Rethink Leadership or Fail: It's Time for Change

Abigail Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1790, "These are hard times in which a genius would wish to live. Great necessities call forth great leaders." We desperately need great leadership now, in business and all walks of life.

We are in those difficult times today. In the media we are confronted daily with the effects of serious global issues:

1. Dramatic climate change and global warming
2. Never-ending conflicts and wars
3. New and deadly plagues
4. Widespread Terrorism
5. Greater income disparity between the haves and have not's
6. Structurally high unemployment
7. Overpopulation, poverty
8. Political and social instability
9. Food and water shortages
10. Collapse of world financial institutions

We can add other issues, but let's not get depressed. Our leaders are increasingly incapable of dealing with these problems to make any substantial positive progress. It's true that all ages have their troubles, but in the 21st century we have an unprecedented global interdependence. Each issue also has warning signs of catastrophic potential.

Businesses are confronted with quandaries within all of the above. At the same time they face a devastating lack of trust in corporate leaders, whose priorities seem out of step with employee and public concerns. Employees are more dissatisfied and disengaged than ever before. We need something better. Ted Bauer, in his post, talks about a company without managers. Please also see the CEO Balanced Scorecard in my post, Why Most CEOs Should Be Fired or Reprimanded. Bottom-line, leadership performance on a large scale is gravely lacking, and it's time for a change in focus and behavior.

EGOCENTRIC LEADERSHIP

I believe the fundamental reason for these failures is that too many leaders are self-focused. This means they are too selfish and seemingly only want what they want. Their needs trump the needs of others. Personal gratification and cash seem to rule for them more than anything else. This supplants the dire need for synergies, teamwork, and cooperation.

The US Congress is an example. The Republicans and Democrats have battled one another throughout history but found ways to compromise, except during the civil war. The country grew and prospered. For over two decades now their differences have escalated to toxic levels of partisan politics. Their attacks on one another are personal. Little gets done, and the public is fed up with it. 67% of the electorate rates their performance poorly and don't believe that they care about their constituents. Neither party and few individuals have risen above the caustic babble to do what's actually good for the country. All of this is going on when the US is faced with daunting issues that require immediate attention and change through selflessness, collaboration, cohesion, and innovation.

Many of these leaders follow a traditional ego-driven model of leadership that focuses on their interests, views, goals and needs above all others. They:

• Take power for accumulation of personal influence, wealth, recognition and advancement.
• Control and manipulate people for their own narcissistic means and agenda.
• Strive to be served by others to gain what they want, when they want it.

Pundits have bashed these so called leaders regularly. For example:

• "Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility." Ambrose Bierce
• "I find it easy to portray a businessman. Being bland, rather cruel and incompetent comes easy for me." John Cleese
• "I'll keep it short and sweet. Family, Religion, Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business." Montgomery Burns-The Simpsons
• "Congress voted for tougher laws on corporations. So now when a corporation buys a senator, they need a receipt." Jay Leno

As a result of the self-focused approach, our world and business issues become exacerbated in a continual struggle for selfish gain, not solutions to problems. A scene in the movie, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, showcases the obstacle. Jake asked Bretton, a Wall Street tycoon, "Whats your number?", and he responds with a devilish grin and says, "More!"

We MUST change what we think works. For example, Andrew Carnegie is often upheld as "the successful businessman." His goal was to make as much money as he could in his career and then give it all away later.

However, I question how he made his money. (This may be blasphemy to some.) Was he a saint or a robber baron? Supporters say he was no worse than others of that time and sometimes better. They point out that he donated over $350 million to a variety of institutions. Critics say some of his practices would be considered immoral, and possibly illegal, today. They point out he fought against the unions, lowered labor costs egregiously, set up grueling 12 hour days in unsafe environments and was involved in a variety of manufacturing scandals. They also call him greedy, ruthless, and a taskmaster who often had his lieutenants do his dirty work.

As leaders, if we run over people and make a lot of money, is it okay if we give a lot away later? I don't think so.

Too many leaders fall into this trap. A couple of years ago, I was in Toronto on a consulting assignment. While unwinding at the end of a busy day, I had the news on the television. A local businessman was being interviewed because he had given millions to a new hospital, which was consequently named after him. He said to the reporter, "I have done many things I now regret in life. With this donation, for sure, I am going to heaven!"

