Real Leaders Don't Boss Read online

  Customer value and brand loyalty. Whether a business has domestic or international customers, a diverse employee base in marketing, sales, product design, and other aspects is important because we live and work in an increasingly global society. Companies need to acknowledge this, or risk losing credibility and customers who do not want to deal with companies projecting outdated ideologies.

  Talent pool. Recruiting employees from emerging markets makes undeniably sound business sense. Boards of directors, senior management, middle management, and front-line employees must be diverse in order to attract this emerging talent. Otherwise, the emerging workforce will go elsewhere.

  Sets of Standards

  In an attempt to deal with the ugly executive, some boardrooms adopt certain behavioral expectations for top management. Even so, the ugly executive isn’t always held accountable. That doesn’t mean, however, that you or your fellow employees should lower your own standards of conduct.

  Fortunately, some companies do look at diversity and solutions to other significant issues as essential attributes for success in the global marketplace. “The best leaders are learning they must check their egos at the door and become increasingly sensitive to diversity, generational and geographical issues,” says Rick Lash, director in Hay Group’s Leadership and Talent Practice and co-leader of Hay Group’s Best Companies for Leadership.1 According to Hay Group’s January 2011 study, among the Top 20 companies for leadership:

  90 percent actively recruit cultural minorities.

  95 percent say cultural diversity has helped their organization become more effective.

  100 percent actively manage a pool of successors for mission-critical roles.

  100 percent have a sufficient number of qualified internal candidates who are ready to assume open leadership positions at all levels of the organization.

  58 percent have a high proportion of women in senior leadership.

  95 percent say helping employees achieve a work-life balance is a priority.

  Unacceptable Behavior

  What is your company’s policy, if any, toward ugly executives? If you’re not sure of the answer, chances are your company turns the other cheek. Can you figure out why? Most likely, the company is unable or unwilling to take the necessary stand of zero tolerance toward these behaviors, which are unprofessional, counter-productive, and absolutely, positively don’t belong in the workplace.

  Is there anything you can do to negate or marginalize the negativity from these employees? Practice zero tolerance. If this person is a boss, confront senior management on the issue. Or, if management continues to tolerate the behavior, pack your briefcase and move on.

  Leaders Make the Difference

  The real leader is the antithesis of the ugly executive, and his or her influence can and does make a positive difference in business and industry, whether an organization is corporate, private, governmental, or some other entity. Leaders connect with those around them and spur actions. It’s not a unique concept, but it is an essential one for leadership and long-term success.

  One of the most effective leaders in recent memory is Robert Gates, former U.S. Secretary of Defense in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. A big part of Gates’s effectiveness is his superb ability to form close, professional relationships and partnerships with those around him. As Defense Secretary, Gates had a close working relationship with the President of the United States. Gates understood President Obama’s needs and met them time after time. As a real leader, Gates understands the importance of building solid relationships, and that establishing and nurturing alliances with others expedites the accomplishment of goals. Perhaps Gates gained that essential insight from his years as a university president at Texas A&M—a role that requires a leader to satisfy many different constituencies.

  The Zumwalt Difference

  When President Richard Nixon appointed Admiral Elmo R. “Bud” Zumwalt Chief of Naval Operations in 1970, the nation was embroiled in the Vietnam War. Reenlistment rates had plummeted as youth rejected the military in general, and the Navy, which had largely ignored racial integration, was forced to deal with well-publicized racial incidents aboard ships as well as dockside strikes. In other words, the Navy was mired in discontent, much of it caused by a huge disconnect between bosses (management) and staff (officers and enlisted personnel). Real leadership was lacking. Nixon knew this and recognized that rocky times called for a leader, not a boss or a bully. Zumwalt was a leader who genuinely cared about others and his organization, the U.S. Navy.

  Zumwalt, who had served as Commander of Naval Forces and Chief of the Naval Advisory Group for Vietnam, was appointed over 33 senior officers. At age 49, he was the youngest officer to hold the nation’s top Navy post and the position of admiral.2 He was a go-getter, a visionary, and a communicator, and he knew how to listen.

  His four-year tour as Chief of Naval Operations was characterized by his herculean efforts to foster dignity, respect, service, and honor among all naval personnel by meeting with them, listening to their suggestions for improvement, empowering them, and ensuring that their needs were better met by their commanders. At the same time, he never forgot the primary mission: to enhance the Navy’s ability as a superior fighting force. The policy directives Zumwalt issued during his tenure were called “Z-grams,” and many remained standard operating procedure after he left his post.3

  After Zumwalt’s death in January 2000, he was honored in the U.S. Congressional Record in a statement by Sen. Russell Feingold:

  As CNO (Chief Naval Officer), Adm. Zumwalt tackled some of the most divisive and challenging issues not just to hit the Navy, but society at large. And we’re still trying to conquer some of them. Adm. Zumwalt crusaded for a fair and equal Navy. He fought to promote equality for minorities and women at a time of considerable racial strife in our country and at a time of deeply entrenched institutional racism and sexism in the Navy. He pushed so hard against the establishment that he almost lost his job. But Zumwalt prevailed and instituted a host of personnel reforms....4

