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September 2009 - Posts

Barack Obama’s Whole Leadership: how the US President combines head, heart and guts
In my last post, I looked at what Gordon Brown needs to do to become more of a whole leader. For a good example of a whole leader, we only have to look across the pond at Barack Obama.

A recent Gallup poll in the US showed that although Obama’s job approval rating has declined in recent months,  Americans do rate his leadership skills highly. Gallup’s own comment on the survey stated that: "As Obama tries to address major challenges with the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and healthcare reform,  Americans acknowledge his leadership qualities, including his willingness to make hard decisions and the strength and decisiveness of his leadership."

Obama has commented on the difficulty in dealing with the complex problems and the uncertainties facing his administration: "I would love a nice, lean portfolio to deal with, but that's not the hand that's been dealt us." His success in dealing with complex challenges depends largely on how he combines head, heart, and guts – how he uses his head to set strategy, his heart to connect with the world, and his guts to make instinctive and intuitive decisions based on clear values. The astute combination of these three attributes is what elevates the most successful leaders above the ordinary.

Obama has used his head to set out a clear and comprehensive strategy for government. As with all leaders who have strong intellects, he will have to resist two tendencies that come with head-only leadership and that can derail his efforts: the inclination to micromanage and to try to accomplish too much too quickly. His current challenge of healthcare reform is an example of this. Strong head leaders can think faster than others can implement. This can be a real problem in a large federal bureaucracy.

When it comes to matters of the heart, Obama is in a unique position. He has one of the most diverse backgrounds and perspectives of any American president. This helps him to connect with and inspire a wide range of people. Gallup’s results show Obama gets high marks for empathy, with 64 per cent of those polled saying Obama understands the problems people face in their daily lives.

Finally, the extreme uncertainty of the times requires guts – a clear vision and values with which to make tough decisions. In the Gallup poll, 72 per cent of respondents said they think Obama is willing to make tough decisions, while 66 per cent said they thought he was a "strong and decisive leader."  Obama was not afraid to accuse Iran last week of hiding a nuclear facility, and to demand that nuclear weapons monitors be allowed to inspect it. He has also stated that he will not hesitate to introduce sanctions should Iran not comply with this demand.

Obama articulates a consistent approach to governing and leadership in an uncertain and dangerous world.  So far, he has demonstrated that he can be an effective whole leader. However, levels of complexity, diversity, and uncertainty will certainly not diminish - for him, and leaders everywhere - in the future. 
Posted: 30 Sep 2009 10:32 PM by sproberthill | with no comments
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Leading the Labour party: Brown’s conference challenge
The annual Labour conference kicked off yesterday, the last conference before the next general election.  For Gordon Brown, this conference represents both a tremendous challenge and a real opportunity. Labour is behind in the opinion polls and the party lacks unity on some key issues. Brown’s personal leadership style could greatly influence the result of the next election.  If he can succeed in inspiring and motivating his own party, they in turn are more likely to inspire and motivate the public to vote for them come election time.

Interviewed in The Observer yesterday, Chancellor Alistair Darling strongly criticised the Labour leadership, which he said appears to have lost "the will to live". Faced with the threat of election defeat, Darling likened Labour to a gutless football side where the team have allowed their heads to drop well before the final whistle.

For Brown to succeed in this significant challenge demands a special kind of whole leadership that effectively applies the right balance of head, heart, and guts. To become a successful whole leader, Brown needs to use his head to set strategy, his heart to connect with the world, and his guts to make instinctive and intuitive decisions based on clear values. The astute combination of these three attributes is what elevates the most successful leaders above the ordinary.

Brown is a strong head leader. He is adept at analysing difficult situations. This was demonstrated by his clear-headed response to the banking crisis. However, he has acknowledged criticism of his lack of clear vision and stated openly that recent months have been the most difficult of his political life.  As with all leaders who have strong intellects, Brown will have to resist two tendencies that come with head-only leadership and that can derail his efforts: the inclination to micromanage and to try to accomplish too much too quickly. The huge rescue packages he introduced to support the banks also took guts. This was a radical decision which required courage. It was also based on clear values and a strong belief that stepping in like this was morally right.

