Sophie's Choice

Increasingly we are being challenged to make a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ when discussing those in positions of leadership.  Our choices are, too often it seems, between competence and character.

In some instances it has been this whole issue of harassment – sexual, physical, emotional etc. – that so many leaders have exhibited.  The list grows daily and I suspect that we have only just begun to scratch the surface.

In other instances it has been fiduciary. We learn of schemes like those at Wells Fargo or TD Bank where fake bank and credit cards accounts have been set up simply to achieve financial goals.  This, in turn, has allowed executives to ‘earn’ substantial bonuses and inflate stock values.

And then there are the numerous cover up’s that we learn of only well after the fact.  Equifax, Uber and others come to mind as examples in which leaders have not been forthright with the public in disclosing data breaches or other activities of material interest and importance.

In all of these examples, those in positions of responsibility have somehow concluded that leadership is an either / or proposition.  They expect us to make Sophie’s Choice between competence and character.  Essentially they want us to overlook their moral, ethical and legal shortcomings because the delivered on the performance metrics.

But they miss the point.  Leadership must always be a BOTH / AND proposition.  Competence and character are interlinked.  Indeed the former is only confirmed by the latter.  There cannot be true competence without unimpeached character.

Sadly, we have come to not only tolerate this type of behaviour but to expect it.  There is no universal outcry or rally against it nor is there any true penalty.  Abusers simply cash in their chips and move on.  The consequences rarely fit the crime!

Authentic leaders need to be more vocal in their condemnation of their peers’ behaviour.  The media must find a moral compass and communicate truth.  The public must demand more!

If you are in a position of leadership then you are also in a position of influence.  Make 2018 a year in which you elevate your competence, your character and your voice.  The silent majority must also take its’ stand against these trends and end the Sophie’s Choice dilemma.

Taking a strong position often requires that we offend others.  But the stakes are too high to ignore.  Leaders must lead!

A Leader's Challenge

Every day brings it unique challenges.  Whether your business is prospering or languishing, or somewhere in between, no two days are identical. Your skills as a leader will always be tested in new and different ways.

To succeed you must depend upon the support of your team and the intrinsic skills and commitment that each individual brings to the table.  Your job is to maximize their performance each day and thus to bring closure to each challenge.

The question then is how best to secure this maximized performance. 

Should you use your motivational skills to stoke the flames of determination?  Should you step in and install a ‘how to’ approach for problem solving?  Maybe you roll up your sleeves and pitch in. Any of these tactics might help but you would likely have to hit the ‘repeat’ button each time a new challenge presents itself.

There may be a place for any of these approaches in certain circumstances.  But the one that produces the best and most rewarding results is when you encourage your staff to THINK FOR THEMSELVES.  Define the problem and what would represent an acceptable outcome and then let them get to it.  You are there to equip and facilitate and offer advice when asked.  Your fingerprints don’t need to be all over the solution and you don’t need credit for the success.  The success (or failure) of the team is the testimony of your leadership.

As the leader, what do you need to do to define your success?  I submit the following:

1.    The courage to let go to offer others the opportunity to grow.

2.     A willingness to allow failure to teach because not all outcomes will be a success.

3.     Humility that rejoices when others receive praise while you simply reflect their success.

4.    Satisfaction when these three come together to the mutual benefit of the team.

Those who understand authentic leadership recognize that you can move forward by stepping back when others are recognized for their contributions.  Curiously, there is always enough praise to go around.

The Sign of Authentic Leadership

There is a common thread in the hiring process.  Seek out the best candidate you can; train and equip them; and then get out of their way and allow them to perform to the best of their abilities.

Isn’t leadership easy?  Make the right hire and your job is done…

But in the real world, not every employee is a superstar.  Sometimes you inherit mediocrity; sometimes, despite your best efforts, you make a hire that is not so stellar.

It is for these circumstances that authentic leadership must step in.  I don’t mean that this leader is someone with the resolve to terminate mediocrity.  Rather, authentic leadership is that which is able to work with people of varying levels of talent, self- motivation and dedication to draw out the best of their potential. 

Jack Welch, former CEO at General Electric, was famous for his policy of firing the bottom 10% of his sales and management staff every year, regardless of their actual performance.  In my opinion, this approach takes no degree of leadership.  In fact it strikes me as an abdication of leadership.  All it fostered was an environment of fear and internal competition rather than cooperation and collaboration to the corporate good.

