Tom Peters: In search of leadership heroes
Mike Levy talks to a chastened Tom Peters about how the real leadership heroes are the invisible figures leading small organisations through the economic crisis. And Peters also offers to answer your leadership questions!
For a guru of excellence, 2009 is hair shirt year for Tom Peters. "I had the chance and I remained silent – I could have screamed a lot louder than I did," says the co-author of the best-selling 'In Search of Excellence' and a dozen more. "What was going on around us was a level of wretched excess which in hindsight, one can say, 'I should have been blowing whistles'." This criticism of unfettered capitalism seems particularly pointed coming from a man regarded as one of the world's leading business thinkers – and a prescient one at that. In his book on leadership published in 2005, he wrote: "We fall back, in these crazy and chaotic times on the command-and-control model of leadership, a model that no longer accords with how dynamic leaders actually operate." He has also written many times that we live in an age where leaders confuse 'value' with 'profit'.
"Leadership is a sacred trust – that is not extreme language. Leadership should be seen as an honour – you have an astonishing responsibility to those in your care."We are all to blame....
Is he being too harsh with himself for not speaking out against the greed of the Big Money Corp? "In a court of law I can trot out the right words to be declared 'Not Guilty' but I find myself, and my fellow 'gurus' must share some of the blame, as must the business schools. Though we can't be held responsible for man's greed gene which has been evolving for tens of thousands of years, those of us who have pulpits should speak out." In these turbulent times, Peters thinks it ever more important to hammer home the fundamentals of business, that never change. This, he says, is despite the revolution in networking communications - including ezines such as TrainingZone.co.uk. "The five-year-olds who are growing up with social networking tools as second nature may change the whole business game in 20-25 years. At 66, I am definitely an old 'old guy' but these days you are an old guy at 25!"
Servant leadership
Being in his seventh decade has not stopped Peters thinking new thoughts. Many of these came out of an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the commemoration on the life and work of Peter Drucker a few years back. "One of the many things I came across was Greenleaf's book on Servant Leadership which I had first seen 25 years ago but hadn't really taken on board. In the situation we are now facing, the notion of an organisation which exists only to serve and a leader who exists only to serve those in that organisation is a damned good starting point. I use that fundamental idea around which to weave my current presentations."
Peters, the realist, recognises that many successful business leaders haven't yet got the point about their true servant role. He describes - in an unprintable way - the nature of those who abandon their organisations in these times, lured by promises of fat golden hellos and seven-figure bonus packages. "Leadership is a sacred trust – that is not extreme language. Leadership should be seen as an honour – you have an astonishing responsibility to those in your care." When he sees leaders abandon that trust – by quitting, retiring or making large-scale redundancies, Peters feels that they have failed in their duty.
Leading through the recession
These are times, he says, to try the souls of leaders: "To state the obvious, one's mettle is tested in difficult times. But I want to avoid like the plague that motivational speaker's nostrum: 'This is a time of great opportunity – get on your feet!' There is a strong bullshit part of this but I do believe you can treat this recession as one to be gotten through and one in which you can dig deep and think about the people to whom you are responsible. It is a chance to inaugurate a period of significant renewal. It is bloody immoral if you don't."
Peters calculates that few leaders under the age of 50 will have experienced a tough recession like this one. Despite this, he is optimistic that change will come. "I find that people are more open now to new thinking in running business." Peters feels that acceptance of the new regulatory regime agreed at the recent G20 summit is a key indicator of this sea change in the way we operate the capitalist system.
It is also a time, he thinks, for coaches and trainers to reassess their methods. "We need coaches who are a little less Behaviouralist and a little more Freudian," says Peters with a smile. He means by this that it is a good time to reassess with our coachees and trainees and ask, 'what is the point of what we are doing?' It is one thing, he says, to coach people in giving a better presentation, but what about the content? "If you are a coach, you should have a hair shirt in your closet too," warns Peters. He means by this that we should focus on what people do rather than how they are doing it. "This is a great time to explore the underlying assumptions behind what we do.
“Leadership per se implies a moral value. Though the military model of leadership can often be misapplied, it does have a lot to teach us about the way people should be led."
