Apex Thinking: Words from Dr. Charles H. Polk

Follow the Leader

When we were kids, many of us played the game “Follow the Leader."  It was a very simple game:  one person led all of the others to wherever and whatever they might conjure up at the moment.  It was a game of trust; we knew that the leader wasn’t going to do something too daring or stupid that might endanger our lives or get us in trouble with our parents.  When a particular leader finished or was encouraged to “let me do it now,” there was seldom a contest or, in the extreme, a fight.  Common sense and common courtesy seemed to rule the day and we merrily went along following and having fun, knowing that is was mostly harmless play. 

Today’s modern version of “Follow the Leader” is a risky game in which it is possible to lose one’s career and reputation, and even go to jail.  In the political arena, following the leader is not always a matter of choice and often comes down to deciding whether principle and what you believe mean anything when stacked up against the real possibility of being made ineffective or, in many cases, useless. 

Modern politicians are experiencing the pitfalls of playing the game “Follow the Leader.”  At the moment, for our national leaders, the question is “Do I act on the wisdom of the people who put me in office?” or “Do I bend to the pressure of the person at the front of the line who is telling me what my choices are, when to act, how fast, how far to push in an issue, when to vote and what my vote has to be?”  Is this what following the leader has come to be?  Maybe so, but if leading others requires blindly following, we are sure to lose what leadership is intended to accomplish.  The likes of what we see today in our nation’s capital is pure and simple bartering for benefit and at its worst, coercion. 

Some of the behaviors that we should be seeing from our nation’s leaders include:

• leading and connecting with others through communication
• leading self with character, courage, and integrity
• leading for results and bringing resources to make things happen
• leading in a climate of change by focusing on future vision and positive outcomes
• leading across boundaries and building coalitions to resolve differences

Maybe it is the absence of these rather simple behavioral expectations that we have of our leaders that is causing the “freezing of Washington” and its gridlock; in times that are definitely calling for corrective and positive action, a do-nothing group of “leaders” (if we can use that term) is the last thing we need to secure our nation’s future. 

Maybe it is time to “follow the leader”—if we can find one.

Going Rogue: A Review from the Leadership Perspective

Sarah Palin has been successful by any measure. While reading her popular new book Going Rogue, I wondered if, in many of the books that I read that aren’t specifically about leadership, there is substance that could be meaningful and possibly helpful to an aspiring leader?

I began to look at the book from a different perspective; not only would I want to understand this person who has leapfrogged into the national political scene, but does she give a clue as to what she is as a leader and what she would be like if she were to somehow have the opportunity to lead in a much more grand way? Previously I have identified five competencies for successful leaders: leading self with character, leading others and connecting through communication, leading for results with resource acumen, leading in a climate of change, and leading across boundaries and building coalitions. What in Sarah Palin’s book can we find that gives us an indication of her success as a leader?

Palin seems to know herself as she describes her life from childhood to a candidate for the vice presidency of the United States; however, Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching believed that “knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” While Ms. Palin is certainly an accomplished political figure and has achieved more than most people ever will, that she blame others for so much of her own failures in her book is a clear indication that she has not mastered herself.

Sarah Palin is an excellent communicator; her style and strategy seems to ride on being clear and telling it simple. In using this strategy, she was able to communicate her desired outcomes and those for others (especially Alaskans), and she did connect with a large segment of the people who followed her; her portrait of herself and her family as “Joe Six-Pack” types made it possible for people to relate to her as an individual.  As with every leader, however, while she may communicate and connect, there is no assurance that those hearing the message are in agreement.

Successful leaders lead for results and know how to use resources to accomplish their goals. Sarah Palin seems to be very capable in this regard. Her ability to understand and work within systems that were already in existence in Alaska seemed well-honed, although understanding them did not necessarily mean that she agreed with what she had to work with. She did bring resources to bear on her initiatives and she did succeed. She believed that her service was to stakeholders in Alaska, its people, and her focus was on them as customers of government. As a leader of a state, she demonstrated her understanding of complicated issues, not the least of which was the politics of plenty and pay-off as she encountered it when she took office as governor.

It would be s stretch to say that Sarah Palin was leading in a climate of change; she was change and her brand of change, while likely good for Alaska, was not something that endeared her to those that she led. Running rough-shod over those in political office at the time that she took over as governor would likely have ultimately caused her demise in any event. Sarah sees herself in her book as a change agent, and I would certainly have to agree. Her survival as governor meant adapting to the needs of a rapidly changing world. She served her constituents well as she tells the story. She did succeed as long as she stayed with the job; her leaving the governorship regardless of her explanation as to why seemed like a betrayal of what she stood for.