Authentic leadership exercises competencies that are both learned and those which are a reflection of character.  Today’s workforce looks for and responds best to the empathetic leadership model which is required when moving mediocrity towards greatness.

We are well to remember that not everyone is destined for the stars.  Indeed, the elite performers are amongst the top 10% of your staff, perhaps even less than this.  But the other 90% have much to contribute and this is where your leadership focus has the greatest impact.  The 80/20 rule may be true.  But it is the performance of the 20/80 remainder that is the difference between success and failure; between achieving your goals or not.

Leading a company requires courage, intellect, experience and no small amount of luck.  Leading people requires an additional dimension of your character that does not come easily to many. As is being revealed on a daily basis, many of those whom we have elevated to positions of influence and power have apparently lacked the fundamental character traits of authentic leadership.

My plea is that, in your leadership role, you are able to lead with the dignity of character that embraces and encourages everyone in your sphere of responsibility to reach their fullest potential.  And that they achieve this potential without intimidation; without harassment; and without fear or guilt.

Men and women of character must rise up and join the chorus that demands a higher moral and ethical standard in the workplace.  I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that this will only lead to a safer work environment which in turn leads to a more productive workplace. 

Your authentic leadership is the key! 

# me too

It is well past time for a collective ‘mea culpa’ among men.  The Harvey Weinstein’s among us have existed for as long as I have been in the workforce and I am an early baby boomer.

I have never done what he has done (let’s drop the ‘alleged’ shall we) but I have seen or heard of this type of behavior.  It may not have been as pervasive or persistent as Weinstein’s but this is not a time to split hairs and suggest that there are degrees of harassment because that implies that some may not be so bad.

The collective mea culpa is necessary because even though most men are not predators and have not participated in sexual harassment activities, most of us have not stepped forward to condemn and shame those who have.  We may have had the water cooler conversation about someone’s behavior but it ended there.  No confrontation; no report to HR; no consolation and support of the victim. We shake our heads and then hide them in the sand never fully grasping the full impact of these cowardly activities.

In my career I have called some to account.  To my surprise, it revealed a serial type of behavior.  What I witnessed was only the tip of the iceberg.  It seems that leopards really don’t change their spots; they just move on to the next target. 

I am not in the formal workplace now but I still have eyes and ears.  I also have a wife, daughters, a sister and sisters-in-law, nieces, etc.  I know how I would react if I knew that any of them had been harassed or were being harassed… and the picture is not pretty. 

The fact that we men may not have any personal connection to the victim does not preclude our requirement to step up whenever and wherever we are witness to these incidents.  If we don’t know all the circumstances, err on the side that asks for forgiveness and not permission to confront a predator.  It may be uncomfortable, but I suspect that these cowards are more likely to retreat than attack.

Our silence condones. In these circumstances, we all must LEAD!!!

The Next.

After an important victory in North Africa during WWII, Winston Churchill cautioned Parliament with this statement.  “…This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.  But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning…”

Churchill had an appreciation of the importance of the victory but he remained focused on the ultimate objective which was to win the war.  Battles count, but only the final battle really matters.  There was much more to be done and he was not about to get ahead of the game and assume victory; it had to be earned.

I see a lesson for all leaders in Churchill’s statement.  You have done the academic preparation; you have worked hard to excel in your position of responsibility; and you have gained the experience necessary to take on the next role.  When it comes, there is a certain amount of self- satisfaction that the culmination of your efforts has been recognized and the promotion realized.

But the warning is that you are not at the end or likely even close to it.  The same effort and drive that brought you to this place is now doubly critical if you are to succeed.  There will be much to which you acknowledge that ‘…I don’t know what I don’t know…’  This is true of all promotions.  It simply means that you must continue to grow through education, experience and effort.  The hill may have been climbed but the mountain remains unscaled.

There are many elements that can get you to the next level. This list is hardly exhaustive but it provides you some clues.

1. Lean on predecessors to learn from their successes and failures.
2. Continue formal education at a post graduate level with a primary focus on your area of responsibility.
3. Find a mentor willing to share experiences, ideas and insights based on their own past and their knowledge of your capabilities.
4. Join a peer group that is willing to honestly and constructively build into each other.
5.  Hire a consultant with appropriate expertise to provide a critical assessment of the situation and then come forward with recommendations.