'Invisible' leaders: the backbone of Britain
Peters urges caution in the way we role-model leaders. Are there business leaders that, even today, Tom Peters would regard as excellent? "There are indeed but you and I have probably never heard of them. They are the guys leading small organisations who are getting through this crisis. They get up in the morning, go to their hardware store, restaurant or brokerage, help their clients, serve their community and help those seven people who work for them." There has been, he says, too much attention to the chief executives of huge organisations and almost none on the guys who run the 50-person businesses – 'the backbone of Britain' – he (half) jokes. "Richard Branson and Jack Welch may have a lot to teach us, but there are an enormous number of effective and humane [he emphasises this word] leaders operating small organisations. 99% of them never make it to your website or the pages of my books."
This last self put-down is rather typical of Peters' recent hair shirt thinking. He has recently been giving presentations on the gaffs perpetrated by leading business gurus. One is focusing too much on 'sexy' businesses rather than dull but well-led organisations. He cites as a great success story a small-town American company that made concrete road-rock asphalt. "You can't get more basic or boring than that." Peters observed the training programme for the company. Everybody came – from the truck drivers to the receptionists. "The trainer had a genius idea: to ask everyone over a couple of weeks to make a note of the best – and worst - two or three customer experiences they have had. The idea was to look at good, and not so good, performance at a micro business level. It was a fabulous training session." Peters says that if you want to work out how to lead a giant aircraft company, look at how the local restaurant works.
Tell us about your invisible heroes!
I offer Tom Peters a title for his next book: 'Invisible Heroes'. "Let's do it," he says with huge enthusiasm, and let's ask TrainingZone.co.uk members to come up with their own examples of great leaders operating small, 'invisible companies'. Tom Peters, always in search of excellence, is now looking at you.
Many of Peters' ideas on leadership (and much else) can be downloaded free from his website
Mike Levy is a freelance journalist, author, writing and presentations coach
www.writestart.co.uk
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Glad to see Tom on-board . . .
. . . with Servant Leadership! I wasn't sure where he stood with respect to the SL approach.
If you think about it, SL aligns perfectly with what Tom espoused in his seminal works, "Searching for Excellence" and "Thriving on Chaos" books (which I considered primers, and reread numerous times).
Heroes? When it comes to SL, the epitome of a Servant Leader is Jesus - he was always focused on what was need to develop his followers into Servant Leaders themselves. And, he gave the ultimate sacrifice towards this purpose!
Burning question for Tom? I'll have to think on that more . . .
Leadership Accountability?.
I am a great admirer of Tom's work and what an opportunity to share.
It is never too late to check and correct the leadership mental roadmap. I am happy we had this crisis for how else could we have got the world's intellectual community and business gurus to witness and acknowledge the biggest culprit for organisational entropy - leadership.
As a soldier, I honed my leadership skills under the spell of Napolean's quote, "There are no bad soldiers, only bad officers". Hence, you can understand why I feel to the bone in holding leadership central to all actions, including negligence. The behaviour of people is the responsibility of leadership. Period. People are what leaders make or break them to be.
I am a bit lost on the part about the "command and control" approach not in accord with how dynamic leaders operate. Does this mean there is an absence of dynamism in the military?. I do not believe servant leadership or some of the latest brand of leadership was incorporated into the military doctrine (at least not when I was in it). I stand corrected, but what the military does champion is Situational Leadership, an ageless model founded on the basis of values - mission critical, combat power(capabilities) teamwork, honour, sacrifice and integrity. Tom said, "Leadership per se implies a moral value. Though the military model of leadership can often be misapplied, it does have a lot to teach us about the way people should be led." I just cannot fanthomise how the business world which operates and is measured for "profits", could ever learn or emulate the the military. Sounds cynical?
Now that I am in the world of business, let me ask, "why would we look to the military to learn?". I mean, the very mention of "discipline", integrity and teamwork can easily put people off. We adopt and promote marchiavelian and oxymoronic practices that produces contrarian and paradoxical results. We yearn for teamwork yet the reward system is entirely modelled to promote, "What's in it for ME". Why should we be surpised if workers insist on receiving bonuses when the company bleeds towards bankruptcy?. So, what sort of talent development should we adopt in creating the leadership pipeline?.
I personally feel we should stop harping on models and start "walking" the one thing that all leadership models advocate - values. These values should be "universally" accepted and respected without grounds for excuse in hiding behind positional power, economic strength, cultural constraints and time limitation. We could do away with all those glorified lessons from leaders on how they took charge in turning around dinosaur companies into profitable jackpots or used bell curves to "rid" under-performing workers or use wallstreet financial wizardry to mislead reality. What we need to listen are stories from ordinary leaders - simple, humble, giving and unheard - who remain uncharismatic yet able to envision and energise the collective spirit of people to achieve success. We want to hear inspirational stories of leaders who can afford more than a smile in difficult times because they cared for their people, even at their own cost. A recent survey by a public university over here revealed, "35% of students were willing to accept bribes, if they had the power and opportunity". What does it say and where does the responsibility lie in turning around this new generation of future assets?.