Effective leaders operate on the edge of and across boundaries, often in areas in which they have no direct authority and where people don’t agree. Even in the words of Ms. Palin, as she describes how she caused change to happen, it would be hard to believe that she was concerned about leading across boundaries and building coalitions. To the contrary, she seems to be more concerned, and for that matter skilled, at running over the competition and having her way than attempting to lead those who are in disagreement with her or in building bridges to other constituencies that would serve her goal as change agent.

Going Rogue is one of those well-written books where the author looks at others not as they are, but as she is/was. The book is a cagey spin on one who sees herself as a pit bull, who shoots straight, and dresses up in the clothes of a maverick as she positions herself for her next campaign speech. Sarah Palin has she been a successful leader whose intent is to create good outcomes remains a question even to the last page of the book.

The Deepest Foundation

Your approach to leadership, as you doubtlessly are discovering already, is far more complex than simply having vision and giving direction. To truly be able to lead and have honest investment from the people you are engaging with, you simply have to be able to put yourself in others' shoes and understand, on some level, what they are thinking and feeling. Much as an artist could not realistically paint a landscape with just black and white on the palette, your sense of situation and approach to direction cannot be credibly put into play without empathy - the kind of understanding that will fill your bag of resources with varied hues of opinion, emotion, and intellect. In this excerpt from What Leaders Believe, to be published later in 2010, we talk about this idea further, with more detailed insight into how leaders use this tool to develop themselves and the people around them.

To care about the human condition, whatever it might be at a particular point in time, requires one very basic emotional factor: empathy. It, empathy, is the deepest foundation on which goodness, morality, and ethics are built. Understanding that what hurts me will also likely hurt you defines the parameters of this phenomenon in its most rudimentary sense. Building towards the conclusion that leaders both inherit and learn behaviors essential to helping others achieve positive ends requires that we understand empathy exists in other species. It is a quality we all in some way share.

It should not come as a shock that species much less complex than we are should display a trait as generous of spirit as empathy. Even if we reject that there is nothing “extra mundane” in animals’ conduct, the spirit of that display of “emotion” for others prompts us to question explanations that such behavior is simply how animals demonstrate care. Arguing that empathy is nothing more than an “overflow” of self-affection, or that it is a form of emotional bartering we either learn or inherit, does not detract from the fact that it exists. Indeed, groups of animals living together who practice reciprocal empathy seem to thrive while those who do not, suffer. From an observation such as this, we inevitably conclude that we can build on our understanding of how human leaders become good by observing creatures of less complexity.

It may appear unnecessary to drive home the connection between members of the animal kingdom regarding empathy as a foundation for understanding leadership, since the case in fact has already been made by scientists who study the function of the brain. However, it is important to enable potential leaders to understand how empathy is critical to leadership designed for good outcomes. It is absolutely essential that we develop to a point where we are able to feel the discomfort of others, the passion of another’s intent, or any experience, whatever it might be–– as others feel it in order to articulate our knowledge of the human condition as part of any action plan for others to achieve a desired outcome.

Leading in a Climate of Change

The science of change—and the art of it, as it clearly involves both a detailed, systematic approach alongside a painter's flair for vision—is central to a leader's daily routine. Learning how to better use the friction created by your communities' resistance to your ideas to generate warmth and energy for your mission is essential to your own personal growth, and that of your organization. On this topic, I invite you to read an excerpt below from What Leaders Believe, a new book by myself and Dr. Whilliam White which will be available soon.

Change begins when life begins and of course ends when we fall into the grave. Leading in a climate of change, while maintaining a focus on the future, is no easy task. The constancy of change will always require that our vision reflect alternative realities as the living social system within which we thrive tends to fluctuate. Helping others to remain focused and encouraged about an uncertain future in the face of difficulties tests a leader’s ability to accommodate change. Knowing that vision and future depend upon expanding horizons, and exercising inclusion rather than exclusion, predetermines that the inevitability of change is accepted rather than rejected.

A vision of growth or evolution must constantly expand beyond its perceived origins. As certainly as change is continuously a part of human existence so is the presence of ambiguity and the inevitable choices caused by the paradox of our realities. Providing direction in a storm of change is the life of a contemporary leader.

To emerge as a leader is one thing; to create an environment in which one can always manage sustainable change is another. It is essential that we weave each layer of our leadership strategy as though it was a fine fabric in which each thread is carefully interwoven into a group or organizational structure and links us to others in a way that fosters dominance. Left to its own devices, an organization will settle for routine activities and the status quo, almost certainly becoming resistant to change. But change is essential to the emergence of new leaders. For established leaders to change or in time give way to an emergent leader requires constant pressure upon an organizational system and the resistance of others. Should everything else fail, we must make fundamental changes in our own personal style. That means we attempt to change who we are and reinvent ourselves as we introduce new ideas into an organization.