Most of all remember that you were not hired or promoted because you necessarily have all the answers.  Rather, your appointment in a signal that others believe that you have the potential to find them.  Your new position is not the end, nor the beginning of the end.  It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.  And if you take this approach that a battle victory is not a war won, you have the foundation upon which you can fulfil your personal potential and expectations.

No leader is infallible. No leader has all the answers.  The best leaders acknowledge these truths and work towards improving, knowing that perfection is a goal that, though unattainable, is still worth pursuing.

The Missing Ingredient

Fact

Since the year 2000, 20% more women than men have graduated university/college with a degree.

Fact

Women now represent 40% of MBA graduates and that number continues to climb.

Fact

Women graduate at a much higher rate in fields like marketing and strategic planning.  These are typically the drivers for success in a company as opposed to finance or IT which tend to be male dominated but are seen as support functions in most organizations.

Fact

Women represent only 6.4% of CEO’s in the Fortune 500 list…

I am dumbfounded by this last statistic!  What it tells me is that there are far too many senior executives still living in the Stone Age and continuing to practice cronyism. 

The ‘old boys’ networks need to be dismantled.  Search firms and search committees need to re-evaluate their criteria.  I especially blame search firms for their failure to seek and present qualified women simply because it is safer, in their minds, to stick to the ‘tried and true’ practices of the last century.

If your organization does not have women represented at positions of significant influence and responsibility, chances are you are missing out on some incredible insights.  Furthermore, you are likely losing share to those who have ‘seen the light’ and pursued a practice and policy of gender representation in their firms.

I am not pushing for a quota or even a specific minimum percentage.  Companies and their industries differ and the talent base of women varies in every case.  But the mindset that suggests that women are ok to a certain level- but not executive level -is simply archaic nonsense.  Those in the 6.4% referenced above come from industries as varied as auto manufacturing to network and software development to banking and energy.

Open your minds to the possibilities and you will open your company to the latent potential that resides therein.  Fear not the fact that women are as competent as any male.  Rather fear the fact that you are not part of the revolution that is occurring.

Just as Amazon has disrupted the retail market space and made obsolete many of the traditional retail models, women in positions of responsibility will bring a new and overdue perspective to the companies that welcome them.  Trust me, the future will be defined by those firms that empower women rather than those who continue to be threatened by that prospect!!!

Past...Present...Future

Strategically speaking, one of your most important tasks is that of identifying and promoting individuals.  In the extreme it is called succession planning but it can be as routine as filling a supervisory position.  In determining the  best candidate to fill the role, what are you looking at?

Some leaders look at the body of work that an individual has accomplished during the time in their current role and make a decision based on that evidence.  When promoting for a lower level position in which the individual may have a very ‘hands-on’ approach, this method of evaluation may be sufficient.  The past will have an important imprint on results so why take a risk on someone with less knowledge.

Other leaders look at the present.  Who among different candidates is respected by their co-workers and would be able to continue to motivate them despite the sometimes awkward situation that arises when one becomes the ‘boss’ of former associates?  Many times the most popular person is selected from the group so that the team feels a sense of continuity.  It also serves to confirm that promotions from within are still policy.

In both of these situations the decision is pretty safe.  And if that is a reflection of your character, these approaches are likely the ones that sit well with you.  But I want to offer a contrarian thought.

Why not look to the future the next time you need to promote?  To truly differentiate your company from the rest of the field may mean that you need to take some risks.  The ‘same ole, same ole’ may be fine in the short term but it will be a hindrance in the long term.

Look at the potential that candidates offer.  Who will not be satisfied with the status quo?  Who will stretch others outside of their comfort zone to find new and better ways to accomplish tasks?  Who has a vision for what might be possible if only you were able to cast off the shackles of the past and present?

Clearly you introduce more risk choosing this option.  But decisions always present a risk/reward proposition.  If you are truly leading and not simply managing then looking to the future is imperative.  And if you cannot stomach the prospects of risk then the deeper question is ‘…are you the right candidate for the leadership position that you hold…’

In today’s increasingly competitive world you must strive to survive.  The status quo means that you are losing ground.  Looking to the past seldom moves the needle forward so look to the future, take some risk and lead.