone who claims otherwise is fooling himself. But learning to lead is a lot easier than most of us think it is, because each of us contains the capacity for leadership. In fact, almost every one of us can point to some leadership experience.”

2- “There are three basic reasons why leaders are important. First, they are responsible for the effectiveness of organizations…Second, the change and upheaval of the past years has left us with no place to hide…Third, there is a pervasive, national concern about the integrity of our institutions.”

3- “There are four steps in the process behind Norman Lear’s success in mastering the context: (1) becoming self-expressive; (2) listening to the inner voice; (3) learning from the right mentors; and (4) giving oneself over to a guiding vision.”

4- “If most of us like Ed, are creatures of our context, prisoners of the habits, practices, and rules that make us ineffectual, it is from the Norman Lears, the people who not only challenge and conquer the context but who change it in fundamental ways, that we must learn. The first step toward change is to refuse to be deployed by others and to choose to deploy yourself. Thus the process begins.”

5- “Leaders come in every size, shape, and disposition…Nevertheless, they all seem to share some, if not all, of the following ingredients: The first basic ingredient of leadership is a guiding vision…the second basic ingredient of leadership is passion…The next basic ingredient of leadership is integrity…Two more basic ingredients of leadership are curiosity and daring.”

6- “All the leaders I talked with agreed that no one can teach you how to become yourself, to take charge, to express yourself, except you. But there are some things that others have done that are useful to think about in the process. I’ve organized them as the four lessons of self-knowledge. They are -One: You are your own best teacher. – Two: Accept responsibility. Blame no one.  - Three: You can learn anything you want to learn. – Four: True understanding comes from reflecting on your experience.”

7- “Self-awareness= self-knowledge = self-possession = self-control = self-expression. You make your life your own by understanding it.”

8- “So innovative learning must replace maintenance/shock learning. The principle components of innovative learning are: -Anticipation: being active and imaginative rather than passive and habitual – Learning by listening to others – Participation: shaping events, rather than being shaped by them”

9- “Leaders, then, learn from their experiences. Learning from experience means – looking back at your childhood and adolescence and using what happened to you then to enable you to make things happen now, so that you become the master of your own life rather than its servant. – consciously seeking the kings of experiences in the present that will improve and enlarge you. – taking risks as a matter of course, with the knowledge that failure is as vital as it is inevitable. – Seeing the future – yours and the world’s – as an opportunity to do al those things you have not done and those things that need to be done, rather than as a trial or a test.”

10- “No leader sets out to be a leader. People set out to live their lives, expressing themselves fully. When that expression is of value, they become leaders.”

11- “…Having measured the differences between what you want and what you’re able to do, and between what drives you and what satisfies you, and between what your values are and what the organization’s values are – are you able and willing to overcome those differences?”

12- “Entrepreneur Larry Wilson defined the difference between desire and drive as the difference between expressing yourself and providing yourself.”

13- “The means of expression are the steps to the leadership: 1- Reflection leading to resolution 2- Resolution leading to perspective 3- Perspective leading to point of view 4- Point of view leading to test and measures 5- Tests and measures leading to desire 6- Desire lending to mastery 7- Mastery leading to strategic thinking 8- Strategic thinking leading to full self-expression 9- The synthesis of full self-expression = leadership”

14- “There is magic in experience, as well as wisdom. And more magic in stress, challenge, and adversity, and more wisdom. And the letters JOB after one’s name mean infinitely more to the wise than all rhe BAS, MBAS, and PHDS.”

15- “There are four ingredients leaders have to generate and sustain trust: 1- Constancy. 2- Congruity. 3- Reliability. 4- Integrity.”

16- “…When they asked top executives what advice they would give to younger executives, there were three basic themes: 1- Take advantage of every opportunity. 2- Aggressively search for meaning. 3- Know yourself.”

17- “There are ten factors, ten personal and organizational characteristics for coping with change, forging a new future, and creating learning organizations. 1- Leaders manage the dream. 2- Leaders embrace errors. 3- Leaders encourage reflective backtalk. 4- Leaders encourage dissent. 5- Leaders possess the Nobel Factor. 6- Leaders understand the Pygmalion effect in management. 7- Leaders have what I think of as the Gretzky factor, a certain touch. 8- Leaders see the long view. 9- Leaders understand stakeholder symmetry. 10- Leaders create strategic alliances and partnerships. “

Regards,

Omar Halabieh

On Becoming a Leader