Adam Gray and Wendy Silverman
Leadership takes many forms, including, and importantly, the quiet and subtle leadership of example.
Anthony S. Fauci (2018)
The first job of a leader—at work or at home—is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility.
Stephen M.R. Covey
Introduction
The leader as exemplar is a simple concept—an individual who consistently leads by example. Followers are then able to build a clear understanding of expectations and their congruency with a set of core values. This example establishes a baseline for the organization and stakeholders of the expected values, culture, and performance. Leading the pack through the good and bad, employees come to leaders as their “north star” when lost or troubled. Normative behavior patterns are often passed down from mentor to mentee, many of today’s leaders may have lessons gleaned from predecessors as much about what to do as what not to do.
An exemplar understands that the philosophy they embody becomes the basis for not just how they are seen as an individual, but also how the members of their organization view and respect each other and their stakeholders. Exhibiting authentic and ethical leadership does not mean that the leader is infallible. In fact, owning their mistakes and demonstrating their humanity to colleagues and subordinates allows a leader to open the door for those who need to share feedback or difficult news including the moral failings of colleagues or policies. The exemplar is focused on the needs and goals of team members and may demonstrate some overlap with other competencies from LeaderocityTM such as the talent scout or the communicator. The idealized exemplar looks to their team members as the leaders for the future, ensuring that they are given opportunities to grow and learn so that they can be better performers at their current roles and better prepared for new challenges tomorrow.
What are the benefits of leading by example and how is your valuable time well served through reviewing this chapter? While some informal or emerging leaders seem to operate instinctually, leading by example is a way to encourage leadership skill development into the daily routine of workspaces. Like Jimi Hendrix learning to play the guitar by watching someone else play the guitar—employees learn acceptable norms by watching these individuals lead by example. When employees fail to see the idealized direction of their work/organization, the leader needs to provide an example for their subordinates “set the direction by helping others see what lies ahead and rising to the challenges” (Bonilla, 2017). Another vital reason “leader as exemplar” is included as a competency is because it encompasses ethics in action. The tie between everyday behaviors and organizational culture is innate and occurs in an organic way (Katzenbach et al., 2016).
“Leaders can guide nations or businesses in either a positive or negative direction” (Bonilla, 2017) depending on the ethics of the leader. We need to ensure we have ethical leaders providing positive examples as opposed to those who demonstrate and encourage acceptance of moral failings by their decisions. For example, Alexander Hamilton was a successful driving force behind the founding government of the United States, but he also let pride drive many of his decisions leading ultimately to his death by duel and acting the way he would want all of his followers to act in his situation, leading as exemplar (Dool, 2019). Leaders both formal and informal, should understand the innate power of their position as an exemplar—that their conduct and speech sets the ethos of the organization. Modeled positive and negative behaviors that go unaddressed have implications toward dictating standards. This is where followers learn about acceptable behaviors through observation of leaders.
In essence, the leader is in the spotlight—all of their words, attitudes, and actions set the standards. They are under constant scrutiny, someone is always watching and judging, both internally and externally. Often the benchmarks set by leaders are unspoken—they are understood through actions, habits, and attitudes. It is particularly important for leaders to regularly self-assess in order to ensure the example they set is as intended and are influencing their followers positively. For example, a leader could knowingly or unknowingly set unofficial norms based on their behavior and attitude in a number of areas—style and level of formality, what they honor and what they criticize, how they spend their time, who they talk to and how, doors open or closed during the work day, their work ethic, and many others. In the context of the organization, how the leader deals with these sorts of things impacts his employees (Bonilla, 2017). We should remain mindful of the influence demonstrated both in and out of the workplace as inconsistent messaging can detract from our brand (Shedd, 2011).
Demonstrating a commitment to social justice initiatives such as gender equality in hiring and disaster response during times of crisis are ways that a leader or organization can underscore what they value (Weinstein, 2019). Creating an organization that encourages trust can lead to better employee retention and a more engaged and productive workforce overall (Zak, 2017). Further, leaders want to grow their organization and they need their employees to want that too. Demonstrating commitment to the organizational vision can facilitate that momentum in others around you. A leader can bring an entire team to a new, higher standard just by “committing to a greater challenge” that pushes themselves along with the team (Bonilla, 2017). Engaging in the challenge provides overall growth for employees, the organization, and the leader themselves.
