articole despre leadership harvard

7/26/2019 Articole Despre Leadership Harvard

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Successul Movement all have 3 acts

By Nancy Duarte

March 24,2016(https://hr!or"/2016/03/success#ul$

movements$all$have$3$acts% accesat la 6!04

Leaders of world-changing movements, from social leaders such as Martin

Luther King Jr. to business leaders such as Steve Jobs, persuade people to

follow them into the unknown, the unpredictable, the untested. Because

change is both scar and di!cult, the also help those followers push

through their fears and overcome big obstacles. " wanted to see if there

was a method to that magic, since it#s so critical for organi$ations to keepinnovating and reinventing if the want to survive over the long term.

%Man companies, including m own, have learned this the hard wa as

core products and services have matured beond their sell-b date.& So

m colleague 'atti Sanche$and " studied the most successful movements

in business and societ to look for common patterns.

(ere#s what we found) *he process mirrors the classic three-act structure

of a stor, with a beginning, a middle, and an end + and a lot of turmoil

and triumph sprinkled in. ll the great leaders we studied repeated this

process with each new idea or venture. *hink of it as a long train of Scurves, etending into the future, preventing complacenc and stagnation

+ because inspiration is a ob that never ends.

&n the e"'nn'n", you share your ream )'th others an persuaethem to ta*e a leap 'nto the un*no)n. /ou have a vision for how tomake something better, but ou need others + mabe our emploees,partners, customers, or investors + to follow ou and help ou make ithappen. So ou act as a torchbearer, illuminating the path from here tothere b helping them understand where the are headed and what the

ourne ahead will look like. /ou describe our vision vividl andcompellingl so that our fellow travelers long to see it become realit.Man 012s deliver vision speeches at the beginning of each ear thatserve this purpose.

*hen, to move forward, ou inspire people to assume new goals andresponsibilities. *hat#s not an eas task. 'eople will often reect somethingthat rocks their world, so ou must paint a compelling picture of therewards the#ll gain to entice them to ump in. Show them that therewards ustif the risk. lso inform them of the sacri3ces that will bere4uired so the know what the#re getting into.
https://hbr.org/2016/03/successful-movements-all-have-3-actshttps://hbr.org/2016/03/successful-movements-all-have-3-actshttp://twitter.com/pattisanhttp://twitter.com/pattisanhttps://hbr.org/2016/03/successful-movements-all-have-3-actshttps://hbr.org/2016/03/successful-movements-all-have-3-acts


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"n a 5667 speech to pple developers, Steve Jobs announced that theMacintosh would no longer be using the 'ower'0 processor and would shiftto the "ntel platform. *his was a nerve-wracking transition for developers.But Jobs reminded them how successful pple had been in earliertransitions, like moving to Mac 2S 8, and eplained that this change would

help them 9keep pushing the frontiers.:

+he m'le, as 'n any "oo novel or mov'e, 's )here most o# thetens'on plays out the scrappy -"ht, the steep cl'm! 0hallengingthe status 4uo does not come without hardship. 0omple processes maprove more di!cult to simplif than anticipated. "nitial ideas ma ;op, or acompetitor ma throw a wrench into our gears. "t#s our ob as the leaderto remind people what#s at stake and encourage them to press on. "n


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this match wrong can bring miser to all concerned and causeconsiderable damage.

" was once asked to facilitate in a group coaching intervention for theleadership team at the subsidiar of a large chemical compan. ear

before Kate %not her real name, the head of the subsidiar& had beenmoved from head o!ce to take charge. t head o!ce she had alwasbeen viewed as a person etremel insightful about personnel decisions.@iven her talents in (?, she was seen a good candidate to sort out themess in that particular subsidiar. "t was a big leap in terms of promotionbut Kate was given a chance.

Anfortunatel, " 4uickl reali$ed that her tenure had been a disaster. Shema have been a good coach but didn#t have what it takes to creategreater strategic focus and eecute a turnaround. great amount ofmone had been spent on consultants and on training a workforce thathad no clearer idea at the end of hat had da$$led the people at head o!ce had been Kate#s coaching andcommunication skills. She was at sea, however, in a more operational role.

>hat can be done to prevent a situation like the one with Kate *here area number of serious leadership 4uestionnaires that are worlds awa fromthe enneagrams and compatibilit tests that litter the coaching circuit.Some of these tr to identif certain recurring behavior patternsconsidered more or less eCective in a leadership contet. >e have alsotests to discover whether eecutives are people or task oriented,

autocratic or democratic, transactional or transformational, and variationson all of these. *hese sorts of 4uestionnaire ma be a bit simplistic, butthe can help point someone in the right direction on a career ororgani$ational path.

M own approach to leadership assessment is based on observationalstudies of real leaders, mostl at the strategic ape of their organi$ations.M aim is to help them see and understand that their attitudes andinteractions with people are the result of a comple con;uence of theirinner theater %including relationships with authorit 3gures earl in life&,signi3cant life eperiences, eamples set b other eecutives, and formal

leadership training.

s these in;uences pla out over time, one tpicall sees a number ofrecurring patterns of behavior that in;uence an individual#s eCectivenesswithin an organi$ation. " think of these patterns as leadership9archetpes,: re;ecting the various roles eecutives can pla inorgani$ations and it is a lack of 3t between a leader#s archetpe and thecontet in which he or she operates is a main cause of team andorgani$ational dsfunctionalit and eecutive failure. *he eightarchetpes " have found to be most prominent are)


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+he strate"'st: leaersh'p as a "ame o# chess!*hese peopleare good at dealing with developments in the organi$ation#senvironment. *he provide vision, strategic direction and outside-the-bo thinking to create new organi$ational forms and generatefuture growth.

+he chan"e$catalyst: leaersh'p as a turnarounact'v'ty!*hese eecutives love mess situations. *he are mastersat re-engineering and creating new organi$ational :blueprints.:

+he transactor: leaersh'p as eal ma*'n"!*hese eecutives

are great dealmakers. Skilled at identifing and tackling newopportunities, the thrive on negotiations.

+he u'ler: leaersh'p as an entrepreneur'al act'v'ty!*heseeecutives dream of creating something and have the talent anddetermination to make their dream come true.

+he 'nnovator: leaersh'p as creat've 'ea "enerat'on!*hese

people are focused on the new. *he possess a great capacit tosolve etremel di!cult problems.

+he processor: leaersh'p as an eerc'se 'n ec'ency!*heseeecutives like organi$ations to be smoothl running, well-oiledmachines. *he are ver eCective at setting up the structures andsstems needed to support an organi$ation#s obectives.

+he coach: leaersh'p as a #orm o# peopleevelopment!*hese eecutives know how to get the best out ofpeople, thus creating high performance cultures.

+he commun'cator: leaersh'p as sta"e mana"ement!*hese

eecutives are great in;uencers, and have a considerable impact ontheir surroundings.

>orking out which tpes of leaders ou have on our team can workwonders for our eCectiveness as a group. "t helps ou to recogni$e howou and our colleagues can individuall make their best contributions.*his will in turn create a culture of mutual support and trust, reduce teamstress and con;ict, and make for more creative problem solving. "t alsoinforms our search for new additions to the team) what kinds ofpersonalit and skills are ou missing

Kate#s stor had a happ ending. *he group coaching session made it clearthat the problem was not so much Kate#s lack of abilit but rather thatteam lacked speci3c leadership 4ualities. "f the team incorporated aneecutive with a strategic outlook and who had turnaround skills andeperience then Kate#s skills as a communicator and coach would be moreeCectivel leveraged to resolve the subsidiar#s crisis. fter talking to thehead of talent management at head o!ce we were able to identif eactlsuch a person, creating a more rounded team and helping Kate to ful3llher mandate.

Manfred D.?. Kets de Eries is the Fistinguished 'rofessor of LeadershipFevelopment and 2rgani$ational 0hange at "GS1F in Drance, Singapore,


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and bu Fhabi. (is most recent book isMindful Leadership Coaching:Journeys into the Interior%'algrave Macmillan, 56


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The Foc0sed ,eader

By Daniel 2oleman

From the december !"1#

rimar task of leadership is to direct attention.*o do so, leaders must learnto focus their own attention. >hen we speak about being focused, we

commonl mean thinking about one thing while 3ltering out distractions.

But a wealth of recent research in neuroscience shows that we focus in

man was, for diCerent purposes, drawing on diCerent neural pathwas+

some of which work in concert, while others tend to stand in opposition.