There is evidence that Brown has become a more powerful guts leader as the economic crisis has deepened. He recently admitted that he wished he had imposed a tougher regulatory regime on the UK banking system in the past, but feared that this would leave Britain outside the mainstream at a time when deregulation was becoming the norm.

Heart leadership is where Brown is weakest. He is frequently criticised for his inability to connect with people on a personal level.  Some point to the events at the United Nations last week  - when reports that Brown had been snubbed by Obama where hurriedly followed up by images of the two men shaking hands  and clapping each other on the back in a self-conscious display of togetherness - as further evidence of his patchy ability to forge strong relationships.

Brown needs to develop his heart leadership to connect with his own party, where unity is a problem, and to connect with the public and gain their trust. He needs to learn to see the world from the perspective of a diverse range of stakeholders. He has been criticised for being too ‘hands-on’ and authoritarian, but has also shown that he is prepared to devolve power in his proposals for constitutional reform, signalling that he does see that  leadership can be less about individual control and more about shared responsibility.

These are indications that Brown is at the beginning of a journey of personal change.  The road ahead will be a real test of his ability to adapt.  

Further reading:

Dotlich D, Cairo P and Rhinesmith S (2006) Head, Heart and Guts: How the World's Best Companies Develop Complete Leaders, Jossey-Bass/Wiley 

 

Posted: 28 Sep 2009 9:46 AM by sproberthill | with no comments
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Change but don’t change

It strikes me that as leaders we are seeking to engage people not only in our stated strategic direction but also in the grounded elements of the organisation - the values and folklore that make it special and that won’t change much over time.  This implies people committing energy to change some things as well as energy not to change others.

The paradox here may be obvious. However I think it can be helpful to articulate it with people and to explore how we can make it a positive experience rather than a source of tension.  

Jim Collins drew our attention to this paradox in Good to Great and has more recently highlighted the risk of organisations getting locked in a self-deceiving hubris of commitment to a flawed direction leading ultimately to corporate failure. 

This point of view exemplifies the need for leaders to re-evaluate the strategic direction of travel with an objective lens, changing course given the nature of the environment. This increases the need to be re-engage with people as the direction alters. 

In such a potentially fluid situation, I think leaders need to be even more explicit in the way they communicate with their colleagues. Whilst the direction may be changing, the underlying values and purpose of the endeavour are not.  Why we are on the journey the principles we will live by won’t change, but the route we take will.  Just as a navigator changes course on a flight based on up to date feedback, leaders need to be willing to adjust the strategy to fit the context. 

At times like these it is also helpful to remind ourselves what hasn’t changed, and why it’s worth persevering in the face of increased uncertainty and doubt.

Reference:

Collins, J (2001). Good to Great. New York, NY: HarperCollins.

 
Posted: 23 Sep 2009 10:45 AM by sproberthill | with 1 comment(s) |
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What leadership means to me

My uncle was a good man.  At my cousin’s funeral, when I was 14, he asked me never to ride a motorbike. I never did.  I now find myself wanting to pass on this request to my sons, so that they too can reduce their risk of an early death.

Leadership to me is about creating ripples of influence that flow outwards, asking questions of those around.  The questions cause answers and the answers change what people believe, think and do. 

I’ve spent 20 years working in the field of leadership development, helping leaders to ask the resonant questions that cause people to answer.  With my colleagues we have worked with thousands of leaders, and if the ripples from but a few are now evoking answers that improve lives around them we will have done some good work. 

I find leadership an endlessly fascinating subject.  In this blog, I hope to explore the meaning of leadership and look at what great leadership can achieve.

My uncle can rest assured that his question lives on.

 

Posted: 14 Sep 2009 5:15 PM by sproberthill | with no comments
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