Real Leaders Don't Boss
Praise for Real Leaders Don’t Boss
“In college athletics, where building our brand is so important, the right kind of leadership is critical to long-term success. Ritch Eich knows this, and understands the complicated process that results in true leadership. Ritch has deep leadership knowledge and experience, and Real Leaders Don’t Boss will provide valuable information to all who want to further develop their leadership skills.”
—David Brandon, director of athletics, The University of Michigan, and former chairman and CEO, Domino’s Pizza
“Ritch Eich is a leader’s leader, with a magical ability to turn the impossible into the possible. He brings to whatever he does exceptional experience, know-how, enthusiasm, and connections. Now, with his book, his unique transformational approach to leadership will be available to everyone.”
—William Kearney, senior vice president, Merrill Lynch
“Ritch Eich’s leadership style is part Warren Bennis and Max Depree, part John Greenleaf and Peter Drucker, and part Jackie Robinson and Colin Powell. Ritch is a change agent and has worked tirelessly to transform the management practices and processes he inherited in each of his positions of increasing responsibility. As a leadership and management consultant, Ritch is continuing to share ‘best practices’ from the leadership field.”
—Steve Grafton, president and CEO, The University of Michigan Alumni Association
“Whether you’re a new manager or a new executive, Ritch Eich delivers an exceptionally useful pathway to follow for success. Ritch is highly accomplished, incredibly disciplined, and leads by example and with humor and with grace. Don’t go to your next staff meeting without reading his book first!”
—Mary D. Olson, general manager, KCLU Radio, NPR
“No matter what stage you are at in your career, Real Leaders Don’t Boss will help you get to the next level. Ritch’s vast experience in healthcare and higher education shine through and his insight is refreshing. If you want to be a better leader yourself, or if you want to help others develop their leadership skills, read and share this book.”
—Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, executive vice president for Medical Affairs University of Michigan, and CEO, University of Michigan Health System
“The essence of Ritch Eich’s approach is to listen, analyze, and communicate. His intellect and training, buttressed by his fundamental instincts, are valuable assets in any problem-solving environment.”
—Eugene A. Bauer, MD, former CEO, Stanford University Medical Center, and former dean, Stanford University School of Medicine
“Books and articles about leadership are not scarce. Insightful books drawn from career-long, successful, hands-on experience are. Ritch Eich brings that experience to his valuable discussion of traits and qualities—some learned, some innate—possessed by the best leaders. His book is careful in describing the difference between leading and managing, a chasm he so clearly understands from his own successful careers.”
—Jim Finkelstein, Chief of Information, Navy Department, Pentagon, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
“Ritch Eich has captured the essence of leadership in his book, Real Leaders Don’t Boss. People may gain wealth or promotions by the sheer power of their personality and desire, however the success of the organization fades as soon as they leave and they usually leave untold numbers of casualties in their wake. Real leaders know their trade as well, but they are guided by virtues such as fortitude and temperance. They value those that work for them. They also challenge and mentor them. Real leaders are comfortable in their own skin which in turn develops the character of those who work for them.”
—Major General Leslie M. Palm, USMC (Ret.), president and CEO, Marine Corps Association & Foundation (Ret.)
“Ritch has a strong passion for the principles, morals, and ethics that make great leaders. In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to know who to trust, you can trust Ritch.”
—Ross K. Goldberg, president, Kevin/Ross Public Relations and co-founder, Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development
“Readers will learn from bosses who have led important organizations to places worthy of the deep personal commitment of those who have followed them.”
—Dan Beckham, president, The Beckham Company
“Real Leaders Don’t Boss—a ‘must read.’ Ritch has continued his fervent commitment to share with university students all the leadership skills he has mastered throughout his very successful career.”
—Harold Edwards, president and CEO, Limoneira Company
“Most books on leadership are not worth reading because they are long on the theory of leadership, but miss the heart of leadership. Real Leaders Don’t Boss is an important exception. If you are interested in the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of leadership, get a copy, snag a couple of hours to read it, and you will have the insights you need to be the leader you have always wanted to be.”
—Robert A. Sevier, PhD, senior vice president, Stamats, Inc.
REAL LEADERS DON’T BOSS
Inspire, Motivate, and Earn Respect
From Employees and
Watch Your Organization Soar
By Ritch K. Eich, PhD
Copyright ©2012 by Ritch K. Eich, PhD
All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.
REAL LEADERS DON’T BOSS
TYPESET BY DIANA GHAZZAWI
Cover design by Rob Johnson, Toprotype
Printed in the U.S.A.
To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press.
The Career Press, Inc.
220 West Parkway, Unit 12
Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
www.careerpress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eich, Ritch K.
Real leaders don’t boss : inspire, motivate, and earn respect from employees and watch your organization soar / by Ritch K. Eich.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60163-186-2 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-640-9 (ebook)
1. Leadership. 2. Interpersonal communication. 3. Employee motivation. I. Title.
HD57.7.E373 2012
658.4’092--dc23
2011037718
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my grandfather, Harvey D. Eich, longtime community leader, teacher, principal, and four-term treasurer of Yuba County, California, and to my grandmother, “Mama Dean.”