@rouping these modes of attention into three broad buckets+focusing

onyourself-focusing on others-and focusing on the #ider #orld+sheds

new light on the practice of man essential leadership skills. Docusing

inward and focusing constructivel on others helps leaders cultivate theprimar elements of emotional intelligence. fuller understanding of how

the focus on the wider world can improve their abilit to devise strateg,

innovate, and manage organi$ations.

1ver leader needs to cultivate this triad of awareness, in abundance and

in the proper balance, because a failure to focus inward leaves ou

rudderless, a failure to focus on others renders ou clueless, and a failure

to focus outward ma leave ou blindsided.

Docusing on /ourself1motional intelligence begins with self-awareness+getting in touch with

our inner voice. Leaders who heed their inner voices can draw on more

resources to make better decisions and connect with their authentic

selves. But what does that entail look at how people focus inward can

make this abstract concept more concrete.

Self-awareness.

(earing our inner voice is a matter of paing careful attention to internal

phsiological signals. *hese subtle cues are monitored b the insula, whichis tucked behind the frontal lobes of the brain. ttention given to an part

of the bod amps up the insula#s sensitivit to that part. *une in to our

heartbeat, and the insula activates more neurons in that circuitr. (ow well

people can sense their heartbeats has, in fact, become a standard wa to

measure their self-awareness.

@ut feelings are messages from the insula and the amgdala, which the

neuroscientist ntonio Famasio, of the Aniversit of Southern 0alifornia,

calls somatic marers.*hose messages are sensations that something

9feels: right or wrong. Somatic markers simplif decision making bguiding our attention toward better options. *he#re hardl foolproof %how


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often was that feeling that ou left the stove on correct&, so the more

comprehensivel we read them, the better we use our intuition. %See 9re

/ou Skimming *his Sidebar:&

0onsider, for eample, the implications of an analsis of interviews

conducted b a group of British researchers with


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know who we are until we hear ourselves speaking the stor of our lives to

those we trust,: @eorge sas. "t#s a structured wa to match our view of

our true selves with the views our most trusted colleagues have+an

eternal check on our authenticit.

Self-control.

90ognitive control: is the scienti3c term for putting one#s attention where

one wants it and keeping it there in the face of temptation to wander. *his

focus is one aspect of the brain#s eecutive function, which is located in

the prefrontal corte. collo4uial term for it is 9willpower.:

0ognitive control enables eecutives to pursue a goal despite distractions

and setbacks. *he same neural circuitr that allows such a single-minded

pursuit of goals also manages unrul emotions. @ood cognitive control can

be seen in people who sta calm in a crisis, tame their own agitation, andrecover from a debacle or defeat. Fecades# worth of research

demonstrates the singular importance of willpower to leadership success.

'articularl compelling is a longitudinal stud tracking the fates of all


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goal and imagine how good ou will feel when ou achieve it. s adults the

children of Funedin ma have been held hostage to their ounger selves,

but the need not have been, because the power to focus can be

developed. %See the sidebar 9Learning Self-?estraint.:&Docusing on 2thers

*he word 9attention: comes from the Latinattendere-meaning 9to reachtoward.: *his is a perfect de3nition of focus on others, which is thefoundation of empath and of an abilit to build social relationships+thesecond and third pillars of emotional intelligence.

1ecutives who can eCectivel focus on others are eas to recogni$e. *heare the ones who 3nd common ground, whose opinions carr the mostweight, and with whom other people want to work. *he emerge asnatural leaders regardless of organi$ational or social rank.

+he empathy tr'a!

>e talk about empath most commonl as a single attribute. But a closelook at where leaders are focusing when the ehibit it reveals threedistinct kinds, each important for leadership eCectiveness)

cognitive empathy+the abilit to understand another person#sperspective

emotional empathy+the abilit to feel what someone else feels

empathic concern+the abilit to sense what another person needsfrom ou.

Cognitive empathyenables leaders to eplain themselves in meaningfulwas+a skill essential to getting the best performance from their directreports. 0ontrar to what ou might epect, eercising cognitive empathre4uires leaders to think about feelings rather than to feel them directl.

n in4uisitive nature feeds cognitive empath. s one successful eecutivewith this trait puts it, 9"#ve alwas ust wanted to learn everthing, tounderstand anbod that " was around+wh the thought what the did,wh the did what the did, what worked for them, and what didn#t work.:

But cognitive empath is also an outgrowth of self-awareness. *heeecutive circuits that allow us to think about our own thoughts and tomonitor the feelings that ;ow from them let us appl the same reasoningto other people#s minds when we choose to direct our attention that wa.

Emotional empathyis important for eCective mentoring, managing clients,

and reading group dnamics. "t springs from ancient parts of the brain

beneath the corte+the amgdala, the hpothalamus, the hippocampus,

and the orbitofrontal corte+that allow us to feel fast without thinking

deepl. *he tune us in b arousing in our bodies the emotional states of

others) " literall feel our pain. M brain patterns match up with ourswhen " listen to ou tell a gripping stor. s *ania Singer, the director of the


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social neuroscience department at the Ma 'lanck "nstitute for (uman

0ognitive and Brain Sciences, in Leip$ig, sas, 9/ou need to understand

our own feelings to understand the feelings of others.: ccessing our

capacit for emotional empath depends on combining two kinds of

attention) a deliberate focus on our own echoes of someone else#s

feelings and an open awareness of that person#s face, voice, and other

eternal signs of emotion. %See the sidebar 9>hen 1mpath Geeds to Be

Learned.:&Empathic concern-which is closel related to emotional

empath, enables ou to sense not ust how people feel but what the

need from ou. "t#s what ou want in our doctor, our spouse+and our

boss. 1mpathic concern has its roots in the circuitr that compels parents#

attention to their children. >atch where people#s ees go when someone

brings an adorable bab into a room, and ou#ll see this mammalian brain

center leaping into action.

?esearch suggests that as people rise through the ranks, their abilit tomaintain personal connections suCers.

2ne neural theor holds that the response is triggered in the amgdala bthe brain#s radar for sensing danger and in the prefrontal corte b therelease of otocin, the chemical for caring. *his implies that empathicconcern is a double-edged feeling. >e intuitivel eperience the distress ofanother as our own. But in deciding whether we will meet that person#sneeds, we deliberatel weigh how much we value his or her well-being.

@etting this intuition-deliberation mi right has great implications. *hosewhose smpathetic feelings become too strong ma themselves suCer. "nthe helping professions, this can lead to compassion fatigue in eecutives,it can create distracting feelings of aniet about people andcircumstances that are beond anone#s control. But those who protectthemselves b deadening their feelings ma lose touch with empath.1mpathic concern re4uires us to manage our personal distress withoutnumbing ourselves to the pain of others. %See the sidebar 9>hen 1mpathGeeds to Be 0ontrolled.:&

>hat#s more, some lab research suggests that the appropriate application

of empathic concern is critical to making moral udgments. Brain scanshave revealed that when volunteers listened to tales of people subected

to phsical pain, their own brain centers for eperiencing such pain lit up

instantl. But if the stor was about pschological suCering, the higher

brain centers involved in empathic concern and compassion took longer to

activate. Some time is needed to grasp the pschological and moral

dimensions of a situation. *he more distracted we are, the less we can

cultivate the subtler forms of empath and compassion.

Building relationships.


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'eople who lack social sensitivit are eas to spot+at least for other

people. *he are the clueless among us. *he 0D2 who is technicall

competent but bullies some people, free$es out others, and plas favorites

+but when ou point out what he has ust done, shifts the blame, gets

angr, or thinks that ou#re the problem+is not tring to be a erk he#s

utterl unaware of his shortcomings.

Social sensitivit appears to be related to cognitive empath. 0ognitivel

empathic eecutives do better at overseas assignments, for instance,

presumabl because the 4uickl pick up implicit norms and learn the

uni4ue mental models of a new culture. ttention to social contet lets us

act with skill no matter what the situation, instinctivel follow the universal

algorithm for eti4uette, and behave in was that put others at ease. %"n

another age this might have been called good manners.&

0ircuitr that converges on the anterior hippocampus reads social contet

and leads us intuitivel to act diCerentl with, sa, our college buddies

than with our families or our colleagues. "n concert with the deliberative

prefrontal corte, it s4uelches the impulse to do something inappropriate.

ccordingl, one brain test for sensitivit to contet assesses the function

of the hippocampus. *he Aniversit of >isconsin neuroscientist ?ichard

Favidson hpothesi$es that people who are most alert to social situations

ehibit stronger activit and more connections between the hippocampus

and the prefrontal corte than those who ust can#t seem to get it right.

