“Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. But if you must be without one, be without the strategy.”1
—U.S. GENERAL NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF, WHO COMMANDED OPERATION DESERT STORM
In my work as an organizational psychologist, I have traveled to more than twenty countries outside the United States to work with leaders and their teams. I always make an effort to bring my wife, Anne, and our sons a souvenir from the countries I visit. Just before I left for Uruguay to work with a group, a glitzy retail store’s catalogue arrived in the mail. On the front cover was a rugged-looking guy wearing a beautiful brown suede coat with sheepskin lining. The handsome model stood against a jagged mountain backdrop, and he was cool. It seemed like owning a coat like this would make me cool and maybe alter my sons’ perception of my being uncool. I looked at the catalogue cover again and said to myself, “That’s me.”
I knew that a lot of these coats were made in South America, so I decided to look for one during my trip to Montevideo. As luck would have it, one of the team members knew of a nearby factory where I could be custom-fitted one day and get the coat the next day. When our meeting ended one afternoon, I went to the factory and was measured for a coat. I could hardly wait to get home and demonstrate to my two teenage sons that I was hip and not as completely out of it as they seemed to think. I knew that they would want me to wear this coat to their football games, and that all the other kids would wish their dads had a cool coat like mine.
After arriving home, I gave Anne a beautiful sweater and the boys some other gifts from Uruguay. I then announced that I had bought something for myself on the trip. While Anne and the boys waited in the kitchen, I went to a back hallway, donned my new coat, and walked into the kitchen with all the confidence of a fashion model on a Paris runway.
A few seconds of silence passed, and the boys convulsed with laughter for what seemed like five minutes. Jim finally yelled out, “Hey, Dad, great-looking pimp coat!” My new fashion image instantly plummeted under the withering fire of teenage ridicule. I put my new coat in a storage closet in our basement, and it has never again seen the light of day.
A LEADER’S STYLE
We all have a style that defines us. My sons thought my new coat was such a significant departure from my usual style that it was very funny. Leaders, too, have styles that define them. On some occasions fashion does become a defining characteristic of our style. Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, is notorious for wearing dark gray T-shirts and a hoodie almost every day, even when meeting with important groups of investors. His dressed-down style has been described as a mark of leadership immaturity by some analysts.2 More often than fashion, however, we think of style as reflective of how a leader presents herself to others—her manner.
Style is one of three “faces” to a leader’s behavior—style, conduct, and core (Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1
Style is the outward face of a leader. It is a leader’s behavioral epidermis. Because style is the most easily observable way we interact with others, we tend to be most readily known for our style. Steve Jobs’ well-documented style was abrasive and impatient.
Movies sometime accentuate the styles of various leaders to make the uniqueness of the characters more interesting. U.S. General George Patton and Mahatma Gandhi were two highly influential leaders of the twentieth century. Both men exerted huge influence on world affairs, but their outward means of expression were dramatically different. Movies about each demonstrated their unique styles. In the flag-draped opening scene of Patton, the general confidently swaggers to the front of the stage of a huge auditorium filled with soldiers. He is impeccably dressed in a pressed uniform, mirrored boots, riding crop, rows of medals in perfect order, and an ivory-handled revolver in a polished holster. He portrays a self-assured commander of men.
In the movie Gandhi we see the renowned leader address a large, angry group of men who want to take up arms against the British. Gandhi wears a modest suit, speaks in quiet tones, and urges his followers toward passive resistance in “fighting” the British. Gandhi not only helped free the Indian people from Britain, he inspired similar methods in the civil rights movement in the United States.
We see widely varying styles in corporate leaders and recognize that any number of different styles can be equally effective. One particular style may be better in a given situation. For example, Gandhi would not have been Eisenhower’s choice to lead American troops against the German army in World War II. However, he was the right leader to shame the British into submission in India.
A LEADER’S CONDUCT
The second face of a leader encompasses our day-to-day actions or conduct. If our actions get good results, we are thought to be competent. Conversely, if we do not achieve the desired outcomes, we are viewed as less able.
Examples of the actions of a leader in an organization include:
♦ Setting a clear and compelling direction for followers.
♦ Building a high-performing team from those they enlist.
♦ Creating an engaging and productive culture.
♦ Responding effectively to threats and opportunities that concern a leader’s vision and mission.
Skillful actions have been the topic of many books on leadership. Although books on the best practices of great leaders and the principles of good leadership have significant value, they do not get to the heart of great leadership, and they do not address the most disturbing cause of leader failure.
Most individuals seriously considered for senior leadership in an organization demonstrate an established track record documenting their competence as a leader. Their past actions and the results, good or bad, are usually readily apparent. Understandably, this resume of performance becomes the primary basis for a hiring decision.
