Leading on the Margins

I doubt if many of today’s Fortune 1000 company leaders are really in touch with the persons they have been called to serve. When someone has reached the pinnacle of business power and position it’s far too easy to forget where they started or to acknowledge that staying in touch with their roots might be a valuable leadership practice.

Instead, there is a kind of arrogance that seems to befall most of these leaders and they spend more time scheming how to hold on to their spot instead of figuring out how to share leadership with those around them. Is it any wonder so many corporate and political leaders are despised?

Perhaps the best thing that any leader could practice is leading on the margins. I learned this lesson well from my earliest business mentor, a self-made successful entrepreneur. This man grew up in a home without a father and did not have a college degree or wealthy pedigree. As he shaped and grew his business those experiences were never far from his memory.

If you followed him around on a typical day he might be found navigating a forklift, interviewing a prospective employee, chatting with customers, or on the phone placing an order. His office wasn’t some glass and wood monument to his achievements but more like a cluttered, cozy space for a candid conversation.

Nothing he said or did was designed to separate him from the employees. Instead, he spent most of his time interacting with and learning from the very persons he was serving. He had discovered that leading requires listening and so he practiced those skills on a daily basis. His employees spent many years in service to the company because they knew their leader wasn’t taking any of them for granted.

When leaders approach their work as some contest to win, or a piece of turf to protect, it won’t take long for employees to notice and feel marginalized. If those same leaders learn to value and respect the persons they serve, the employees will respond with a higher level of engagement.

As a leader, are you drawn to the finer trappings of the office or the opportunity to serve on the margins? When you fail to get that coveted promotion are you motivated to work even harder so you will be in a better position to win the next time? Or will you turn your attention back to your team and continue serving others because that is what you are called to do?

Mad About March

College basketball fans are mad about March. The official NCAA trademarked phrase is March Madness and refers to the excitement of their annual men's and women’s college basketball tournaments. Over the past twenty years it has evolved into one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year.

The appeal of any win-and-go-home tournament is the element of surprise; the lure of some lower seeded team upsetting a college sports powerhouse. It has already happened nine times in this year’s second round of the men’s brackets. There are sure to be additional unexpected upsets before the third round is over.

 It’s fun to watch these games and cheer for the underdog. Sometimes these teams take the court unencumbered with expectations for success. A sixteen seed isn’t supposed to beat a number one seed, that’s why the tournament is structured to match the highest seeds against the lowest. Without the pressure of a higher seeding, these teams often approach the game more relaxed and can play with an abandon usually reserved for the playground. The result is an emotional freedom to be themselves and have fun.

Of course, many of these games predictably are dominated by the higher seed whose talent pool can far outmatch their opponent. In those cases, it is often the coach who makes the difference by preparing his team to play within their system and to not look beyond whatever game or team they are playing that day.

The game of business has its own version of March Madness. Smaller, more nimble competitors can effectively withstand the resources and talent of a much larger company. Innovative thinking can upset the marketplace with new products and services. It’s not hard to imagine an effective leader of a larger enterprise keeping his or her team focused on doing what they do well and not feeling overconfident about their current position in the market.

Whether you appreciate the madness of a basketball tournament, or prefer the maddening challenges of running a business, every leader must...

• Know the strengths of their team,
• Prepare them well for the game or circumstance they will be facing,
• Understand the vulnerabilities of their opponent and how to take advantage of them,
• And finally, how to win with class and lose with dignity.

Success in business and life isn’t always about winning. In most cases it’s more about playing the game well, giving it your very best, and learning from every experience. You may not be mad about March in a basketball sense but you can still learn something from this annual celebration of college sportsmanship.

Another Way to Be and to Lead

This past week the Catholic church elected a new pope. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is not what most experts were predicting. He is older (75), the first Jesuit to lead the church, hails from Argentina, and is known to live simply and love the poor. Francis is the name he chose as his papal title and even that decision is sending a message that this new leader will be different.

Many of his early decisions as pope have already signaled how he intends to be and to lead. He appeared on the balcony following his election dressed in a simple white cassock. Before he blessed the raucous crowd, he paused and invited them to pray for him. He picked up his own luggage, paid his hotel bill, road the bus with the other cardinals, and even refused to sit on a throne when greeting his fellow cardinals after the conclave.

Most of today’s public leaders love the flash and dash of their positions and authority. They yearn for the spotlight and often boldly tout their views or denigrate their opponents. It’s unusual to hear them admit they were wrong or to see them serving others.

Not so with Pope Francis. His love for the poor meant something when he was a cardinal in Buenos Aires. He lived in a simple apartment so a poor missionary order could occupy the finer surroundings of the cardinal’s palace. In addition to cooking his own food and riding the bus to and from work, he visited the slums and genuinely interacted with the poorest fellow citizens.

All this makes sense if you are serving as the leader of a religious community but is there really room for humility in business and public sector organizations? My answer is a resounding “yes” and is based on a simple premise about effective leadership. When leaders are truly authentic to themselves and those they serve, humility emerges as the result.

I know my strengths and my faults. It would be tempting to hide the latter or to shift the blame toward others when my shortcomings cause harm. Yet, when I choose to serve others, I can’t simply pretend I’m something that I am not. As a leader, I need those who follow me to trust and respect me. They won’t do that if my words and actions don’t match.