*he same circuits ma be at pla when we map social networks in a group

+a skill that lets us navigate the relationships in those networks well.

'eople who ecel at organi$ational in;uence can not onl sense the ;ow of

personal connections but also name the people whose opinions hold most

swa, and so focus on persuading those who will persuade others.

larmingl, research suggests that as people rise through the ranks and

gain power, their abilit to perceive and maintain personal connections

tends to suCer a sort of pschic attrition. "n studing encounters between

people of varing status, Facher Keltner, a pschologist at Berkele, has

found that higher-ranking individuals consistentl focus their ga$e less on

lower-ranking people and are more likel to interrupt or to monopoli$e the

conversation.

"n fact, mapping attention to power in an organi$ation gives a clear

indication of hierarch) *he longer it takes 'erson to respond to 'erson

B, the more relative power 'erson has. Map response times across an

entire organi$ation, and ou#ll get a remarkabl accurate chart of social

standing. *he boss leaves e-mails unanswered for hours those lower down

respond within minutes. *his is so predictable that an algorithm for it+called automated social hierarch detection+has been developed at


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0olumbia Aniversit. "ntelligence agencies reportedl are appling the

algorithm to suspected terrorist gangs to piece together chains of

in;uence and identif central 3gures.

But the real point is this) >here we see ourselves on the social ladder sets

the default for how much attention we pa. *his should be a warning to topeecutives, who need to respond to fast-moving competitive situations b

tapping the full range of ideas and talents within an organi$ation. >ithout

a deliberate shift in attention, their natural inclination ma be to ignore

smart ideas from the lower ranks.

Docusing on the >ider >orld

Leaders with a strong outward focus are not onl good listeners but also

good 4uestioners. *he are visionaries who can sense the far-;ung

conse4uences of local decisions and imagine how the choices the maketoda will pla out in the future. *he are open to the surprising was in

which seemingl unrelated data can inform their central interests. Melinda

@ates oCered up a cogent eample when she remarked on /0 Minutesthat

her husband was the kind of person who would read an entire book about

fertili$er. 0harlie ?ose asked, >h fertili$er *he connection was obvious

to Bill @ates, who is constantl looking for technological advances that can

save lives on a massive scale. 9 few billion people would have to die if we

hadn#t come up with fertili$er,: he replied.

Docusing on strateg.

n business school course on strateg will give ou the two main

elements) eploitation of our current advantage and eploration for new

ones. Brain scans that were performed on QI seasoned business decision

makers as the pursued or switched between eploitative and eplorator

strategies revealed the speci3c circuits involved. Got surprisingl,

eploitation re4uires concentration on the ob at hand, whereas

eploration demands open awareness to recogni$e new possibilities. But

eploitation is accompanied b activit in the brain#s circuitr for

anticipation and reward. "n other words, it feels good to coast along in a

familiar routine. >hen we switch to eploration, we have to make a

deliberate cognitive eCort to disengage from that routine in order to roam

widel and pursue fresh paths.

9 wealth of information creates a povert of attention,: wrote the

economist (erbert Simon in


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*he wellsprings of innovation.

"n an era when almost everone has access to the same information, new

value arises from putting ideas together in novel was and asking smart

4uestions that open up untapped potential. Moments before we have a

creative insight, the brain shows a third-of-a-second spike in gammawaves, indicating the snchron of far-;ung brain cells. *he more neurons

3ring in snc, the bigger the spike. "ts timing suggests that what#s

happening is the formation of a new neural network+presumabl creating

a fresh association. But it would be making too much of this to see gamma

waves as a secret to creativit. classic model of creativit suggests how

the various modes of attention pla ke roles. Dirst we prepare our minds

b gathering a wide variet of pertinent information, and then we

alternate between concentrating intentl on the problem and letting our

minds wander freel. *hose activities translate roughl into vigilance, when

while immersing ourselves in all kinds of input, we remain alert foranthing relevant to the problem at hand selective attention to the

speci3c creative challenge and open awareness, in which we allow our

minds to associate freel and the solution to emerge spontaneousl.

%*hat#s wh so man fresh ideas come to people in the shower or out for a

walk or a run.&

*he dubious gift of sstems awareness.

"f people are given a 4uick view of a photo of lots of dots and asked to

guess how man there are, the strong sstems thinkers in the group tend

to make the best estimates. *his skill shows up in those who are good at

designing software, assembl lines, matri organi$ations, or interventions

to save failing ecosstems+it#s a ver powerful gift indeed. fter all, we

live within etremel comple sstems. But, suggests the 0ambridge

Aniversit pschologist Simon Baron-0ohen %a cousin of Sacha#s&, in a

small but signi3cant number of people, a strong sstems awareness is

coupled with an empath de3cit+a blind spot for what other people are

thinking and feeling and for reading social situations. Dor that reason,

although people with a superior sstems understanding are organi$ational

assets, the are not necessaril eCective leaders.

n eecutive at one bank eplained to me that it has created a separate

career ladder for sstems analsts so that the can progress in status and

salar on the basis of their sstems smarts alone. *hat wa, the bank can

consult them as needed while recruiting leaders from a diCerent pool+one

containing people with emotional intelligence.

'utting "t ll *ogether

Dor those who don#t want to end up similarl compartmentali$ed, the

message is clear. focused leader is not the person concentrating on thethree most important priorities of the ear, or the most brilliant sstems


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thinker, or the one most in tune with the corporate culture. Docused

leaders can command the full range of their own attention) *he are in

touch with their inner feelings, the can control their impulses, the are

aware of how others see them, the understand what others need from

them, the can weed out distractions and also allow their minds to roam

widel, free of preconceptions.

*his is challenging. But if great leadership were a paint-b-numbers

eercise, great leaders would be more common. 'racticall ever form of

focus can be strengthened. >hat it takes is not talent so much as diligence

+a willingness to eercise the attention circuits of the brain ust as we

eercise our analtic skills and other sstems of the bod. *he link

between attention and ecellence remains hidden most of the time. /et

attention is the basis of the most essential of leadership skills+emotional,

organi$ational, and strategic intelligence. nd never has it been under

greater assault. *he constant onslaught of incoming data leads to slopp

shortcuts+triaging our e-mail b reading onl the subect lines, skipping

man of our voice mails, skimming memos and reports. Got onl do our

habits of attention make us less eCective, but the sheer volume of all

those messages leaves us too little time to re;ect on what the reall

mean. *his was foreseen more than H6 ears ago b the Gobel 'ri$eR

winning economist (erbert Simon. "nformation 9consumes the attention of

its recipients,: he wrote in


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to mutual understanding, cooperation, coordinatedeecution of tasks,

and collective creativit.

2n the surface, brain snchron seems eas to understand. "t simpl

implies that people are literall on the same wavelength. /et, at a deeper

level, interpersonal snchron involves much more. Fr. FanielSiegeleplains that 9presence:, 9wholeness:, and 9resonance: are at the

core of the abilit to develop snchron. ?ecent advances in brain science

can help leaders learn to snchroni$e with followers on these deeper

levels)

Mot'vat'on to synchron'e matters (resence%:0ommunicators who

snchroni$e easil are motivated to do so. >hen the do, people who

bene3t from this motivation recogni$e the snchron and feel more

connected. Multiple brain regions are activated in them. ?egions involved

in social understanding activate, helping them feel understood. nd

regions involved in the epansion of one#s sense of self to include the

other are also activated, thereb enhancing the connection.

Being 9present: starts with consciousl deciding to snchroni$e. /ou then

take the time to understand what other people are feeling, and ou walk in

their shoes to understand their points of view. /ou do this mindfull, simpl

observing the feelings in ourself and the other without being udgmental.

>hen ou do this, our brain is more likel to snchroni$ewith theirs.

Deep sel#$connect'on enhances synchrony (holeness5%:>arren

Bennis wrote, 9Becoming a leader is snonmous with becoming ourself.

"t#s precisel that simple, and it#s also that di!cult.: 2n the surface, this

de3nition seems to ignore the 9other:. Some ma even think of it as

sel3sh. /et, we can activate the best in others when we activate the best

in ourselves.