Message Consistency
Leading by example successfully, “inspire[s] confidence with everyone in the organization at all times,” instead of only being influential during occasional moments of genius (Chou et al., 2016). When leaders are able to consistently deliver inspiration and motivation, they gain the trust of their employees, whereas an inconsistent leader leaves their employees on edge and uncertain of their next action or direction. In order to inspire confidence in employees, leaders must routinely exercise consistency among all types of messages. Message consistency refers to a leader’s verbal, nonverbal, and digital forms of communication with the organization. This also applies to the individual’s social media presence and public associations in their private life (Kuligowski, 2019). To be a successful leader, “your word must be trusted. If you say you’re going to do something, you have to do it. If you plan to meet somewhere, you need to be there.” Since employees usually model the leadership they are given, consistency is an important trait to instill in an organization, in general, and important to an employee’s career development (Roberts, 2016).
Consistency Provides Predictability
Inconsistency causes employees to feel stressed and experience uncertainty, which distracts them from the important task at hand—their job. In turn, this leads to poorer quality work from the employees. On the other hand, “employees perform best when their environments are predictable.” Therefore, it’s important that leaders behave in a consistent manner in the numerous situations they encounter throughout the organization as leader. If employees have a good idea about how their leader will respond to their questions/comments, it “increases engagement and satisfaction” between both the employee and the leader, therefore moving toward greater overall productivity. If, however, a leader acts emotionally and unpredictably “employees might be unwilling or even afraid to approach” the leader and thus lead to lesser productivity (Roberts, 2016).
Consistency Creates Personal Responsibility/Accountability
Employees expect their leaders to consistently deliver value, perform to their best ability, and meet the goals that are set for the organization and the leader themselves. In return, the leader expects “consistency in their employees’ performance and deliverables.” Mistakes or failures by leaders or employees must be acknowledged and where appropriate used as a learning tool. Exhibiting ownership and self-accountability allows the leader to function as leader as exemplar. This situation provides an ideal example of how employees should react in similar situations. By taking responsibility, the leader as exemplar is able to instill the trait of accountability in the organization thereby establishing behavioral consistency among the entire hierarchy/network. Leader as exemplar can be a catalyst of personal responsibility throughout the organization by having routine check-ins and meetings with employees to faults and successes in an honest, open manner. Being thorough and consistent with such face-to-face interactions between leaders and employees supplements consistent actions, attitudes, and words from leaders ensuring “no last-minute surprises and creates an environment of mutual accountability and respect” (Roberts, 2016).
Consistency Requires Dedication
All successful leaders are successful due to their initial commitment to whatever endeavor they have pursued, bought into, and consistently worked toward in order to get to their leadership role. Commitment creates consistency.
Consistency Delivers a Consistent Brand Image and Presence
Through successful leadership, a leader and his employees can provide a consistent brand image and “face of the organization.” By providing customers a product or service consistent with your brand, a leader is able to create consistent value around the organization. Chairman of the Segal Companies, Howard Flurhr, says “your communication [to your team and to your customer] must be clear, consistent and repetitive over time.” A successful leader can “focus on promoting a positive and consistent brand image” through means such as advertising, social media, campaigns, conferences, etc. “Common or rapid changes in your message [and the message delivery] and [brand] image distract [employees and customers] and prevents them from forming and strengthening an image of your company in their mind” (Shedd, 2011).
In order to provide message and delivery consistency, successful leaders must also explain to their employees/followers about inconsistencies and the “rare occasions [that] you may have to be consistently inconsistent”—meaning that certain unusual circumstances may “require that you deviate from your usual course of action.” An example of one of these inconsistent circumstances facing a leader is when providing advice/direction/freedom to employees. Dr. James Brown of SEBA Solutions explains that “you may not be able to grant the same freedom/authority level to a project manager with 2 years’ worth of experience that you would to a project manager with 13 years of experience.” In this situation, a leader should realize that they have to act inconsistently and they should “offer extra communication to explain the inconsistencies,” to the workforce generally, otherwise, questions concerning a leader’s message consistency may arise and may result in the employees’ loss of trust in the leader and the organization and possibly lead to a decrease in overall productivity (SEBA Solutions, 2016).
Generally, a leader must strive to fulfill the competencies necessary for leadership. A good leader who is a leader as exemplar, is introspective and reflective about all of the aspects of the leadership position. They understand that each of their actions, interactions, habits, attitudes, or words as leader as exemplar provides a message to the employees, the organization, and customers.