Leading in a climate of change, or for that matter leading to create a climate in which continuous change takes place is possible only if we can communicate our vision to others, encourage them to feel positive about what we desire on their behalf, and improve the acceptance of change by increasing everyone’s capacity to accommodate it. This helps others better understand their environment and portrays it as an ever-changing entity, giving them comfort as they deal with the obvious paradox between change and resistance and the ever-present ambiguity that exists in everything we do.

Gratitude

As Thanksgiving approaches and the dining rooms of America fill with the aromas of turkeys, cranberries, and all the other trimmings, people will gather under the auspices of giving thanks for what matters...their families, their belongings, their careers. And as the country does year after year, over the next few weeks as Christmas approaches, the tenor of communication will have disintegrated back into some ongoing sense of “what's in it for me?”

As somebody who has received his share of ill-chosen ties and books through the years around the holidays, I can personally tell you that Christmas is when people seem to focus on themselves more than they might realize, especially in terms of gift giving and receiving. Regardless of the religious origins of the holiday, self-centered behavior is just built into the nature of any holiday where people exchange presents. It would be interesting if we had a meter and could gauge, for any random family exchanging items around a tree, how many things were given out of love and respect and how many were intended subconsciously to impress, influence, or control others.

Which introduces the concept of gratitude, which by itself is a noble thing. Many great societal movements have doubtlessly been driven at their lowest level by simple graciousness and appreciation. As leaders, there are times we may feel like we owe somebody gratitude for a favor, or for a job well done. Since we have been conditioned from childhood with so many of the wrong-minded gifts, we tend to humanly want to give extra consideration for people who genuinely deserve our thanks, especially when they know just what it is that we need.

I ask you today, over your Thanksgiving break, during a time of thanks, to think through the people you might be giving extra consideration to because of their  uncommon understanding and insight into your goals and ambitions. Decide if, around the Christmas tree, they would be handing you something that would be placed on a closet shelf until the spring’s first yard sale, attempting to influence you with a token thought or idea. Those who do not are the ones you should be very grateful for this holiday season.

Leadership Versus Motivation

In my position, I am pitched to fairly frequently by all kinds of entities wanting my attention. Often academic, but I am just as regularly sought out by management consultants, success coaches, and others in similar fields who build their business on what essentially is shoring up morale and motivation through inspiration.

There's an art to leadership that I feel MSU has developed into a nearly scientific level of components. Art is, after all, expression that combines talent and experience into something new and engaging, so it's not a stretch to me to suggest that true leaders are artists...their canvas is just the human potential available to them in any given setting. 

The challenge comes to us when we reconcile success coaching with the art of learning – and teaching – leadership. Are they on a separate playing field completely, relevant only because they too desire to increase common goals such as the liquidity and subsequent growth of an organization?

Often the consultants and coaches do not have the educational background that would enable them to teach for a university. And many are well-versed in marketing, and it shows. But in the end, we all are after the same result, which is fundamentally to accomplish change in effective ways, and I can't help think that even the non-academic people out there selling leadership tools are not ineffective as part of the art of leadership—even if they may not share the academic understanding of the discipline that we value.

The Doctor of Executive Leadership Program

This morning I had the joy of meeting and addressing the fifteen students in our new Doctor of Executive Leadership program. This is an exciting day for these students, for the faculty of the School of Leadership and Professional Development, for the Mountain State family, and for the community of Beckley, WV.

Over the past 19 years, I have had the privilege of watching our school transition from Beckley College to The College of West Virginia and in 2001 to Mountain State University, adding educational programs and campuses at an astounding rate.

Today's launch of the new Doctor of Executive Leadership is one more milestone of achievement for Mountain State University, and we look forward to the great learning and leading that will result from these students and their journey to the doctorate.

 

Gone to Complacency, Every One: The Emergent Leader Crisis

Several years ago, Lee Iacocca wrote a book entitled Where Have All the Leaders Gone? While I personally did not enjoy his book or believe that it contributed much to any body of knowledge, it did call attention to what might be a leadership crisis.
 
It is likely true that when we have strong leaders present, we become complacent, depending on them as our experts for many things, including how we should feel about issues. If there is a decrease in the number of leaders on whom we can depend for clear direction, and people are not stepping up to offer themselves as leaders for the moment and the issue, then maybe Iacocca is right. We will eventually be down to our last credible leader, at which time our social system just crashes and we are left to randomly exist without direction at all.