2ne wa to increase interpersonal snchron is through a techni4ue called

9reverie:. >ith this techni4ue, leaders set aside time for rambling self-

re;ection in the presence of followers+not well sculpted thoughts, ideas

and strategies, but more sincere, emergent ideas. 0ounter-intuitivel, this

increases the interpersonal connection. 0alled intersubectivit, leaders

and followers become more connected and snchronous. *his

happens becausea brain region called the mirror neuron sstem %MGS&

activates+indicating automatic resonance with the other person. lso, the

default mode network %FMG& activates, causing the mental state of the

other to be represented in the leader. *hink of these as the 9feeling for:

and 9feeling like: networks of empath. "ntersubectivit integrates both.

Leaders can also achieve this sense of 9wholeness: in a subtl diCerent

state calledmind wandering. "n contrast to mindfulness, when leaders set
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0147008http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24064075http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381276/http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr/vol6/iss4/10/https://books.google.com/books?id=NUzvBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25&dq=subjective+sensation+of+synchrony&source=bl&ots=y9yjT8lATW&sig=mY-XXacDDTgAmT-viij_44LzS98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC3Z7epcHLAhUF2T4KHdttA90Q6AEISTAF#v=onepage&q=subjective%20sensation%20of%20synchrony&f=falsehttps://books.google.com/books?id=NUzvBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25&dq=subjective+sensation+of+synchrony&source=bl&ots=y9yjT8lATW&sig=mY-XXacDDTgAmT-viij_44LzS98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC3Z7epcHLAhUF2T4KHdttA90Q6AEISTAF#v=onepage&q=subjective%20sensation%20of%20synchrony&f=falsehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25088911http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25088911http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303604/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4047966/http://dr-meshaal.com/leadership/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/On-Becoming-a-leader.pdfhttp://dr-meshaal.com/leadership/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/On-Becoming-a-leader.pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9306185http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11008633http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901003/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744871/http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0147008http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24064075http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4381276/http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/tfr/vol6/iss4/10/https://books.google.com/books?id=NUzvBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25&dq=subjective+sensation+of+synchrony&source=bl&ots=y9yjT8lATW&sig=mY-XXacDDTgAmT-viij_44LzS98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC3Z7epcHLAhUF2T4KHdttA90Q6AEISTAF#v=onepage&q=subjective%20sensation%20of%20synchrony&f=falsehttps://books.google.com/books?id=NUzvBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT25&lpg=PT25&dq=subjective+sensation+of+synchrony&source=bl&ots=y9yjT8lATW&sig=mY-XXacDDTgAmT-viij_44LzS98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjC3Z7epcHLAhUF2T4KHdttA90Q6AEISTAF#v=onepage&q=subjective%20sensation%20of%20synchrony&f=falsehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25088911http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25088911http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303604/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4047966/http://dr-meshaal.com/leadership/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/On-Becoming-a-leader.pdfhttp://dr-meshaal.com/leadership/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/On-Becoming-a-leader.pdfhttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9306185http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11008633http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3901003/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744871/


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aside time to engage in relaing tasks not central to the main mission of

the organi$ation, their brain#s FMGis also activated. @roup walks, card

games or knitting are eamples of such activities. >hen the FMG is

activated, memories from the past integratewith the present to construct

a vision of the future. *his makes leaders feel more 9whole:. "n addition,

leaders will be better ableto walk in the follower#s shoes.

+he oy$m'n connect'on (esonance5%:ctual phsical

snchronto music makes people like each other more, remember each

other better, and also trust each other more. "n fact, even as earl as hen designing an oCsite meeting, these

activities can be creativel included and practiced with a view to 3nding a

contet for them in da-to-da work.

The most important leadership competenciesaccording to

leaders aro0nd the 3orld

By 40nnie 2iles

March 15 !"16

https%&&hbr.org&!"16&"#&the'most'important'leadership'

competencies'according'to'leaders'aro0nd'the'3orld

>hat makes an eCective leader *his 4uestion is a focus of m research asan organi$ational scientist, eecutive coach, and leadership development

consultant. Looking for answers, " recentl completed the 3rst round of a

stud of


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Demonstrates stron" eth'cs an prov'es a sense o# sa#ety!

*his theme combines two of the three most highl rated attributes) 9high

ethical and moral standards: %QNO selected it as one of the most

important& and 9communicating clear epectations: %7QO&.

*aken together, these attributes are all about creating a safe and trusting

environment. leader with high ethical standards conves a commitment

to fairness, instilling con3dence that both the and their emploees will

honor the rules of the game. Similarl, when leaders clearl communicate

their epectations, the avoid blindsiding people and ensure that everone

is on the same page. "n a safe environment emploees can rela, invoking

the brain#s higher capacit for social engagement, innovation, creativit,

and ambition.

Geuroscience corroboratesthis point. >hen the amgdala registers athreat to our safet, arteries harden and thicken to handle an increased

blood ;ow to our limbs in preparation for a 3ght-or-;ightresponse. "n this

state, we lose access to the social engagement sstem of the limbic brain

and the eecutive function of the prefrontal corte, inhibiting creativit

and the drive for ecellence. Drom a neuroscience perspective, making

sure that people feel safe on a deep level should be ob < for leaders.

But how *his competenc is all about behaving in a wa that is consistent

with our values. "f ou 3nd ourself making decisions that feel at odds

with our principles or ustifing actions in spite of a nagging sense ofdiscomfort, ou probabl need to reconnect with our core values. "

facilitate a simple eercise with m clients called 9Feep Dast Dorwarding:

to help with this. 1nvision our funeral and what people sa about ou in a

eulog. "s it what ou want to hear *his eercise will give ou a clearer

sense of what#s important to ou, which will then help guide dail decision

making.

*o increase feelings of safet, work on communicating with the speci3c

intent of making people feel safe. 2ne wa to accomplish this is to

acknowledge and neutrali$e feared results or conse4uences from theoutset. " call this 9clearing the air.: Dor eample, ou might approach a

conversation about a proect gone wrong b saing, 9"#m not tring to

blame ou. " ust want to understand what happened.:

7mpo)ers others to sel#$or"an'e!

'roviding clear direction while allowing emploees to organi$e their own

time and work was identi3ed as the net most important leadership

competenc.
http://www.rti.org/publications/abstract.cfm?pubid=19572https://hbr.org/product/resonant-leadership-renewing-yourself-and-connecting-with-others-through-mindfulness-hope-and-compassion/1262KB-KND-ENGhttp://www.rti.org/publications/abstract.cfm?pubid=19572https://hbr.org/product/resonant-leadership-renewing-yourself-and-connecting-with-others-through-mindfulness-hope-and-compassion/1262KB-KND-ENG


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Go leader can do everthing themselves. *herefore, it#s critical to

distribute power throughout the organi$ation and to rel on decision

making from those who are closest to the action.

?esearch has repeatedl shownthat empowered teams are more

productive and proactive, provide better customer service, and showhigher levels of ob satisfaction and commitment to their team and

organi$ation. nd et man leaders struggle to let people self-organi$e.

*he resistbecause the believe that power is a $ero-sum game, the are

reluctant to allow others to make mistakes, and the fear facing negative

conse4uences from subordinates# decisions.

*o overcome the fear of relin4uishing power, start b increasing awareness

of phsical tension that arises when ou feel our position is being

challenged. s discussed above, perceived threats activate a 3ght, ;ight,

or free$e response in the amgdala. *he good news is that we can train

our bodies to eperience relaation instead of defensiveness when stress

runs high. *r to separate the current situation from the past, share the

outcome ou fear most with others instead of tring to hold on to control,

and remember that giving power up is a great wa to increase in;uence +

which builds power over time.

8osters a sense o# connect'on an elon"'n"!

Leaders who 9communicate often and openl: %competenc Q& and

9create a feeling of succeeding and failing together as a pack: %& build astrong foundation for connection.
http://amj.aom.org/content/42/1/58.shorthttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/232508715_Power_and_Leadership_in_Organizationshttp://amj.aom.org/content/42/1/58.shorthttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/232508715_Power_and_Leadership_in_Organizations


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Demonstrates stron" eth'cs an prov'es a sense o# sa#ety!

*his theme combines two of the three most highl rated attributes) 9high

ethical and moral standards: %QNO selected it as one of the most

important& and 9communicating clear epectations: %7QO&.

*aken together, these attributes are all about creating a safe and trusting

environment. leader with high ethical standards conves a commitment

to fairness, instilling con3dence that both the and their emploees will

honor the rules of the game. Similarl, when leaders clearl communicate

their epectations, the avoid blindsiding people and ensure that everone

is on the same page. "n a safe environment emploees can rela, invoking

the brain#s higher capacit for social engagement, innovation, creativit,

and ambition.