A LEADER’S CORE
In working with thousands of leaders over many years, I have observed that they rarely fail because of lack of competence. Clearly competence is necessary, but it is not sufficient to be a great leader. We must also have a strong core.
The word “core” has become a major idea in the physical development of athletes and others interested in fitness. Core includes all of the muscles of the midsection. The core muscles stabilize the entire body and are prime contributors to strength and coordinated movement.3Athletes in just about every sport focus on developing their core muscles because it has proven to make them so much better at whatever sport they play.
Throughout this book I use the word “core” as a metaphor for the person inside us. Our core is what the ancients metaphorically referred to as our “heart” or “mind.” Hebrew writers referred to core as our “inward parts.” They viewed this part of us as the seat of our character, conscience, thoughts, feelings, attitudes, desires, considerations, and volition.
Our core is what the ancients metaphorically
referred to as our “heart” or “mind.” Hebrew
writers. . . viewed this part of us as the seat of
our character, conscience, thoughts, feelings,
attitudes, desires, considerations, and volition.
Where is our metaphysical core located? Philosophers have debated this question over the centuries. Scientists are increasingly discovering more about the complexity and interworking of our heart, brain, and whole body in determining how we behave. Although the anatomical location of our core is ultimately not important for our purposes, Figure 2.2 graphically illustrates how we might visualize our core.
Figure 2.2
What is unarguable is that there is a “person” inside of us who is a living being. That inside person is what I am calling our core. This inner person acts, feels, thinks, speaks, has desires, makes decisions, and has identity. Our core learns, forms opinions, and is the chief repository of our beliefs. Those beliefs are formed in a number of different ways. For a leader to be effective, his or her beliefs must be intentional, not accidental. Our beliefs are a major governing factor in our behavior, and when our beliefs are sound and true, they make us better leaders—much better. When those beliefs are errant, the results can be catastrophic.
Our core has a voice, which social scientists sometimes call “self-talk.” Whether we are aware of it, there is a fairly steady conversation going on inside us, and when we learn to pay attention to that voice, the revelations about ourselves can be informative if not startling. Our core’s voice guides us to the beliefs we hold. Chapter 9 explores this topic in more detail.
This book is mainly about how to strengthen our core. A strong core depends upon self-awareness. It vets our beliefs and alerts us to rationalization. It controls errant impulses. It makes us authentic and emotionally resilient. A strong core prevents us from going down that path of personal destruction that many have taken.
LEADING FROM INSIDE
Truly engaging others flows from the essence of who we are—from our core. When we have a strong core, people trust us and follow us with abandon. Management is positional; leadership is personal. Colonel Chamberlain possessed the position from which to manage his men, but he chose to lead them instead. I believe they accepted Chamberlain’s leadership because he appealed to them from deep within the core of who he was and spoke to the core of each man in the disgruntled regiment. The leader’s core connected to the mutineer’s core, and they followed.
Management is positional;
leadership is personal.
Intentionally engaging the heart and soul of followers today is not a part of a typical leader’s modus operandi. Many take the expected path of expediency and pragmatism—they focus on getting the job done. The challenge of great leadership is not only to ensure that the daily transactions are completed well, but also to garner the commitment of followers so that they willingly exceed the basic requirements of their jobs.
A strong personal core grants a leader access to that same deep place in others, and it can reach the place where a follower’s voluntary commitment originates. When our core appears strong to others, they trust us. Trust is not the end state, but it does cause a follower to open the window to his core. When the leader’s core reaches the follower’s core, a far deeper level of commitment to the mission occurs just as we saw with Chamberlain’s mutineers.
The access we gain to another’s core gives us power to influence that person far beyond simple compliance. Influence comes from the Latin word, influere, which means “to flow into.” It reflects the power to produce an effect without force or command . . . the action of producing a result on the actions, behavior, and opinions of another. Others will only trust us enough for our ideas, opinions, and feelings to “flow into them” if they believe in the soundness of our core. Like the mutineers, our followers need to sense that our core is sound, which then makes our influence effective. Chamberlain spoke from his core to connect with his soldiers’ deep need to find meaning in their own lives.
The access we gain to another’s core
gives us power to influence that person
far beyond simple compliance.
Chamberlain had great impact on the battlefield (and on the United States) because he engaged the hearts and minds of a group of disillusioned soldiers. His strong foundation—his core—made it possible for him to speak to his followers’ cores and elevate their perspective to the noble purpose of continuing to fight. The mutineers set aside their disaffection, because the unshakable personal foundation of Chamberlain’s core inspired them.