  A great leader on and off the battlefield, Zumwalt was eulogized by President Bill Clinton at his funeral at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis:

  As much as any other leader in our entire history, Americans could always count on Bud Zumwalt to do the right thing. The midshipmen here learn a lot about honor, commitment, and courage. All his life, he exemplified those virtues. His bravery in World War II, in Korea, what he did in Vietnam, his physical courage and leadership led him to become the youngest Chief of Naval Operations in our history. But beyond his physical courage, Bud Zumwalt stood out for his moral courage and for saying what he thought was right, regardless of the consequences....5

  The Edwards Transformation

  We also find these leaders outside of the military branches. Limoneira’s Harold Edwards is another transformational leader who cares about employees and the community and who can handle whatever he encounters. He defines leadership as “...the combination of vision and selfless consensus building.”6

  Founded in 1893, Limoneira had been a pioneer in California agriculture. When Edwards took over the leadership of Limoneira, the company was treading water, relying on its past achievements instead of looking to the future. Edwards was a visionary who could see potential and, like Adm. Zumwalt, he knew how to build toward the future. As a leader, he also knew how to build consensus. Instead of coming in with big plans—his plans—to change everything, Edwards worked long and hard to forge community and corporate partnerships and encourage the concept of “stewardship” of resources, part of the foundation that once had made the company great. Limoneira was transformed. Today it is the largest producer of avocados and lemons in the United States, and oversees more than 7,000 acres in production. The company is also a major force in real estate in the Southern California region. 7

  Public annual shareholder meetings can be raucous affairs, where it is often difficult for a company’s leader to handle irate
shareholders, let alone satisfy them, while still maintaining a friendly and professional manner. But the latter is no problem for Edwards, a master communicator and listener who manages it all with ease. He discusses corporate concepts and strategies for the future and patiently answers shareholder inquiries. He is deliberate, careful in explaining the company’s decisions, and unruffled, no matter how demanding the questions or the temperament of shareholders. He handles difficult situations with the utmost diplomatic skill, and never bullies or puts down a shareholder, no matter the question.

  I’ve watched Harold Edwards in action many times, but perhaps the most telling was at a recent Limoneira annual meeting. During the question and answer period, he took all the shareholder questions, and patiently and thoughtfully answered each one, so no one felt snubbed even when the questions were disquieting or impertinent. He then offered to meet with each questioner privately if he hadn’t answered their question to their complete satisfaction. Edwards’s desire to go above and beyond to better inform his shareholders is testament to his desire “to teach and to develop” one of the company’s most important constituencies, a signature leadership quality. It has also enabled him to transform his business model by gaining consensus among an ever-diverse set of stakeholders.

  The agricultural business Edwards manages has been passed down from generation to generation since California was settled. Throughout time, the large ranches and parcels of land have been divided among an increasing pyramid of heirs. Left alone, this process has resulted in small pockets being developed independently, often resulting in a loss of contiguous land for agriculture. By working with individual families and their heirs, Harold has been able to transform family lands into a collaborative corporate entity where heirs can pass down stock without loss of agricultural lands.

  The Fleming Factor

  Yet another great change-maker and principled leader who cared about those around him was Robben W. Fleming. Before his death in 2010 at age 93, he served in various leadership posts, including president of the University of Michigan, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. A professor of law and an arbitrator, he also held labor and industrial relations posts at the universities of Wisconsin and Illinois.

  Fleming was a courageous spokesperson for racial justice, an ardent critic of the Vietnam War, and a staunch advocate for nonviolence. In the tumultuous 1960s, as buildings at colleges and universities across the nation were being torched by student protesters, Fleming always listened and truly cared about the staff, students, and community around him. During one violent student protest when he was chancellor at Wisconsin, he reportedly called the police to arrest the protesters (which they did, hauling them off to jail), and then personally bailed them out of jail using his own money. At the University of Michigan later during similarly unsteady times, Fleming used his labor negotiation skills, patience, and humor to help the university weather that era, avoiding the destructive confrontations that affected many other universities.

  For me, the Navy was a tale of working with some of the best and most effective leaders, as well as some of those not-so-stellar bosses.

  My first duty assignment was the brig, specifically the Correctional Center at Naval Base, Great Lakes, Illinois. Officially, that meant I was a correctional counselor in a prison run by Marines. I was assigned to Senior Chief Personnelman Harry Johnson, who was responsible for my orientation, supervision, and development. Johnson truly was a real leader. He knew the business and was experienced onshore and at sea. He was intelligent, professional, and wise. His leadership style was to do the right thing at the right time and in accordance with Navy regulations. He also taught me the importance of being punctual, completing my assignments on time or early, and the value of discipline accompanied by fairness. He set the right example at all times and led in this manner.