Geuroscience corroboratesthis point. >hen the amgdala registers athreat to our safet, arteries harden and thicken to handle an increased

blood ;ow to our limbs in preparation for a 3ght-or-;ightresponse. "n this

state, we lose access to the social engagement sstem of the limbic brain

and the eecutive function of the prefrontal corte, inhibiting creativit

and the drive for ecellence. Drom a neuroscience perspective, making

sure that people feel safe on a deep level should be ob < for leaders.

But how *his competenc is all about behaving in a wa that is consistent

with our values. "f ou 3nd ourself making decisions that feel at odds

with our principles or ustifing actions in spite of a nagging sense ofdiscomfort, ou probabl need to reconnect with our core values. "

facilitate a simple eercise with m clients called 9Feep Dast Dorwarding:

to help with this. 1nvision our funeral and what people sa about ou in a

eulog. "s it what ou want to hear *his eercise will give ou a clearer

sense of what#s important to ou, which will then help guide dail decision

making.

*o increase feelings of safet, work on communicating with the speci3c

intent of making people feel safe. 2ne wa to accomplish this is to

acknowledge and neutrali$e feared results or conse4uences from theoutset. " call this 9clearing the air.: Dor eample, ou might approach a

conversation about a proect gone wrong b saing, 9"#m not tring to

blame ou. " ust want to understand what happened.:

7mpo)ers others to sel#$or"an'e!

'roviding clear direction while allowing emploees to organi$e their own

time and work was identi3ed as the net most important leadership

competenc.
http://www.rti.org/publications/abstract.cfm?pubid=19572https://hbr.org/product/resonant-leadership-renewing-yourself-and-connecting-with-others-through-mindfulness-hope-and-compassion/1262KB-KND-ENGhttp://www.rti.org/publications/abstract.cfm?pubid=19572https://hbr.org/product/resonant-leadership-renewing-yourself-and-connecting-with-others-through-mindfulness-hope-and-compassion/1262KB-KND-ENG


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Go leader can do everthing themselves. *herefore, it#s critical to

distribute power throughout the organi$ation and to rel on decision

making from those who are closest to the action.

?esearch has repeatedl shownthat empowered teams are more

productive and proactive, provide better customer service, and showhigher levels of ob satisfaction and commitment to their team and

organi$ation. nd et man leaders struggle to let people self-organi$e.

*he resistbecause the believe that power is a $ero-sum game, the are

reluctant to allow others to make mistakes, and the fear facing negative

conse4uences from subordinates# decisions.

*o overcome the fear of relin4uishing power, start b increasing awareness

of phsical tension that arises when ou feel our position is being

challenged. s discussed above, perceived threats activate a 3ght, ;ight,

or free$e response in the amgdala. *he good news is that we can train

our bodies to eperience relaation instead of defensiveness when stress

runs high. *r to separate the current situation from the past, share the

outcome ou fear most with others instead of tring to hold on to control,

and remember that giving power up is a great wa to increase in;uence +

which builds power over time.

8osters a sense o# connect'on an elon"'n"!

Leaders who 9communicate often and openl: %competenc Q& and

9create a feeling of succeeding and failing together as a pack: %& build astrong foundation for connection.

7hy ,eadership deelopment has to happen on the 9ob

By melissa daimler

March 16 !"16 https%&&hbr.org&!"16&"#&3hy'leadership'

deelopment'has'to'happen'on'the'9ob

t a recent leadership summit we held at *witter with


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attention to the evolving contet: a business is operating in. 0ontetual

leaders facilitate adapting to change b helping their people understand

the nature of new challenges and opportunities and how to address them

in the moment.

>h are we hearing more and more about the importance of 9contet:now 2ne reason is that the contet around us seems to be shifting more

rapidl, due in part to maor technological shifts. *his means more of us

are operating in more contets, more of the time. *o take a simple

eample, when ou#re in touch with our colleagues on Slack or @oogle

(angouts outside of normal work hours, ou#re operating in multiple

contets + 9work: and 9personal: + at once. t work alone, though,

contets have proliferated and shifted as well. Dor instance, more of us

work with more people, as technolog has opened up collaboration to

more people, departments, and business units. More of us work on cross-

functional teams or across time $ones. 56


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2nce the contet shifted at our summit, we could have continued with the

agenda as planned, but we instead chose to address the departures and

all the issues the raised. *he conversations that ensued were more

candid than an "#d eperienced in m career. >e directl addressed the

challenges of the new situation, engaging in health debate that balanced,

as one leader put it, 9optimism with sober realit.: t the end of the two

das, we were aligned around a clear set of priorities and were inspired

about our future. >e were also better prepared to provide contet to our

teams about the challenges and opportunities ahead and to inspire them

in turn.

*echnolog tools are evolving, and the wa we work and learn must also

evolve. 'eople#s desire for more inclusion and agenc and the increasingl

rapid evolution of the business landscape both re4uire that we 3nd was

to create more collaborative teams, facilitate richer, more continuous

learning, and involve all emploees in their 4uest to adapt and sei$e the

abundant opportunities our fast-changing world oCers.

:o3 To really c0stomi;e leadership deelopment

By 2ianpiero /etriglieri

Febr0ary 18!"16 https%&&hbr.org&!"16&"!&ho3'to'really'

c0stomi;e'leadership'deelopment

*here is a 4uestion eecutives alwas ask earl on, when the

consult potential partners for their companies# leadership development

initiatives)

9>ill it be customi$ed:

*he answer, toda, cannot be anthing other than a resounding 9/esT:

Because 9customi$ed: has become a snonm of 9good: for leadership

development.

Sometimes, however, that 4uestion hides a re4uest for subordination. "t isa nicer wa to ask, 9>ill ou do everthing that " demand: 2ther times, it

is the starting point of a professional collaboration, an invitation to learn

and work together.

'romising customi$ation, then, is not alwas good if it stops us from

eploring what customi$ation means, what good it is for, and who it is

good for.

*he important 4uestion eecutives and educators ought to discuss, as "

see it, is not whether a learning initiative will be customi$ed + but how.
https://hbr.org/2016/02/how-to-really-customize-leadership-developmenthttps://hbr.org/2016/02/how-to-really-customize-leadership-developmenthttps://hbr.org/2016/02/how-to-really-customize-leadership-developmenthttps://hbr.org/2016/02/how-to-really-customize-leadership-development


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9pen'n" the lac* o o# custom'at'on

" 3nd it useful to break the 9customi$ation: of a leadership development

initiative down into two sets of practices. *he 3rst set involves the

contetuali$ation of the learning process. *he second set, its

personali$ation.

ontetual'at'onrefers to making sure that the learning is 3rml

embedded in the strateg and culture of the organi$ation.

Strategic contextuali1ationinvolves aligning the initiative#s themes,

content, and outcomes with the organi$ation#s strategic intent. "t includes

selecting topics tied to compan challenges, and practicing skills

prescribed b its competenc model.

Cultural contextuali1ationinvolves making sure that the initiative re;ectsthe language and norms of the organi$ation, and that instructors are

skillful in helping managers eamine the manifestations and conse4uences

of those norms.

ersonal'at'onrefers to making space for each person involved to

pursue learning related to his or her own histor, concerns, and

aspirations.

2ole personali1ation involves oCering opportunities for participants to

eamine their eperience in their current roles, so as to understand itbetter or diCerentl, and to enhance their abilit to lead more competentl

in that role.

Career personali1ation involves helping participants connect the learning

to their career traectories, and to recogni$e the pschological and social

forces that sustain or drain one#s leadership purpose in the long term.

0ontetuali$ation helps the initiative ful3ll the organi$ation#s aims.

'ersonali$ation helps it ful3lls the learners#. *he former assures that

learning is relevant. *he latter that it is meaningful.

Br'n"'n" leaersh'p to l'#e

0orporate sponsors who invest mone in leadership development are often

most concerned about its contetuali$ation. 'articipants, who invest time

and energ in it, often care more about its personali$ation instead.

>hen the 0hief Learning 2!cer of a multinational compan approached

some colleagues and " to design and deliver a leadership development

initiative, this pattern emerged 4uickl. *he compan was in a common

predicament) nimbler competitors and technologies threatened its legac


26/43

business, and the 012 had launched a new strateg in response, calling

for more entrepreneurial leadership across the organi$ation.

s he asked us for a 9customi$ed: leadership development initiative, the

0L2 alread had in mind what it would look like. >e should de3ne the

elements of entrepreneurial leadership at the compan, ask senioreecutives for recent eamples, and write case studies on them.