Exemplar in Action
To help illustrate the idea of an exemplar in action, I’ll use one of our favorite leaders as the example. This leader is Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller. Puller served almost four decades of service in the Marine Corps and ultimately became the most decorated American Marine in history. Puller is a great example of the exemplar in action because of his continued consistent efforts. After serving in combat he would return home to either work toward improving his own craft or give back to his organization by training other recruits. Puller’s multiple deployments put on a prime display for his followers, allowing them to see a leader go into combat and return multiple times while also teaching others and honing his own skills—the ideal soldier that all of Chesty’s followers aspired to be. Additionally, such dualism and capability exposed how Puller led others by setting the example through his own actions. Leading by example on a battlefield scenario may seem to set the bar impossibly high for today’s business leaders (Dool, 2019).
Being “Visible”
One element of Puller’s leadership style that applies to leading as exemplar that Landing (2010) noted was: “Be Visible,” in the sense that physically being present to your followers/employees will engage and encourage them. When in absence, leaders cannot lead as exemplar, thus, “the less you’re hidden away in meetings, or at your computer…the better off you’ll be” as a leader (Dool, 2019). Chesty knew that his fellow Marines wanted a “confident commander would stop at nothing to get the mission accomplished,” and he gave them that type of commander through leading as exemplar by “fighting alongside his Marines at the front,” his courageous acts in combat, his prolonged service, and all accomplishments that he achieved as a leader. One of his most notable acts of leading as exemplar was in Nicaragua, where Puller “led the charges against the enemy rather than telling his men to charge while he held back.” This wasn’t just one act, rather, this was his leadership style in the Marines, literally leading as an example, showing his fellow Marines how it’s done. When leaders try to be visible, they must take into account that as a leader they “must be exemplars of what is expected” as a walking, living, breathing example of what they want their employees/followers to be. Puller expected his men to “hit hard, hit fast, [and] hit often” at the front line—therefore, Puller took this as his responsibility as leader, to an exemplar of what’s expected (Dool, 2019).
From a more symbolic standpoint as what it means to be a leader as exemplar, Nelson Mandela is the symbol of belief and determination as a leader that led by example. Being one of the biggest roles in fighting against South Africa’s racist apartheid policies, Mandela was an exemplar through his retaliation against apartheid and his willingness to sacrifice 27 years in prison for the greater good of South Africa as a symbol of restriction to spark the fire in his people and encourage them to fight back against apartheid. Additionally, as a testament to his leadership, symbolism, and his level of intolerance toward apartheid, throughout his captivity, the South African “government had made several conditional offers of freedom, all of which Mandela had rejected”—proving his point and acting the way he would want all of his followers to act in his situation, leading as exemplar (Dool, 2019). Following his release from imprisonment, Mandela showed his followers to continue retaliating against apartheid, and lead as example through his work with the South African president at the time, F.W. de Klerk, which ultimately ended apartheid which “garnered them both the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993,” through being an exemplar. Mandela kept pushing the envelope in leading his people by becoming the first black president of South Africa only a year later in 1994. During his presidency, he continued to lead by focusing on “reconciliation and forging a new sense of unity amongst the citizens of South Africa”—where he got to officially lead his entire country and people by example as the president—as a true exemplar would. Mandela was a symbol of freedom who told his story to the world as a prisoner, as a president, and as a Nobel Peace Prize winner, always leading by example (Dool, 2019)
Imperfect Leaders
Expectations of perfect people at any level in your organization are unrealistic and set an unattainable standard (Epley and Kumar, 2019). Instead focusing on building self-awareness and actively questioning your own potential biases allows for leaders at all levels to learn and grow through example (Kuligowski, 2019). Creating an image that is perfectly polished may seem like a tactical approach to building stakeholder confidence, but can surely backfire by making you inaccessible or not relatable for your employees (Gregersen, 2015; Miller, 2019). While it may seem like addressing errors weakens your authority “leadership requires leaders to possess the integrity, skills, and self-confidence to admit mistakes and not avoid dealing with them” (McKenna and Reeser, 2015). This also allows you or the organization to move forward without distractions from rumor or energy put into media “spin.” Today’s actions feed into a cycle of future movement, openness today leads to an environment of trust tomorrow. Openness “gives permission for people to approach you not only with feelings, but also with the information and suggestions that you need to become a more effective leader” (Tager, 2014). Admitting that you do not hold expertise on all topics and acknowledging and seeking out the prowess of others in the organization leads not only to better interactions and employee engagement but to better results and products (Walston, 2014). Williams (2017) reminds us that employees deserve these opportunities to grow and become their best work selves.