I welcome the idea of seeking out the "invisible heroes". Perhaps, we could find a more appealing and lasting reason why leadership should be the top agenda of all - particularly regulatory agencies - to evaluate, develop and monitor closely. It ought to be a book that resonate with both leaders and followers, one that appeals across sections of business and society - big, small, profit, non-profit, Western, Asian, rich, poor, old young, etc.
Question to Tom: We know "you can't manage what you can't measure". How could we raise the standard of leadership accountability beyond the financial indicators?. I hear a lot of smoke on corporate governance and leadership accountability by regulatory agencies. What are the prospects of effectively auditing accountability for leadership integrity and moral conduct?.
LEADERSHIP - TOM PETERS - YUVARAJAH COMMENTS AND QUESTION
Yuvarajah says in his pen picture, “My mission is to make a positive difference in people’s lives”. This is a powerful statement and on reading his comment on Tom Peters it is easy to see that he means it! Well done and good luck! Passion in his subject leaps out from the article. This is a quality needed but not always found today...
His early departure from the military to business has lead him to make many interesting observations and they give welcome opportunity for this writer to pen some [but not all!] thoughts!
The subject of ‘Servant Leadership’ has been raised elsewhere on this excellent web site, and mention was made of the motto of the UK’s Military Academy, Sandhurst – “Serve to Lead”. The contributor then told us that on ‘Commissioning’, he was advised to , “Love your men”. The motto and advice surely rest well together? And if he did subsequently ‘love his men’ then they no doubt ‘loved him’ – and what is more, probably followed him!
We see today as the draped coffins return, the ultimate expression of ‘that love’ – greater love hath no man....Incidentally that motto has been around for over 60 years; not ‘new’ by any means but certainly a lot older than when the concept was coined by Robert K Greenleaf in an essay “The Servant as Leader” in 1970
Situational leadership, despite ‘criticism’ in some quarters can rightly be seen as an exemplar model, but there are of course many other models and indeed theories. Worthy of mention is that of John Adair and “Action Centred Leadership”. John is seldom if ever quoted [to my knowledge – forgive me please if I am wrong!] in books/articles/ journals emanating from the U S of A. He formed his model in the early sixties whilst on the staff at Sandhurst. It is used throughout the forces and one can note again from this web site that it features [but not perhaps sufficiently?!] in training programmes throughout the UK business sector. He researched in great depth the writings and theories of the ‘gurus’ of the time and those back in management history.
Still on ‘models and theories’, Leadership remains a consuming subject – as indeed it should, especially when there is such a shortage of ‘successful leadership’ [particularly at highest levels as noted by Yuvarajah]. Could it be that denial, ignorance or non-acceptance of such models is a cause, nay major cause of these catastrophic failures? One would like [rather want, need] to know exactly where some of the well known miscreants stood on such matters? Did they know of ‘the models’ and if so what did they do with that knowledge [not a lot perhaps??!] if they were not aware of any model, then why not?!
From Adair to Zaleznik, and the hundreds in between, these writers have researched, observed, pondered and come up with their ‘grids’, theories models and matrixes etc. Surely they cannot all be wrong – or – alternatively right?! By synthesising many of these writings it is possible to derive a model [yes another model – not really - just a repositioning of those wise men’s/women’s works!] that if given a chance, can ‘open minds’ and perhaps get a step closer to help anyone; yes anyone, who aspires to that challenge of leading [but then we do need to define the product {leading} – or do we? Again surely we can find one from the 400 or so definitions that apparently exist?]
“Why?” asks Yuvarajah, “would we look to the military to learn?” Might a list as follows be helpful in giving guidance to a business enterprise both very large [multi-national] and not so large [Small to Medium Enterprises: SMEs]?:
1. Selection and maintenance of the aim
2. Maintenance of morale
3. Offensive action
4. Surprise
5. Concentration of force
6. Economy of effort Security
7. Flexibility
8. Co-operation
9. Administration
Yes – maybe? And their origins; well numbers 3 and 5 give the game away. Of course they are from a military publication nearly a quarter of a century old, but whose tenets are even much older and have been known throughout as’ the principles of war’. They all translate neatly to ‘civilian’ terms to be found in any modern work on Logistics, Purchasing etc. Whilst the title is contrary to those ‘soft skills’ apparently required today, they could be appropriate when an author writing in 2008 on the subject of failings in defence procurement subtitles the work ‘The Battle to Reform UK Defence Acquisition’ [italics are mine] Makes the point about how difficult it is to bring about change.