'articipants would dissect these best practices in class, and then practice

re4uisite competencies to implement them.

>hen we talked to the managers who would be involved, however, the

envisioned customi$ation diCerentl. *he wanted the initiative to give

them insights, tools, and support, and do awa with the corporate red tape

that prevented them from getting things done better and faster.

Both sides agreed that the compan needed more entrepreneurialleadership but the had diCerent views of what prevented it, and how to

achieve it. Geither approach alone, however, would su!ce. *he former

had too much reverence for a shared set of standards. *he latter had too

little.

*he challenge that emerged from these conversations was that of bringing

leadership to life. Foing so, we suggested, re4uired using the learning

initiative as an opportunit for participants to think and act as leaders +

within a frame that informed and oriented their eCorts without prescribing

ever action.

*he initiative that resulted did include cases aligned to a template of

entrepreneurial leadership that the compan did develop + but neither

limited to internal best practices, nor presented as guides. "t also included

eercises where managers had to face the tension between the wishes for

freedom and for control, ke features of the compan culture that we had

encountered ourselves.

t the same time, the initiative invited each manager to bring their own

case stud, and work on it with others. 0oaches helped participants

eamine what the leadership template meant for them + what it would

take, speci3call, to bring it to life in their roles, and how it might aCect

their careers.

;earn'n" happens 'n the m'le

0ontetuali$ation invites managers to ac4uire + or resolve to change +

the language, skills, and scripts that are epected of leaders in their

organi$ation. 'ersonali$ation makes room for them to consider wh and

how the might do so.


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Dinding a balance between the two, as the eample suggests, involves

inviting both the organi$ation and its managers to in;uence the learning

agenda without letting either dictate what the other must do.

2nl when that balance happens can a learning initiative develop

leadership, as it puts learners in the position of leaders + betweenpersonal and organi$ational aims, making the most of where those

converge, and addressing the areas where the diverge.

>hen that balance is lost, learning initiatives become a surrogate of

leadership rather than an opportunit to practice it. Some, paing more

attention to the needs of the compan than to those of its managers,

become little more than thinl veiled attempts at indoctrination. 2thers,

focusing mostl on helping managers search their soul and epand their

networks to 3nd and achieve their own goals, become little more than

personal indulgences.

Scratch the surface of 9poor customi$ation,: and ou#ll often 3nd ust that

+ an imbalance between contetuali$ation and personali$ation. Learning,

like leadership, can#t choose a master between the needs of the collective

and those of the individual. *heir value is in striving to reconcile both.

The best leaders are constant learners

By Kenneth Mi--elsen and :arold


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Like Dangio, leaders must scan the world for signals of change, and be able

to react instantaneousl. >e live in a world that increasingl re4uires what

pschologist (oward @ardner calls searchlight intelligence. *hat is, the

abilit to connect the dots between people and ideas, where others see no

possible connection. n informed perspective is more important than ever

in order to anticipate what comes net and succeed in emerging futures.

s the saing goes, 9*he best wa to predict the future is to create it.: But

how can business leaders make meaning of a plaing 3eld that is

constantl changing shape

+he Best ;eaers are the Best ;earners

*o 3nd their wa in societal shifts, leaders cannot rel on static maps, nor

can the hope to manage compleit through 3ating on the details. *o do

so would be to fall into the trap described b Jorge Luis Borges and dolfoBio 0asares in their


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ersonal hat matters toda is being connected to a wise network of trusted

individuals who can help us 3lter useful information, epose blind spotsand open our ees.

Sense is how we personali$e information and use it. Sensing includes

re;ection and putting into practice what we learn. "t is a process based on

critical thinking where we weave together our thoughts, eperiences,

impressions and feelings to make meaning of them. B writing a blog post

or noting ideas down, we contetuali$e and reinforce our learning.

Shareincludes echanging resources, ideas, and eperiences with

our networks as well as collaborating with our colleagues. Sharing is acontributing process where we pass our knowledge forward, work

alongside others, go through iterations and collectivel learn from

important insights and re;ections. >e build respect and trust b being

relevant when we share to our social networks, or speak in front of a

crowd.

*here is a wide range of digital tools out there for each of the 'KM

activities that can be 3tted into a bus schedule and help people become

self-directed, autonomous learners. >hich tools to use depends largel on

the contet and personal preferences. *ools are important, but master ina digital age is onl achieved if ou know how to establish trust, respect,

and relevance in human networks.

B seeking, sensing, and sharing, everone in an organi$ation can become

part of a learning organism, listening at diCerent fre4uencies, scanning the

hori$on, recogni$ing patterns and making better decisions on an informed

basis. Just as Juan Manuel Dangio did it in the


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+ienna. $he theme: Claiming ,ur 9umanity Managing in the !igital

Age.

The tric-le'do3n effect of good and bad leadership

By e also know that behaviors are contagious. 0hristakis and Dowler

determined that if ou have overweight friends, ou#re more likel to be

overweight ourself. "f ou 4uit smoking, our friends are more likel to4uit. ?ose McFermott of Brown Aniversit found that divorce is contagious.

She concluded that if ou have a close friend who#s divorced, ou are IIO

more likel to split with our spouse.

>e wanted to know how such 9social contagion: aCects leaders. >e

alread know that good leadership creates engaged emploees and that

leaders in;uence a variet of outcomes such as personnel turnover,

customer satisfaction, sales, revenue, productivit, and so on. But if ou#re

a good leader, do ou make the people around ou more likel to become

good leaders as well nd which behaviors are most readil 9caught:

*o answer this 4uestion, we eamined IQ6-degree assessments of high-

level managers and of their direct reports who were mid-level managers.

Matching 5Q7 pairs of high-level managers %(L& and their mid-level

manager direct reports %ML&, we found highl signi3cant correlations on a

variet of behaviors.

Speci3call, we tested 7< behaviors and found signi3cant correlations in

over I6 of them. %ll 7< showed some correlation, but not all the

correlations were statisticall signi3cant.& >ithin the behaviors thatappeared contagious, there were some that appeared even more

contagious than others. Behaviors that had the highest correlations

between managers and their direct reports clustered around the following

themes, listed in order of most contagious to least contagious)

Feveloping self and others *echnical skills Strateg skills 0onsideration and cooperation "ntegrit and honest @lobal perspective Fecisiveness
http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1490708http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338http://www.bmj.com/content/337/bmj.a2338http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa066082http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1490708


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?esults focus

>e also eamined overall performance. Ansurprisingl, the direct reports

of the worst-performing (L managers were also below-average

performers. 0onversel, (L managers who were rated as ver eCective

had ML reports who were also rated far above average. "t could be argued

that selection plas a role in these results, as in the old saing that 9plaers hire other plaers, but B plaers hire 0 plaers.: (owever, an

incumbent manager usuall has personall hired fewer than a 4uarter of

the people in their subordinate group. So we think this 3nding supports our

hpothesis that leadership behavior is contagious) good (L leaders inspire

better leadership behaviors among their ML reports, while bad (L leaders

do the opposite.


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>e were also curious about the impact further down in the organi$ation. "n

the IQ6-degree feedback instrument we use, subordinates are asked 3ve

4uestions that describe their o#nlevel of engagement. *his becomes a

miniRemploee engagement surve and correlates ver strongl with otherwell-known measures of emploee engagement. >e compared the

eCectiveness of the (L managers with the engagement scores of the ML

leaders, and in turn looked at the engagement scores of the ML leaders#

direct reports.

*he following graph shows the results. *he -ais indicates how eCective

the (L manager is overall. *hose whose overall leadership eCectiveness

was in the bottom


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*o help this sink in, take a minute to think about the occasional things oudo poorl and the bad habits ou can#t seem to change. Go doubt ou#renot proud of them. /ou might be a bit embarrassed. 0onsidering thisresearch might increase our motivation to change, since the things oudo poorl have a reasonable probabilit of being mimicked b others. /our

peers, our direct reports, our partner or spouse, and our children alsohave a high probabilit of practicing the eample ou set. /our childrencan#t do much about the eCects of our genetic code. But there is plentou can do to inoculate our famil and our team from our blunders orunfortunate habits. /ou can change.