Such is likely not the case, but we do need emergent leaders surfacing all the time in order to fill the voids left by those who fall by the wayside or just become tired of running ahead of the pack. If the American spirit is really what we think it to be, it should encourage passionate people to want to lead for the moment on any issue that is critical to them and others. It is not necessarily important that we make public careers for our leaders, but it is important that our society encourage people to lead. This is the appropriate place for the emergent leader.

We have a tendency to discount the amateur’s ability to lead toward a positive outcome, but it is often these emergent leaders who move things forward, as they have no baggage to drag them down. They often don’t know enough about the “rules of leadership” to worry about breaking them, and are then not hijacked by the fear of what others think in their pursuit of the change they seek. These leaders might not be experts on issues, but with passionate understanding, they can depend on their hunches to guide them toward a positive outcome.

These emergent leaders need not be the sober and practical and commonsensical “leader experts” we usually see speaking out on an issue. Instead, they can bend to their wild and crazy intuition, causing others to want to listen and follow. These people are able to live up to their dreams of causing change to happen without having to worry about impending failure as they are able to fall back on the fact that they are “amateurs in the game.” Of course, no one likes to lose, and there is certainly a profound humility that is required when throwing oneself into situations that are uncertain. But the reward in winning is seeing problems solved—and having new ways of doing things become a part of who you are.

The greatest obstacle to an emergent leader is not inexperience but the illusion of failure. The realization that one might fail should not be a deterrent to those who want to make a difference. America needs leaders who are looking for that thrilling and immensely gratifying opportunity to start as a beginner and end up as a pro. With more people getting into the game of leading others, there should never be a crisis of numbers.

Why Saying What You Think Is Good For You

For those who think that leading is easy, just take a look around you to see what kinds of issues face our leaders today. It is not uncommon for someone to be questioning your integrity, motives, ethnic heritage and sexual preferences all at the same time. Being only human but not being able to exercise those attributes that surely characterize us, we are forced into constantly defending who we are and what we are expected to do in a gentlemanly or womanly manner (whatever that might be). We are denied the right to speak our mind, and in the terms of the layman “tell it like it is.” Instead, we do what is not good for us—bundle it up in some neat little emotional package and, if we cannot forget it, dwell on it until it becomes a true irritant.

While I recognize the importance of leading by example, it just might be beneficial to “tell it like it is” and vent frustration and alleviate emotional pain. Telling it like it is could surely extend to saying those words and uttering those phrases that give us relief and comfort.

We all know that there are words that are forbidden in polite company but uttered frequently in private. Possibly just once in a while we should say what we are thinking. It is a proven fact that when we are experiencing intense pain, it helps to swear or otherwise use language that just isn’t generally acceptable, but the lesson is obvious in the outcome—we feel better even though we might regret having said what we wanted. It is important to understand that the opportunity to communicate our true feelings as leaders is hijacked by role expectations that are superimposed on the position we hold. So letting go could be what the doctor has ordered for the leader under pressure.

It is prudent, however, not to overuse those words that help to reduce frustration; doing so wears thin and over the long run dulls and is not effective. Being blunt and expressive is an art, and saying what comes to mind in a particular situation needs to be measured against the fallout that often occurs. There is power in words—whether it is for a release of emotion or to otherwise make a point. Choose your occasion, but remain cognizant of who is looking and hearing. 

The Detail Sorters

At Walmart, the company that has effectively corralled the concept of low prices into their own brand portfolio, change is underway in their relationships with the companies that supply the products they sell. According to a recent article in AdAge, the new direction, labeled Project Impact, seeks to consolidate the number of suppliers they use and better leverage the advertising dollars that those companies have available to support Walmart's operation.

Leadership principles effectively will dictate that you have to have some semblance of a team in order to be a leader. While on the surface Project Impact might look to be the epitome of corporate control-wielding, reality is, Walmart has simply, officially and clearly adopted a leadership role with companies with which it is essentially partnering. This will keep smaller company and stand-alone brands off the valuable shelf space in their stores, which, while putting small brands in perilous situations, will help strengthen the focus, and likely the bottom lines, of the big product companies. As the Consumer Confidence Index has faltered over the past couple of months, new strategies are clearly necessary.

Insiders have referred to these meetings as "MBA Meetings," which seems to be code for leaving the grunt work of sorting out the deal schema to people with those degrees. Notice, though, that the MBA people are not the ones seemingly recommending or directing the changes — in this scenario, they are clearly detail sorters.

Leadership development and acumen are key to being able to resolve complex situations, even in unpleasant situations, by looking at the big picture for all involved. With Project Impact, Walmart has taken a leadership role, with vision and direction for where they intend to go with their organization. The people with MBAs are doing the sort-out work for them. Keep this in mind when you personally are thinking of your future—where would you like to be in a similar scenario played out within your business or organization?