For leaders who see themselves as mentors or talent scouts, your followers can benefit from lessons learned from your past mistakes. Being able to share solid examples of similar struggles makes you approachable and your success attainable. This also creates a culture where anxiety can be lessened and removed as a barrier to productivity (Miller, 2019). Leaders who ask others for help encourage building of trust within the organization (Zak, 2017). Ethically minded organizations encourage open communication in order to break down silos and hierarchies (Kuligowski, 2019). Similarly, these ethical norms create an environment where members of the organization can feel comfortable bringing to light any identified issues. Employees who find themselves with a difficult issue to address to leadership have to fear potential repercussions and may decide that the timing or audience are not receptive, which result in delays or inabilities to move an issue forward to be rectified (Detert, 2018).
Bad Deeds in the Organization
Accountability is a norm not only for those in the C Suite; a leader who holds themselves to a high standard risks that credibility if the measure is not applied to all members of the organization and the mission or reward systems therein (Williams, 2017). Perception of organizational acceptance of a bottom line mentality or other similar moral failings needs to be avoided and if present, addressed. Otherwise this culture even if localized has a negative impact on employee performance and retention (Eissa et al., 2019; Mesdaghinia et al., 2019). Consider when planning reward or bonus structures for your organization the missteps taken by Wells Fargo when internal goals for account cross-selling at the branch level went awry. The resulting behaviors led to not only legal consequences and some bad press but also a culture issue where employees experienced psychological and physical trauma effects. Internal investigations had for many years identified issues with “sales integrity” and instead of addressing and preventing those cases used the situation as an unethical management training model (McLean, 2017).
It may be tempting to think that considering the ethical implications of company norms or rewards is a trendy topic that will pass. However, Kerr’s (1975) seminal piece on these issues “On the Folly of Rewarding A, While Hoping for B” is regularly cited in research, over 800 times in the past 10 years. Kerr (1975) offers a message of warning on how these misguided approaches can impact organizational culture and behavior, public voting patterns, or medical recommendations.
Eissa et al. (2019) found that a relationship exists between employee perception of a singular focus on bottom line outcomes and employee disinterest in organizational citizenship behaviors such as team cohesion and collaboration. Employees with a strong moral identity have shown intent to leave when faced with an organization that accepts or promotes a focus on bottom line outcomes (Mesdaghinia et al., 2019). Even if messaging from the top of an organization sets clear ethical standards, localized norms or reward systems in middle management or one particular area of the company (sales perhaps) may need to be addressed. Peer behavior drives the tone and tolerance for dishonesty or even theft (Epley and Kumar, 2019).
How to Build This Competency
In order to represent yourself authentically within your leadership role you can work on building your self-awareness. Exploring your feelings, weaknesses, and motivations can help you to better relate to your colleagues and subordinates (Editor, 2014). Self-awareness can also be sought through asking questions and seeking feedback, sometimes this might lead to hearing negative things about how you communicate or make people feel. Or it could lead to a simple but effective change, like holding one-on-one meetings in a more casual seating space (Gregersen, 2015). Other experts suggest exploring meditation or psychometric self-assessments in order to become better familiar with not only your perspective but how it may differ from someone else’s approach (Tjan, 2015). Being in touch with your value systems through activities such as journaling may also be a helpful tactic (Kankousky, 2017).
Summary
A leader’s focus on ethical considerations may at first seem like setting an impossible standard, sure to backfire. The spotlight that never wanes also creates a unique opportunity to set norms beyond your organization that contribute to valuable movements whether environmental, or social justice oriented. Making a commitment to consistency in messaging allows for a culture of trust to grow where your supporters know that they can bring you errors to resolve instead of a culture of fear where mistakes are buried and allowed to fester. At the individual level a key step toward holding an exemplar status consists of a rigorous self-examination of potential biases. Of equal importance at the organizational level is an examination of reward systems and potential outcomes that are incongruent with the broader mission.
Key Takeaways
• Whether conscious or not, leaders set organizational norms with their everyday behaviors.
• Only a consistent message can lead to positive growth—the spotlight is always on.
• Inconsistency contributes to lack of employee trust, creativity, engagement, and retention.
• Demonstrating the ability to receive critical feedback can create opportunities to triage issues and a learning culture at all levels of the organization.
• Addressing past mistakes allows you to build an organization of trust and to move that organization forward.
• Tolerating bad behaviors such as dishonesty or reward systems that encourage unethical behavior at any level in the organization poisons the water.
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