To my parents, Wilton and Joanne Eich, who provided an abundance of love and devotion, and by their example instilled in me the importance of service to others.
To my brother, Ron, a natural leader whose scholarship, sense of humor, business acumen, and tireless community leadership from Cal Berkeley to IBM to Mendocino, who, along with his wife, Joan Stiles Eich, and their family, were an inspiration to me.
To my sister, Kathleen Eich McKinnie, her husband “Mac,” and family, for their sincere interest in my career.
To my wife’s parents, Edward and Verla Cummings, for their intellectual stimulus and fascinating discussions that I will always treasure.
To my wife’s sisters and their husbands, Cecily and Ralph Wood, and Kathy and Fran Larsen, for their enduring friendship and companionship.
And, finally, to my wife, Joan Taylor Cummings Eich, my partner a
nd best friend, and to our sons, Geoff and Ted, and their spouses, Nancy and Mary, and our grandchildren, Taylor Sun, John Patrick, Carter Jameson, and Caroline Elizabeth, whose continuing encouragement, support, and legion of leadership lessons are invaluable to me.
Thank you!
Acknowledgments
Many very talented people contributed mightily to this book in countless ways, including Michael Lynn Adams; Larry Ames; Ken Beachler; R. Duke Blackwood (director, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library); Mike Bradbury, JD; David Brandon; Eugene A. Bauer, MD; John Chamberlain; Dr. Jack M. Christ; Mike Craft; Scott Dennis and his reference desk colleagues (University of Michigan Libraries); Rich DeVos; Henry Dubroff; Joe Dulin; Don Dupuis; Harold Edwards; Tim Elson (Buchanan Group); Lisa Evans; RADM Jim Finkelstein, USN (Ret.); Jeff Folks; Steve Grafton; Ross Goldberg; Erik Hagen; Norm Hartman; Mark Helmke; Howard S. “Howdy” Holmes; Bill Kearney; Carol Keochekian; Emily Krueger; U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar; Mike McCurry; Bruce McRoy, JD; Jan Mendenhall; John T. Moore; Mary Olson; Lance Orozco; Maj. Gen. Les Palm, USMC (Ret.); Tony Pals; Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD; Marianne Ratcliff; Dean Rennell (president, Wells Fargo, Arizona Region); Jim Rondeau; Richard Schreiner, MD; Lisa Cuevas Shaw; Blaise Simqu; Laura M. Smith; Don Steel; Raymond Sun; John Ullmen; Marlize van Romburgh; Michele von Dambrowski; Patti Waid; Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., PhD; and Mrs. Dolores D. Wharton.
They were unselfish with their time, unvarnished yet always thoughtful in their critiques, passionate about the subject, demonstrably assertive in urging me to move forward in this undertaking, or contributed in other important ways. I am deeply indebted to all of them and sincerely hope I didn’t overlook anyone. If I did, I apologize profusely.
I have been privileged to work with and for many highly successful leaders, as well as several remarkably skilled teams of professionals in healthcare, higher education, the U.S. Navy and Marines, and elsewhere, and humbled by numerous opportunities to observe, meet, and interact with many of the best and brightest in our nation’s businesses.
Myriad organizations have published my writing, and I wish to publicly thank several in particular for their support and professional courtesy in this work. They include Communication Quarterly; Costco Connection; the Los Angeles Business Journal; the Los Angeles Daily News; Marine Corps Gazette; Miller-McCune Magazine; Modern Healthcare; Pacific Coast Business Times; Payers & Providers; Sales and Service Excellence; Santa Barbara News Press; Stanford University Report; Strategic Health Care Marketing; Thousand Oaks ACORN; Trusteeship Magazine and AGB, the U.S. Naval Institute and Proceedings magazine; and the Ventura County Star, among many others.
Every author of every book or article I’ve read on this fascinating topic has taught me something of value. To Dan Beckham, Warren Bennis, Ram Charan, Jim Collins, Chris Denove, Ross Goldberg, John Kotter, James Kouzes, Larry Lauer, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Barry Posner, J.D. Power IV, Charles O’Reilly, Robert Sevier, Robert Sutton, RADM William Thompson USN (Ret.), Noel Tichy, and other distinguished authors, I ask that you keep writing to further deepen our understanding of the leadership skills required in a dynamically changing world.
A very special, heartfelt expression of my deepest gratitude is extended to Ross Goldberg, president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations, for his enduring friendship, wonderful tutelage, and good judgment. His writing is exemplary, and his wise, savvy, and candid counsel is irreplaceable.
I also wish to express my sincere thanks to the superb team at my publishing house, Career Press, for their faith in me, their expertise, and their willingness to always go the extra mile in coming to my rescue when I required their assistance: Michael Pye, Jeff Piasky, Adam Schwartz, Laurie Kelly-Pye, Kirsten Dalley, and Diana Ghazzawi. And last but hardly least, I take my hat off to my literary colleagues, mentors, and editors par excellence Cynthia Zigmund of Second City Publishing Services, Susan J. Marks, and Laura M. Smith for their invaluable guidance, incomparable knowledge, and literary mastery. They are the best!