  Senior Chief Johnson was a highly capable manager with an abundance of “white-knuckle” experience solving problems under pressure with limited resources while underway at sea throughout his 25-plus years in the Navy. He attended to his duties in the brig with discipline, precision, and care. Like many seasoned sailors, he carried himself with a gruff exterior, an active mind, and a well-concealed soft heart. I remember late one evening, several prisoners escaped from the brig. Marines—some barely clad and armed with loaded rifles—were dispatched from their barracks to cordon off the brig, while others were dispatched in hot pursuit of the escapees. It so happened that at the same time this was going on, my wife, Joan, arrived at the brig to pick me up. Johnson sent two Marines to escort her to safety inside our offices. Their idea of “safety” was to place Joan in the “bullpen,” an area where peaceful prisoners were held under observation. When Johnson found out, he promptly moved her, remarking, “Well, Joan, now that you’ve been properly oriented to a military correctional facility, do you want to enlist?” His wit defused an otherwise-tense situation, probably saved my marriage, and endeared my wife to him forever.

  Bosses are often more concerned about how they look in such a situation, but Johnson’s decisiveness and humor were singularly focused on the well-being of others and what his judgment told him needed to be done.

  Bosses Versus Leaders and the Millennials

  We have all encountered the boss who takes the one-size-fits-all approach. That kind of disconnect and resulting disenfranchisement of employees happens all the time in today’s multi-cultural, multi-racial, and multi-age workplace. That is, in part, why worker satisfaction is at an all-time low and why real leadership is so very important today. Rather than wield a cookie cutter, today’s leaders must tailor their approach and style to fit the nuances of leading various generations and groups of people without compromising their ideals.

  The newest members of the workforce are the Millennials, or so-called Generation Y, who present their own unique challenges. These are people born roughly between 1980 and 2000, and by 2014, they will be 58 million strong. Bosses likely call them the least respectful and most demanding generation yet. Real leaders, on the other hand, recognize that this generation brings tremendous value, skill, and insight to the workplace. Millennials require a different kind of real leadership, one that understands how to corral their energies.

  Contrary to bosses’ opinions, these “Gen-nexters” are passionate about their work, energetic, and committed, and they’re tomorrow’s leaders. They will improve American ingenuity, innovation, and competitiveness in an increasingly global marketplace. They’re bright, industrious, and driven to succeed; they want to be challenged and given more regular feedback so they can improve. They’re technologically savvy, cross-culturally aware, and committed to sustainability and diversity. Millennials are less trusting of corporate titans and politicians. They’re also remarkably civic-minded and better equipped to be team-oriented, as a result of changes in our education system that now emphasize team-building and team activities.

  The Millennials already boast some great leaders today. Mark Zuckerberg was a computer science student at Harvard University when he co-founded Facebook in 2004. The company revolutionized social networking. Larry Page and Sergey Brin co-founded Google. Google’s head of marketing in the Middle East was Egyptian Wael Ghonim, whose Tweeting about the uprising in Egypt helped act as the catalyst to the revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. These are the real leaders who dare to have the vision and passion to bring new and radical ideas and approaches to life. Bill Gates and Paul Allen had similar visions and passions when they co-founded Microsoft decades ago.

  Non-Traditional Approaches

  Millennials gravitate toward organizations that assign them mentors, provide more frequent performance appraisals, give praise for a job well done at the successful conclusion of a project, and offer more flex-time. Non-tradition is the future in the workplace. Employers—big and small—must learn to evolve and embrace a new generation of workers or perish. Forget policies that aren’t family-friendl
y. Penalizing parents for taking time to be with their kids doesn’t cut it with this next generation. Neither does the silent treatment in the workplace.

  Millennials want to work for companies that have an edge over others. They seek more growth opportunities and speedier advancement than their predecessors did. Thus, organizations that commit the necessary resources to construct their own internal talent engine will more often be selected by this group. It is critically important that businesses motivate the young workforce by closely connecting their jobs—and company success—to career development in a fully integrated way.

  Ventura County attorney Michael Bradbury suggests that when it comes to dealing with Millennials, a leader’s first step should be to learn all he or she can about them.8 “The Pew Research Center produced a series of reports on the behaviors, values, and opinions of this group9 and it is ‘must’ reading for anyone who supervises or leads people these days,” he says.

  Unlike the last two generations, Millennials are less trusting of corporations. This provides a golden opportunity to build loyalty toward a company and perhaps results in keeping employees for longer periods with substantial cost savings, says Bradbury:

  Millennials look at loyalty as a two-way street. Leaders today must exhibit a genuine interest in their employees. In a very real sense, they must look at them more as partners than traditional employees. Once a leader understands his people and what motivates them, she or he must adapt the workplace to take maximum advantage of their new way of thinking. This doesn’t mean that the business must be run like a collective, but it does mean that they can’t proceed in a business-as-usual manner.10