ALTRUISTIC LEADERSHIP

Throughout history, some leaders have given us clues to the powerful potential in a divergent but other-focused leadership approach: Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Albert Schweitzer, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Jesus of Nazareth to name a few. When you read their words and see their example, they all disrupted accepted leadership practices of their day. Their goal was to help create a better world, not to gain recognition or become wealthy.

I define Altruistic Leadership to mean:

• Empower all people, treating them with respect, care and dignity.
• Free people up to use and develop their talents to the fullest.
• Serve others by leading with integrity and providing them hope, opportunity and security.

The late Steven Covey, was the author of Principled Centered Leadership. He would also define this as servant leadership. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible. It focuses on vision, values, and virtue or character. He demonstrated how this approach builds more employee-friendly and profitable companies. What if our political and corporate leaders would do this?

Many of the skills of an Altruistic Leader involve listening, managing emotions, coaching, communicating, enrolling people in a vision, valuing diversity, treating others respectfully, team-building, engaging employees, and dealing with conflict constructively. These are the skills of emotional intelligence embraced by Dr. Daniel Goleman and Dr. Travis Bradbury. Dr. Bradbury shows in his latest post that often executive leaders lack many of these skills.

Next Steps for Change

Few people are completely self-absorbed or absolutely self-less. However, I am talking more about a consistent pattern of behavior, not perfection. Maybe we can't change the world all at once. It's unrealistic to believe that all leaders will become more collaborative, constructive, concerned and caring. Yet, there is hope for change. The Giving Pledge is an organization started by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is about a commitment by the world's wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. This is a step in the right direction as well as leading by example. The jury is still out on the end result.

Few of us can do something as large as what the Gates are doing. Mother Teresa said, "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop." While our business schools need to put more humanity in their teaching, leadership change begins one person, one manager, one executive, one senator at a time. There are other leaders, in many areas, with little money, who are doing the right things, selflessly and without attention, and strive to make a positive difference. We need to champion these people and their efforts.

For those of you who are leaders or want to be, keep learning. Do a self-analysis. Be critical and aim to raise your capabilities and intent. Attend altruistic or servant leadership training programs. Find a coach, to empower your improvement. Learn how to tap the undiscovered potential of your employees or constituents. Pay it forward, and make an effort to do planned acts of kindness daily. I know you will astound yourself with revelation. One CEO and COO we are currently partnering with are doing just that. They aren't a global conglomerate, but a small growing and successful manufacturing firm. They simply want to be better and leave a leadership legacy that makes a difference, not just a profit.

New ideas and purposeful action changes history, as these few examples of innovative thinking people and their dramatic discoveries have done.

• Isaac Newton, Gravity-1687
• Michael Farady,Electricity--1821, 1831
• Alexander Graham Bell, Telephone,1876.
• William Conrad Roentgen, X-Rays,1895
• Albert Einstein, Theory of Relativity, 1915
• John Logie Baird, Television, 1925
• Martin "Marty" Cooper, Cellphone, 1973

Leadership effectiveness models have been presented by Blanchard, Reicheld, Kouzes and Posner, Maxwell, Covey and others. Not enough leaders have taken steps to learn or apply these to transform their approaches. For example, research shows half to two-thirds of managers fail. This is ludicrous! We don't have the luxury of failure. Employees deserve better from us. We are in hard times and we need bold action to change organizations, let alone the course of history. We all play a role in this. People earnestly need "more" from their leaders; we need a movement to make it happen.

Considering the complexity of the problems challenging us all, I say let's pay attention to these words by Albert Einstein: "The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking." Why not begin to rethink YOUR leadership today?

Want better employee engagement? Check out this complimentary eBook: How to Motivate-No-Inspire Employees.

Do you want help in achieving your goals this year? Check out our complimentary 98 page interactive eBook: GOALPOWER.

If you are a manager or employee subscribe to my Superstar Leadership Blog for over 340 complimentary resources for professional development.

Want to accelerate your career? Check out one my books in the Superstar Book Series for a boost.

If you liked this post, here are a few other posts you may find helpful.

• 10 Keys To Employee Engagement
• 13 Troubles of Terrible Teams
• Leadership is About People, Not Your Paycheck
• 6 Proven Ways to Deal with a Bad Boss
• How to Get Feedback When You Are the Leader
• Get the Job You Want with this Little Known Technique

If you like this post or others, please hit the FOLLOW button. I will then continue to share my best with you. Thanks.