When we look at effective leaders today inevitably they have a strong core. Conversely, my research demonstrates that those who fall from leadership have almost always suffered a compromised core.
ENDURING LEADERSHIP STARTS WITH A STRONG CORE
The short tenure of many senior leaders makes it clear that effective leadership is very hard to sustain. The conditions under which people lose their position and influence teach us a lot about how to preserve it. A critical discovery is that falling from a leadership position often has very little to do with a leader’s competence but has everything to do with his or her core.4
David Petraeus, a former four-star general and head of the CIA, was forced to resign because of an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He did not resign because of a brusque military style or because the president was disappointed with his accomplishments in the military or at the CIA. Petraeus, like many other leaders who get off track, experienced a breach of his core. The U.S. president accepted Petraeus’s resignation because he knew it would be impossible for Petraeus to continue his service without compromise and distraction. The reputation of any leader is far more fragile than we think, and the consequences of a seriously dysfunctional core almost always make a leader’s continuance in his or her present role impossible.
Our core is the foundation from which we lead. When our foundation is trustworthy, we possess the potential to profoundly elicit greatness in others. When our foundation is weak, we lose the platform from which we lead. If we could interview the engineers of the Tower of Pisa, their lessons-learned list would undoubtedly start off with “Foundations matter.”
While our style and conduct are much more visible, our core is deeper and less easily observable and accessible. All three faces of leadership play critical roles in our effectiveness; however, it is our core that plays the most impactful role in making us strong leaders able to exercise great influence over followers. A strong core ultimately trumps style and competence in sustaining our ability to lead.
A strong core ultimately trumps style and
competence in sustaining our ability to lead.
When our core is intact and congruent, others experience us as authentic, humble, and trustworthy. When our core is compromised or conflicted, others experience us as arrogant, self-serving, and insecure. No matter how artful their style or competent their actions, every failed leader I have studied had a malfunctioning core—it had been broken in some significant way.
CRACKS IN THE CORE ARE HARD TO SEE
Why do some leaders who have cracks in their foundation rise to the top? Part of the dilemma is that some aspects of what determine whether a leader will perform well are far less visible than stellar achievements. A board member of a company recently pointed out to me that their last two CEOs failed. One was incredibly arrogant, and no one bought into his vision. The other had an affair with a senior officer, which became very public, totally undermining both their credibility. As we talked about my research on the causes of derailment, the board member literally threw his hands up in the air with visible exasperation and said, “We’re good at screening our CEO candidates for competence but we’re lousy at screening them for what goes on inside them. If we don’t get this right this time, we’re doomed!”
Because of the two consecutive flawed CEOs, what the board member really wanted was to find some way to vet a CEO candidate’s core—his or her inner person. Many in a position to select a senior leader simply do not know how to do this. This type of imaging technology does not exist—there’s no MRI for our core!
I have actually seen management overlook a worker’s faulty core because of his or her stellar competence and job performance. Individuals who achieved significant results were catapulted into senior management positions. When they eventually failed cataclysmically the failure was not rooted in a lack of competence, but rather in a chronically compromised core. The stress of a much bigger job simply revealed more glaringly what was there all along. It always seemed to me that, had that person’s manager, a mentor, or even a peer paid closer attention or been willing to confront a given individual’s core problems earlier in their career, a different narrative might have been written.
It may be that a younger leader’s core starts out strong, but as he or she grows in responsibility and influence, power begins to chip away the foundation. As we will see in Chapter 6, when leaders rise in responsibility and influence, we often see the pernicious effect of power on their core. Many leaders earlier in their careers were good people with good intentions, but something happened on the way to the top. Unregulated power is one of the chief instigators of a compromised core.
WE MUST BUILD ON A SOUND CORE
As we have seen, the foundation of great leadership is our core. To be a leader who has great impact, we must build and protect a strong core. There are a number of disciplines in the upcoming chapters that help us in this endeavor. When effectively exercised, these disciplines keep our core strong, help us have great influence over others, and put us in a position to have huge impact as leaders. The practice of these disciplines is vital. Without diligence and intentionality we cannot protect and grow our core, and our ability to make an impact will be fleeting and temporary.
My guess is that on two subjects we are in absolute agreement. First, we want to optimize our effectiveness in leading others such that they truly give themselves unreservedly to the mission. Second, we want to steer ourselves clear of that terrible path of personal destruction that so many leaders seem to follow. Both are tied to an intact core.
To have the impact we seek, we must understand our core and how it functions and then use these insights to transform our behavior. It requires courage to look deep inside ourselves and, if needed, to forcefully change what we find.