Sometimes leaders wonder whether the are making an impact. Strugglingto see the impact we are having on others is tpical, as the in;uence issubtle and occurs over time. (opefull, this research demonstrates thatleaders# impact is greater than the might have suspected. /ou reall domake a diCerence.

,eadership ?0alities s competence%3hich matters more(

By 4ara @liffe noember "5 !"15

https%&&hbr.org&!"15&11&leadership'?0alities's'competence'

3hich'matters'more

*here#s sometimes a disconnect between how we talk about leadership

4ualities %we tend to use words like authority,po#er, and emotional

intelligence& and what we actuall re4uire from the people leading teams

and other working groups %arguabl, competence and a deep knowledge ofthe speci3c work that needs to get done&. "n a forthcomingJournal of

Applied "sychologyarticle, researchers from Stanford and 1rasmus

Aniversit eplore which set of 4ualities matters most to team

performance. *he paper also looks at when power diCerences contribute to

team success, and when the damage it.

" spoke with Stanford#s Lindred @reerabout the research an edited version

of our conversation appears below. *he other authors on the article are

Murat *araki %lead author& and 'atrick @roenen, both at the ?otterdam

School of Management.

=B: hat ' you hope to learn #rom th's research>

?reer) Dirst, we wanted to understand when it#s ideal to have a strong

hierarch, and when it#s better to let groups manage themselves. 'eople

talk a lot about 9holocracies: and self-management right now, but from a

research point of view the#re largel untested.

Second, we were interested in investigating how good people actuall are

at recogni$ing good leadership. >e teach our students about things likepower poses R how to appearto be someone with authorit R and how to
https://hbr.org/2015/11/leadership-qualities-vs-competence-which-matters-morehttps://hbr.org/2015/11/leadership-qualities-vs-competence-which-matters-morehttps://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/lindred-leura-greerhttps://hbr.org/2015/11/leadership-qualities-vs-competence-which-matters-morehttps://hbr.org/2015/11/leadership-qualities-vs-competence-which-matters-morehttps://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/lindred-leura-greer


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fake it Util ou make it. *hose things are based on great research and the

have real value, but are we losing sight of whether people actuallyhave

the goods %Favid Funning and Justin Kruger at 0ornell have great

research showing that the least competent people often end up in charge

because the#re overcon3dent about their own abilities.&

&n the -rst stuy, you s'mulate ho) )ell three '@erent types o#

teams per#orme! +he teams )ere search'n" collaorat'vely #or

the est solut'on to a comple prolem! =o)A they o>

"n one group of teams, in;uence was aligned with competence) the person

who knew the most about the task to be done led the team. *hese groups

performed best.

second group of teams shared power R the were relativel non-

hierarchical. *his group did not perform as well as the 3rst, but the didoutperform our third group of teams + hierarchical teams with a randoml

chosen leader.

>e replicated these 3ndings in the 3eld, b the wa. >e studied H= teams

at a publicl held Futch compan the teams were auditing 3nances in

search of ta evasion and fraud. "f the team leader didn#t have a deep,

technical understanding of ta fraud, he or she led the team badl astra.

+he last stuy also loo*e 'n epth at ho) leaers "et chosen! +ell

us ho) that )ent!

ctuall, this is a well-known eercise we do ever ear with students at

Stanford. team is given a list of items the can use to survive after a

plane crash has left them in the desert. Dirst the decide whether to sta

or wait to be rescued, and then the rank order the importance of the

items. >e then compare their answers to that of a wilderness survival

epert.

>hen doing this eercise in the contet of our current stud, one group of

teams solved the problem collaborativel, without a leader. >e comparedthese teams to a second group of teams whose members were asked to

select a leader to manage group discussions, make 3nal decisions if

disagreements eist, and hand in the 3nal rankings.

fter


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the knew who that was b now. "nstead, the chose people who were, foreample, taller, louder, or more con3dent.

2nce again, the self-managing groups did better on the task than theteams who chose the wrong leaders, but less well than the teams with the

most competent person in charge.

>e#ve done this eercise for ears, with similar outcomes. *his means that" have watched people make poor choices about who to give a leadershiprole to, ear after ear. *his ispo#erfullypersuasive.

hat lessons shoul mana"ers ta*e a)ay #rom these stu'es>

2ne, we need to pa closer attention to how we choose leaders. Select forcompetence. Fon#t get snowed b political connections or persuasivenessor the appearance of authorit. Some of those things can be useful, butcompetence comes 3rst. "t#s essential to use obective measures ofperformance in hiring and promotion.

*wo, pa attention to the dangers of formal hierarch. Dor an importantdecision, ou want to bring the best possible information to bear R whichmeans ou need leaders who are able to value the epertise of other teammembers and to share power when the#re notthe person best suited tomake a decision.

*hree, "t#s important to know who knows what. 2ften in a growth setting,

like the ones here in Silicon Ealle, ou lose track. 1ver couple of months,a team should take stock of what challenges are most pressing, and whohas deep knowledge that#s relevant to those challenges. *hat issue comesup in consulting engagements, too. *he person who brought in the clientisn#t necessaril the most knowledgeable about the work to be done)leadership roles are better assigned once ou understand who knowswhat, and the ma need to shift in the course of the proect as new issuesarise.

hen o sel#$mana"e teams, or holocrac'es,5 )or* est>

"#ve got some interesting new research on that, but "#m not 4uite read toshare it. Drom this set of studies, here#s the lesson " see) "f power can#t bealigned with the right set of competencies, an egalitarian team ma be agood idea.

& )ant to "o ac* to your emphas's on competence!5 By that youmean eep *no)le"e o# the techn'cal )or* e'n" one, 's thatr'"ht>

1actl. s a result of that depth, competent leaders can enable theirteams to seek out new ideas and propose better solutions.


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.re top$t'er us'ness schools overly #ocuse on evelop'n"leaers5 )ho are reay to ta*e char"e o# anyth'n"> &t souns as'# )hat "ro)th$or'ente compan'es 'n the S+7M -elsnee most's people )ho are est$'n$class at the techn'cal )or*,plus "oo at assess'n" other peopleAs stren"ths!

Both skill sets are important, of course, but we ma be over-emphasi$inggenerali$ed leadership 4ualities and under-emphasi$ing task competence.*hat#s a real risk.

The leadership behaiors that ma-e or brea- a global team

By daid champion 90ne !! !"15

https)VVhbr.orgV56e#re all familiar with the promise of global operations. "t#s not ust aboutaccessing big new markets+the bigger paoC, most people agree, comes

from epanding the 3rm#s talent pool and bringing together a diversit of

perspectives that will combine to make the 3rm more productive and

innovative.

>ell, that#s the idea, but as man people who#ve actuall worked on a

global team know, the realit often feels ver diCerent. *he team from

head o!ce feels like it#s carring the folks working remotel, while the

latter feel the#re ignored and undervalued.

*o get insight into how to stop that from happening, " recentl visited

professor*sedal Geele, who studies and teaches global teamwork at

(arvard Business School. >hat follows is an edited version of our

conversation

=B: hat 's the '""est challen"e o# lea'n" a "loal team>

G11L1/) Social distanceis one of the greatest barriers to eCective

teamwork. "n the contet of teams, the term denotes a lack of connection

between co-workers or colleagues and is sometimes referred to aspschological distance. >ithout a sense of connection, it is ver di!cult

for co-workers to get on the same page about their work, whether the#re

determining how to accomplish a task or thinking about a process for

doing a task. 2vercoming social distance is more challenging in the

contet of global teams because when all of a team#s members are

nowhere near each other, it#s all the more di!cult for them to agree on

how to coordinate their work.

hat causes soc'al 'stance>
https://hbr.org/2015/06/the-leadership-behaviors-that-make-or-break-a-global-teamhttps://hbr.org/2015/06/the-leadership-behaviors-that-make-or-break-a-global-teamhttp://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=438575https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distancehttps://hbr.org/2015/06/the-leadership-behaviors-that-make-or-break-a-global-teamhttps://hbr.org/2015/06/the-leadership-behaviors-that-make-or-break-a-global-teamhttp://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=438575https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_distance


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*here are 3ve was in which social distance gets created and ou have to

manage each diCerentl. *o begin with, team structure+the phsical

con3guration of the global team, how man people are in what location,

not to mention where the leader is. *hen there are the processes that ou

use for managing team interactions+without carefull managing

communication, team interactions can end up as a dialogue of the deaf.