As for the final question, that is a difficult one. Values and principles such as integrity and moral conduct and others that have been mentioned are ‘of the spirit’ as one great leader of the past chose to call them. Like beauty they are hard to define but obvious when seen – and equally obvious when lacking?! If we actually measured, managed and then took action on those things that can be measured – the task of those regulatory agencies, then that would be a start. And that is where this comment must end!
Question for Tom?! Your comments would be most welcome!
Why don't we trust our leaders?
Thanks for the comments and memory jog on the 10 principles of war, John.
I am not sure about the rest, but I am a quite awed by the low response to such an important aspect of our lives (Ok, Worklife !). 4543 reads and only 3 respondents? Is it a sign of hopelessness or helplessness - fait accompli.?. Do we have a broken window in leadership?. (According to psychologist Todd Kashdan, curiosity - asking questions - can lead us to a more meaningful life). And, I feel the same with seeking workplace solutions.
BTW, I just stumbled upon an interesting perspective on the level of leadership success in UK, based on research done by David Pardey. The article titled (as per the subject heading) records, "The ILM's Leadership Index recently revealed that UK employees have lost faith in their leaders". Are the alarm bells ringing?.
These are the kind of stuff I find at odds with - Knowing well what the situation is and not doing "enough" to effectively address it heads on. And, at the centre of it all lies the root cause - distrust. Imagine, we are progressing forward in a world filled with mistrust, manipulation and myopia. Where is all this leading to?
Feeling desperate and in search of a meaningful way to address the leadership challenge, I invested in becoming a professional Coach. But, I see even that is not sufficient to tip the scale in opening eyes and, as Ken Blanchard says, enhance the "spiritual awakening". So, how do we create the critical mass or (the military term) force multiplying effect to achieve the quantum leap.
Is training the answer?. I gave my comments to, "why leadership training doesn't work" So,what else can or need WE (starting right at the apex) do "differently" to exhort the believe or buy-in?. How do we facilitate a paradigm shift towards placing all these nebulous traits of leadership into focus and unconscious competence. My guess would be to elevate it to a level of significance and priority just as how financial results have received attention. We need to build it into the system before it encultures. The way I see it, we just can't leave things to self regulation and market regulation to correct and turn things around on such "intangible" areas. Statutory bodies must step up their game plan in regulating the leadership accountability - starting at the Board room (because the fish rots from the head). Financial results should not be the ONLY thing that matters in corporate governance. Leadership competence and behaviour indicators should form a significant criteria in measuring leadership in the same breath as fraud and corruption. Not doing "enough" to model exemplary behaviour like walking the talk , removing cultural barriers, communicating strategies, fostering transparent policies, championing performance management (setting goals, standards and measures), etc should be read not just as mere negligence and non-performance but as a form of fraud and corruption, as well. Yes, it should come down to it when you see abusive leadership undermining integrity and trust.
Isn't' it time leadership came under a wider microscope lens - all stakeholders, including followers and the governing bodies responsible for the "eco-system"? Should "employee engagement survey" be made mandatory compliance tool to measure the leadership challenge? Would 360 reporting make a difference and impact the way managers would perceive, appreciate and treat leadership seriously. How do we promote self-efficacy in leadership?. How do we convert non-believers ?. If ignorance is the excuse, could action-based learning in taking on a real-life project be the answer?.
I honestly believe there is enough literature and wisdom on leadership. What is really lacking is the "spiritual" application. Preaching through training is not sufficient. We need a different level of commitment form the top. Sometimes, we need compliance to kick start things, just like what ISO does?. We need a reporting structure and system to capture leadership in action. But, first, let's give it weightage by measuring and reporting it.
Looking forward to Tom's response.
Corruption - Who's Accountability?.
Just caught an interesting report by Transparency International (TI) in a daily news today (see down below).
Guess who is paying the price?. The TI report is complemented with in-depth reports on best practices and recommendations to combat graft. I am amused over the use of the word "To Combat Graft". Do they really know what that word means? Seriously, how many people are aware of these measures and what is being done?. What is the strategic and tactical plan to wage the battle?. Set-up a National Integrity Institute and give sermons?. Engage so called "independent" parties (but, "dependently"paid by the company!) to audit the books. Have an Anti Corruption Agency battling their own integrity - embroiled in political disputes.