Pope Francis seems destined to signal in a new era of leadership for the church he serves. While it remains to be seen how effective he will be I have no doubts about the value of humble leadership. It is another way to be and to lead that our world is desperately seeking

No Excuses

Since I have been writing weekly blog posts for nearly seven years it is likely that most leadership topics of any substance have been addressed at one time or another. My writing inspiration comes from many different sources. This week it was the depth of confession and repentance exhibited by the biblical character, Daniel, that caught my attention. Daniel was born into a Jewish noble family but spent nearly all his adult life as a captive in the foreign land of Babylon, where he rose to various leadership positions because of his intellect and integrity.

Why should we care about an ancient leader’s vulnerability? What can we learn from someone who confesses the sins of his people even when he wasn’t personally culpable? A number of years ago I wrote about the role of confession for modern leaders and this post is a revised version of those thoughts.

We are in the middle of the Lenten season for Christians, a forty day countdown to Easter Sunday. Lent is a personal invitation to review one’s life and consider where behaviors may have fallen short. Leaders are certainly guilty of behaving badly as evidenced by public examples that now routinely end up on YouTube and television. Unfortunately many of them simply blame their circumstances on someone or something else. It’s those nasty Republicans, that mean boss, or bad parenting. We all know denial or finger pointing won’t help fallen leaders become more effective or respected.

Why do leaders fail to recognize the value of confession as a powerful tool for emotional release and restoration? I know from personal experience that my actions in the workplace aren’t always acceptable. When I deny the problem my moral compass causes me to feel guilty. If I never apologize to the person I have hurt, or make amends to a customer that was treated poorly, the guilt I am feeling may eventually subside or even disappear. But the person I have wronged may never understand or forgive my actions. That relationship could be damaged beyond repair and the consequences could cost me dearly.

It seems simpler and healthier to confess and repair the damage when our actions or inactions cause someone else pain. If the benefits are so obvious why don’t we behave this way? There is certainly cultural pressure to blame others and for some leaders this peer pressure may be difficult to overcome. Unfortunately, truth-telling has become secondary to profits, political correctness, and protecting one’s interests or image. Our nation has also lost much of the religious and moral fabric that once permeated the way we conducted business and behaved personally and professionally.

Perhaps it is time to admit there are consequences to carrying the weight of our transgressions throughout the day. Guilt saps our physical energy, drains us emotionally, and deadens our spirit. Leaders would do well to simply own and name their misdeeds and, like Daniel, acknowledge the times when our nation or organization falls short. That act of confession could become a powerful instrument for healing. Relationships could be restored and new models for organizational behaviors established. We need leaders with the courage to authentically repent, someone like Daniel who offers no excuses.

Staying On Course

I love Google Maps, especially the user friendly app that currently graces a prominent place on my iPhone screen. With a few quick taps of the screen I can identify my destination (the app already knows my current location) and launch turn-by-turn navigation that once was reserved for dashboard GPS products like Tom Tom, Garmin, and Magellan. A friendly computer generated voice reminds me of approaching turns and re-calibrates my route if I stray off course.

If only leaders had such a useful tool as they navigate the often challenging ethical dilemmas and tough decisions confronting them every day. Since the demise of Enron in 2001, the corporate and political world seems beset by all manner of scandal, fraud, and other malfeasance. Whatever moral compass may have guided past ethical practices seems absent, or at least, less influential. Many of our leaders have sold their souls for the power and prestige of climbing to the top of their chosen field.

What causes a young idealistic business graduate or a seasoned executive to compromise their behavior? Why would successful politicians resort to lying and blame so they can gain an advantage over their perceived ideological opponents? While I suppose a few of these people are predisposed to behave badly (perhaps due to mental defect or environmental factors) the rest seem more like good people making bad choices. What’s behind these decisions?

One factor may be our lack of time to reflect on decisions before we feel the pressure to act. When I am faced with a packed schedule, the stress to get everything done at a high level can easily be usurped by the pressure to simply deliver the goods. It’s easier to compromise my beliefs when there isn’t time to consider the consequences.

Another issue is lack of accountability. I continue to be amazed at how leaders in positions of authority are often unchallenged by their peers or direct reports. This contributes to a sense of invincibility that can easily lead someone to abuse their power and behave unethically. Without a group of advisors or trusted friends to speak the truth, these leaders can simply talk their way out of every situation or conveniently blame others when things go wrong.

Finally, it’s hard to deny that leaders regularly measure success by the size of their paycheck, the square footage of their home, and the brand of car they drive. When accumulating wealth and possessions is a dominant driver for leaders there will always be a temptation to shortcut how you get them or a willingness to cheat to keep them. I just read recently in the WSJ how nine private equity executives will take home more than $1 billion in dividends and compensation for 2012. It’s hard to imagine that having so much money won’t impact how these leaders behave, or already did, to reach this milestone.

Unlike my map app, there is no convenient ethical navigator available for download. Yet, the human soul and spirit remain linked to a Higher Power and can still be guided by it. It is only when we become disconnected from those we serve that leaders seem to lose their way. Perhaps a detour is needed for many of those who currently occupy the positions of power in business and politics. If they thought more carefully about their decisions, encouraged others to hold them more accountable, and learned to embrace the act of generosity with their possessions, it’s possible their behaviors could be transformed. This is one time I’m hoping they won’t simply stay on course. Sorry Google Maps!