Language is a third source) all teams have a common language but when

some people are more ;uent than others, it creates social distance

between members. *he fourth source is identit. *he was in which global

team members de3ne themselves %through culture, religion, and gender,

for instance& aCect team dnamics and mutual trust and re4uire careful

management. Dinall, ou have to be savv about how ou use

communications technolog. >e often assume that mediating technologies

like email or instant messaging or Skpe or conference calls are neutral

and benign. But the wa we use them can decisivel shape relationships

among global teams.

Suppos'n" youAre lea'n" a "loal team )or*'n" 'n mult'ple

locat'ons an you #eel one o# the memers 's out o# the loop!

hat can you o to - that>

Dirst oC, ou have to increase our contact with that person. (e or she has

to feel our presence. "t doesn#t reall matter how+ou can use instant

messaging, ou can tet them, ou can call them, send them e-mails,

obviousl+the point is that ou reall have to make the person feel that

ou think he#s important. *hen, when ou have group meetings, invite him

to speak up. Make him the 3rst person ou ask for a comment or reaction

to a particular suggestion. *his demonstrates to the rest of the team that

the person is valued and important. lso, think hard about how much this

person gets inconvenienced in terms of time $one diCerences. "s she

regularl taking calls with the team at


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*he good thing is that language imbalances are predictable. >hen ou put

a team together ou can tell which ones are comfortable in the team#s

chosen language, which means ou can formulate an eplicit team

strateg for dealing with ;uenc diCerences. @et the weaker speakers

some formal language training ahead of and during the proect and get

them to formall commit to participating. @et stronger speakers to make it

a goal not to talk too much.

=o) oes a team leaer evelop trust )'th 'stant employees>

ll emploees want leaders to be fair and to respect them and the#re

alwas looking for reassurance on this score. "n a global team, whose

leader is remote and an unknown, the aniet levels are high on this score

and so team members are constantl on the lookout for cues about what

leaders feel and think about them. 2n our visits and in video-calls the

watch what ou sa and how ou sa it ver carefull and are hungr for

information about ou and what ou are likel to think about them. *he#ll

pore over our e-mails. nd of course the#re watching ou around our

decisions, the#re watching how ou treat them, the#re watching the

etent to which ou help them remove obstacles so that the can be

successful at their obs.

good wa to build con3dence in this highl charged atmosphere is to

disclose some information about our vulnerabilities because that will

lower the aniet levels. "f the see ou recogni$ing our fallibilities the#ll

be less worried about their own. >hat#s more, b opening up, ou#re

modeling the tpes of behaviors that ou want our team members to

adopt and creating a contet of pschological safet. *his makes it more

likel that people will speak up honestl when mistakes have been made.

s we all know, people worr a lot about the impression the make, and

this is precisel what ou want to avoid.

hatAs the s'n"le most 'mportant p'ece o# av'ce you have #or

someone lea'n" a "loal team>

*hink of the ob as a combination of being in several marriages at once

and being a parent at the same time. /ou#ve got to constantl work on

our relationship with ever member of the team. /ou#ve got to schedule

date nights with each of them. nd never, ever take our relationships for

granted. "n co-located teams ou can aCord to ease up on the

communication pedal once the proect gets under wa and coast until

something important changes or a new member oins the team. 'eople

see ou around and feel reassured. But with global teams, the members

ust need more from ou. *he will worr about late replies) 9" sent the

boss an e-mail last night and she still hasn#t gotten back to me. "ssomething wrong:
https://hbr.org/2014/09/whats-your-language-strategyhttps://hbr.org/2014/09/whats-your-language-strategyhttps://hbr.org/2014/09/whats-your-language-strategyhttps://hbr.org/2014/09/whats-your-language-strategy


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t the same time ou#ve got to manage our team members# relationships

with each other. "n co-located teams people can manage relationships with

each other 4uite easil+the#re phsicall nearb, culturall close, and

there#s alwas time for the water-cooler chat. >ith global teams ou#ve

got to step in as a leader to help our members learn to communicate

directl and be read to moderate if need be.

" can#t emphasi$e enough how important the leader is to the success of a

global proect. Most times, when we pick a team leader we#ll weight the

leader#s credibilit on the task+look at their track record in this line of

work. But if it#s a global team, we need to emphasi$e the people

skills, especiall their abilit to manage distance, not ust master of the

subect matter.

Ba ;eaersh'p =a'ts to leave eh'n 'n 201631 oct 201 y m'*e

myatt(http://)))!#ores!com/s'tes/m'*emyatt/20

1/10/31/$a$leaersh'p$ha'ts$to$leave$

eh'n$'n$2016/C233e#a4@a%

News Flash there is no perfect leader. But theres also no arguing the fact

that some leaders are much better than others. So, whats the differencebetween those leaders whose career trajectory rockets upward with great

elocity, and those whose careers moe at a snails pace, if at all! "he best

leaders know when to stop harming themseles, they know when to get out of

their own way, and they know what to S"#$ doing.

% hae long held to the belief that leadership e&ists to disrupt mediocrity.

'oweer my obseration is that many in positions of leadership tend to protect

the status (uo )mediocritys best friend* at all costs. "he best path forward for

any organi+ation looking to improe performance it to immediately stop doinganything that creates, emboldens, or builds on bad leadership habits. ont

embrace outdated, static, or politically correct thinking neutrali+e it at all

costs.

-e lie in a world that far too easily suffers fools in leadership. -e embrace

pseudointellectuals and idiot saants as thought leaders, we accept poor

performance as normatie, and we alue being politically correct more than we

fear being incorrect. /eadership should not be about #hois right, but it should

be about #hatis right.


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-ith less than two months before the calendar turns into a new year, % want to

encourage you to be bold and think differently. -hile there are many things %

could offer up as forward looking leadership counsel, % thought it best to

share 0 things % beliee all leaders should immediately stop capitulating to in

order to become more effectie1


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%Smart&. Leaders who complain about a lack of resources are doing nothing

more than demonstrating their lack of resourcefulness. M 012 at

G5@rowth,Brian Laerhas a great saing which has become one of m

favorites so much so, we#ve adopted it as a core business practice at

G5@rowth) 9"f it#s stupid, it#s not our polic.:H. ol't'cal orrectness R B its ver nature, politicall correct thinking is

most often disingenuous, if not altogether intellectuall dishonest. 'oliticall

correct thinking replaces individualit and authentic opinions with sociall

acceptable rhetoric and watered-down behavioral tendencies. " actuall miss

the das when most conversations consisted of unpredictable, highl

charged, and stimulating discourse R ou know the ones, where people were

encouraged to openl share their true thoughts and opinions. *he iron of

politicall correct thinking is that a societ void of individual thought actuall

creates the opposite of diversit. "t is, in fact, politicall correct thinking that

results in a brainwashed group of sheep that completel lack diversit as a

result of a generi3cation of thoughts and actions. *he dark secret behind

politicall correct thinking is that it slowl dulls our senses, and neuters

our innate abilit to be discerning. " don#t know about ou, but " don#t want

to hear what ou think " want ou to sa, or what ou think ou should sa,

but rather " want to hear what ou#re reall thinking. (ave ou ever sat in a

meeting where all parties sit around the table with a deer in the headlights

look tring to 3gure out how to dance around an issue rather than address it

head-on "t is this tpe of issue that pollutes our culture, sti;es innovation,

undermines our productivit, and sentences those who embrace politicall

correct thinking to a life of mediocrit. Leadership should be much more than

a test of one#s abilit to ecel at plaing dodgeball.

7. En)'ll'n"ness to han"eR 1amine an stud on the rate of change, and

ou#ll 3nd we#re living in an unprecedented time. *he rate of change is

clearl outpacing most leaders abilit to learn and unlearn. Man leaders

struggle to remain current, much less 3nd a wa to move ahead of the curve.

(ere#s the thing R if leaders are stuck in the past, their organi$ations will be

forced to travel a ver rough road to the future. Leadership isn#t destination

based R it#s a continuum. @reat leaders think beond the outcome. *he

think about #hat ifand #hat*s next. *he don#t get trapped in the ourne to

a speci3c destination, but remain in constant search of discover in order to

seek new and better opportunities. nthing in business can be improved,

everthing can be reimagined, and man things can ;at out be eliminated.

*he harsh realit is this) leaders who embrace 9what is: b failing to broaden

their worldview will be replaced b those who pursue 9what if: b embracing
http://www.n2growth.com/about/leadership-team/http://www.n2growth.com/about/leadership-team/

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