Take a look at the Code of Corporate Governance and tell me how much "combat" emphasis goes into auditing leadership, human capital, talent development?. The main reason why strategic execution fails is because leaders formulate an "unimplementable" plan. So, what do you do?. Wait for the failure?. Are we doing "enough" to combat the broken windows?. Perhaps, we need a new model - Questions Based Management ?.
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Report: Firms gave out RM140bil in bribes
Companies in developing countries have been giving bribes to corrupt politicians and government officials amounting to US$40bil (RM140bil) every year, says a report on global corruption.
The Global Corruption Report 2009: Corruption and the Private Sector (GCR) conducted by Transparency International (TI), also revealed that half of international business executives polled estimated that corruption raised project costs by at least 10%.
Consumers around the world were overcharged about US$300bil (RM1.5tril) through almost 300 private international groups discovered from 1990 to 2005, the report added.
TI Chair Huguette Labelle said there was a need to foster a culture of corporate integrity to protect investment, increase commercial success and ensure the stability sought by poor and rich countries, especially during the economic crisis.
“Basing a company or fund’s future on personal relationships and unpredictable systems or simply operating in a dark space without oversight and accountability is a path to guaranteed failure,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“Winning on anti-corruption means adding to the bottom line.
“It is time that corporations face up to the risk of paying millions in fines and the long-term loss of trust from their customers and shareholders,” said Labelle.
The GCR is a yearly publication from TI that compiles expert research and analysis from around the world with a focus on corruption.
It consists of more than 75 experts examining the scale, scope and devastating consequences of corporate corruption.
The report is complemented by 45 in-depth country reports along with the best practices and recommendations to combat graft.
Tom Peters: In search of leadership heroes.
Two short Questions:Two short Questions: I am not a leader though Leadership doesn't need some times a degree, but rather, it is something within us and born with it. We need Leadership Training or qualification so to be more communicative, and more mathematicians in order to set Plans and Annual Budgets and also to know how to delegate some of our duties amongst our servants. Many of today's leaders failed to execute their duties and also at end, they put the blame to their lower servants and especially the going gets tough. 1) So Sir with your experience and experts, what is your definition for a very successful Leadership? Special today when there are financial crisis in every corner and each and everyone is trying to find the "Best Way" to survive and make his business sustainable. 1) Where leaders confuse 'value' with 'profit' ? Can you explain more this point Sir..
-- Thanks for your good service
why leadership training doesn't work
THAT leadership training doesn't work we can be sure - the evidence is all around us. Businesses around the world have spent billions on "leadership training" in the last couple of decades and yet the leaders of today have served us less well than the leaders of any previous generation. The mess we were in was not only not ameliorated by good leadership, it was actually caused by bad leadership.
You cannot train leadership because it isn't a skill. Oh sure, there are plenty of skills that can make leadership more effective in certain circumstances (influencing or organisational skills for example), but you can train all these and skill have an ineffective or destructive leader.
So if you can't train it what can you do? My humbly offered suggestion is that you can encourage it to emerge. The single most important thing you can do to encourage leadership to flourish in your organisation is to create a culture where the kind of leadership you want is encouraged and rewarded. That might mean canning all those bonuses that Y mentioned, getting rid of fancy job titles (and the parking spaces and executive restaurants that go with them) or changing the structure to encourage lateral working. If you aren't willing to to do that well there's no quick fix I'm afraid. That's why this has to come from the top - and maybe that's why Tom is right that the real heroes are invisible. In organisations of a handful of people the leader looks their followers in the eye every day, so paying themselves an unearned reward would be too shameful to contemplate. These are the true servants.
The other thing you can do is to coach - more accurately to build a coaching culture, where every conversation has the potential to become a coaching conversation. Work is hard (or it should be if it's going to be meaningful), and coaching is the best way for people to reflect on their behaviours and whether these are aligned with the values of the individual and the organisation. Have someone you trust to use as a sounding board if nothing else.
If you want to do something structured, then rather than "training", try facilitating. You can start with self awareness - facilitate a conversation about behaviours and their impact, then move onto values and beliefs. In my experience, the single most powerful thing you can do is to get people to talk about their values - what's important to them, what they stand for. This will help them assess whether they are "walking the walk" and what they need to do to align their words and deeds. Again, you can only do this in a culture of support and trust; nobody is going to be open about their values if they feel they are on trial.
Leaders stand for something, help them understand this for themselves, then help them communicate this to others.