The first guy through a wall always gets bloody...
—Prophetic words spoken to me by
my company commander,
boot camp, Recruit Training Command,
Naval Training Center,
Great Lakes, Illinois,
a very cold December 1968
Contents
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1
The Meaning of Real Leadership
Chapter 2
Real Leaders Don’t Boss
Chapter 3
Real Leaders Communicate
Chapter 4
Real Leaders Have a Unique Make-Up
Chapter 5
Real Leaders Value and Support Those They Lead
Chapter 6
Real Leaders Know When to Shut Up and Get Out of the Way
Chapter 7
Real Leaders Know the Difference Between Character and Integrity
Chapter 8
Get Ready to Lead
Notes
Bibliography
Helpful Websites and Blogs
Index
About the Author
Foreword
I’ve read many leadership books and must say that Real Leaders Don’t Boss was a refreshing and recommendable read that offers inspiring insights on being a leader at any level.
Ritch Eich draws on his vast and diverse experiences in agriculture, the military, higher education, healthcare, business, and consulting to thoughtfully and skillfully provide readers with no-nonsense, practical “takeaways” that can be applied in any organization (no matter what size) and used by any professional (no matter what role).
This is not just a book for the business or medical student or the corporate leader. There are valuable lessons for anyone in the workplace who wants to better understand what his or her contribution means and how to achieve great results.
Real Leaders Don’t Boss is easy to read, as well as a book you will want to keep handy so you can refer to it time and again.
It has been my good fortune to know Ritch for several years, beginning when we worked together at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis and now as we both have roles with the University of Michigan. I continue to be greatly impressed by him and especially by his extraordinary ability to develop young leaders.
As a board member of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, Ritch serves more than 525,000 living alumni around the world. He understands that leadership is not some sort of mathematical formula, but rather an art that can be learned experientially.
No matter what stage you are in your career, this book will help you get to the next level. If you want to be a better leader yourself, or if you want to help others develop their leadership skills, read and share this book.
—Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, MD, executive vice president for Medical Affairs University of Michigan, and CEO, University of Michigan Health System
Introduction
Leadership is not a gimmick. It does not come from weekend seminars or strictly from guidebooks. A “Stalin-esque” approach to bossing employees and peers won’t net solid results either, at work or in life. Real and effective leaders today—whether they lead from the C-suite (a term commonly used to refer to a company’s senior executives), the assembly line, the PTO, or in personal relationships—quietly and consistently rely instead on the Eight Essentials of Effective Leadership, which will be discussed in this book.
True leaders know how to make ethical judgments in the face of real-world challenges. They recognize what it takes to win loyalty and respect, to motivate through passion, to develop positive relationships, to enhance open communication, and to nurture leadership skills in others. They also understand that the world does not revolve around them. As a result, they experience personal satisfaction in whatever they do. Those who know and understand the top tenets of personal and professional leadership consistently come out ahead, while enhancing productivity, profitability, and the bottom line—no matter the ci
rcumstances or economic climate.
Layoffs aside, job satisfaction today is at its lowest level in two decades. CEOs are worried about developing new leaders for the future. Middle managers complain of a lack of leadership from above. Motivation and direction appear to have become victims of the economic recession. All of these conditions, however, indicate a much greater problem: an overall lack of real leadership in the workplace and beyond.
Real Leaders Don’t Boss is a simple-to-understand, practical resource that helps build leaders in the workplace and in life. This book can help almost anyone grasp what it takes to inspire and lead. With the help of real-life stories and advice from a spectrum of pace-setters, this book will demonstrate how real leaders, with the right direction and guidance, build and empower teams, then quietly stand back and—no matter the economic conditions—observe as others achieve success, which in turn creates the leader’s own success.
Put away the textbook definitions with lists of leadership “styles,” be they transactional, trans-motivational, or charismatic. Real Leaders Don’t Boss will show readers aspiring to leadership greatness how to inspire others, how to teach and mentor them, and how to help them achieve their professional and personal goals—while achieving the organization’s goals as well.
As a student of real leadership for the past four decades, I believe I know firsthand what it takes to be a real leader. I have studied the philosophies and fundamentals of true leaders across a wide range of businesses and industries, as well as in the public sector. I have been a C-suite executive, military communications specialist (which included a stint in the Office of the Chairman, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff), university professor, hospital executive, administrator, consultant, writer, columnist, and entrepreneur. Along the way, I have crossed paths with or worked for a “who’s who” of world-class leaders in both the public and private sectors, including Howard S. Holmes and his son Howdy (of the Jiffy Mix company), Charles Walgreen Jr. (of Walgreen’s drugstores), Tom Monaghan (founder of Domino’s Pizza), Navy RADM William Thompson (founding president of the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.), U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, and others. My leadership philosophy has grown and developed into a unique mix of personal perception, vision, historical perspective, diverse workplace experience, and military discipline.