Leading the Unleadable

by Alan Willett

  I decided I could not continue in this way. I went into my office and closed the door. I canceled all my meetings. I ignored all phone calls. This was a problem that I would solve. Through the week, I contemplated many things. The following were the most important realizations.

  • Growing up on a farm, I learned much about business and leadership. I especially learned from my parents that work is a choice and making the choice was a key component of joy. My father would laugh when he read about people retiring to farming after waiting for years to do so. He loved farming and found it strange that people would wait so long to do what they love.

  • I looked to the future and contemplated what my next fifty years would be like. There were many things I realized thinking that far into the future. The limits of our time on this Earth was one clear realization on that not-so-distant horizon, but also an opening of my mind to a plethora of opportunities ahead if I used my imagination. If I chose courage.

  • Many of the things I was doing for my job were things that I did not believe were right for the company. I was asked to do them, but that didn’t mean these were the right things. I knew for sure that many of the things I was doing and how I was doing them were not right for me.

  • I realized that the mental model I had of my job as an endless marathon of slogging through mud was simply my projection onto the situation. I was choosing that mindset.

  By the time that I left work on Friday, I had quit working for Xerox, but I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t need to—I simply quit the mental model of the job I held in my head. I realized that from that point onward I was going to work for the same person I had been working for all along but didn’t realize it.

  I was going to work for me. It did not mean I would waiver in my commitment to Xerox. Instead, I was taking ownership of providing the best value I could contribute to my company and its customers. The difference was my taking ownership of that contribution and how to best achieve it.

  In the years since that transformative crises point, I have spoken to many other leaders who came to the same conclusion when they faced and overcame their leadership crises. Although the details vary with our paths, the pattern is clear.

  After we realized with great clarity that our career belonged to each of us as individuals, we returned to work on a different mission.

  We had chosen the path of exceptional leadership.

  What Does It Mean to Choose Exceptional Leadership?

  The first thing it meant for me was that I chose it.

  I had realized that the main difference between the muddy ultramarathon and my work life was simply that: choice. I had chosen to run the muddy horrendous hills of the ultramarathon and although it was often difficult, and sometimes painful, I found the thing to be fun and rewarding. Meanwhile, I was treating my work life as an obligatory trudge across a desolate landscape.

  I was finding work difficult because I was being a victim. I was not choosing to be there. My big realization was that my mindset was simply wrong. Every day that I went to work was a choice. No one was forcing me at gunpoint to go there. Further, I realized my work life could be full of fascinating, rewarding challenges.

  It was up to me.

  When I returned to work on Monday, as far as anyone else knew, I had returned to the same job with the same set of responsibilities. They were not completely wrong. I did have the same title. I still had those responsibilities.

  However, my person mental model had changed. I was now treating myself as a business of one person who was choosing to provide services to my employer in exchange for the company’s choice to pay me. In running this business of “me,” I had three significant mindset shifts.

  1. Provide great return on investment to my employer. For me to be successful, my employer must be successful. Thus, my focus was changed from “get stuff done” to “have great positive impact on the business.”

  2. Improve me. Any business must be focused on the now and on the future. My new mindset changed to think of every investment in time I made as having to be beneficial to my employer but also to myself. I wanted everything to be a clear learning opportunity that provided value to me and my employer. Before this goal, improvements of my skill set were secondary to getting the job done. I promoted this to be equal in value.

  3. Reduce my labor while dramatically increasing the value I provide. Before this mindset shift, I just worked harder, whatever the challenge was. The more tasks that came my way, the harder I worked, and I was rewarded generously with more tasks. My focus on providing value with impact changed how I treated every single request that came my way.

  I recently discussed these mindset shifts with a business owner. Even as a business owner he was not immune to being “run by the business” as opposed to him “running the business.” Our leadership crisis stories had parallels. He too found himself on a repetitive treadmill of just working harder. We both had come to the conclusion that we needed to focus our time on the big benefits to ourselves and the businesses.

  These mindset shifts result in significant changes in how leaders approach work. Here are five examples of how to manifest the changes in day-to-day work.

  1. Make “What are the business goals and benefits?” a favorite question. Any time that a stakeholder approaches you, including a direct manager, or any of your employees has an idea for more work, always initiate a discussion that starts with that question.

  2. Do not allow micromanagement of the how. Focus on the best way you know to achieve the goals. This may seem obvious, but many of my clients work with micromanagers who are challenged in their abilities to clearly state their goals; they instead want to dictate what tasks to do and how to do them. The micromanagers think they want a pair of hands, but accepting that diminishes the results. I simply refused to work this way, often to the micromanagers’ shock, as no one else did this. I would talk with them until I understood the goals and then I would say, “If I achieve the goals, do you really care how I get it done?” Freedom in how to achieve the goals improves the efficiency and the results.

  3. Seek opportunities to dramatically improve your business. This is a big shift for most people. Before the mindset shift, they were so overwhelmed that they would never consider looking for more work. With the mindset shift, you will be thinking about the overall business and where you can provide the most impact. You will be pitching new ideas and initiatives that further the business of you, and the business that you own or are employed by.

  4. Make saying “no” become valuable to you and others. In spite of loads of literature and coaching on the importance of “no,” many people still find this challenging. If you focus on the business and where your effort can provide the most impact, the word no becomes almost effortless. I admit that my manager was initially startled by my sudden change in this regard. However, he soon came to understand that whenever I said “no” it was in his best interest.

  5. Cut your “nonsense tolerance” level significantly. Before my mindset shift, I was doing lots of work I just didn’t care about, and too much of it fit into the “this work is balderdash” category. Before my mindset shift, roughly 50 percent of my activities fit into that category. After the shift, I worked relentlessly to keep it under 10 percent.

  I really enjoyed the ultramarathons that I raced in. All of these changes added up to making work into as much fun as those races were for me. Work became challenging and rewarding. I now shaped the daily challenges to be rewarding for my employer and myself. Everyday I went to work I knew it was my choice.

  The most invigorating part of this change was based on a conscious choice of how to shape my work to fit within exceptional leadership and the associated measurements of success.

  Success Measures of Leadership

  For those who have accepted the call to leadership, the initial mission they take on is simple: Get more done by leading people to accomplish even more than they could accomplish alone.

  The best and simpl
est measure of successful leadership is results because results matter. Here are the typical indicators of success for this.

  Make a profit. The executives of any significantly sized organization are keenly aware that the lifeblood of their organization is making profits. Further, they must delegate much of the day-to-day operations to other members of the organization. They do this so they can focus on next year’s profit. They are aware that the actions they take will define whether payroll can be met not just this year, but next year and beyond.

  Deliver on time. The standard in most project management literature is delivering projects on time with high-quality results. This is often hard to do, especially when working in the world of new technologies. In spite of how hard it may be, that difficulty is never an accepted excuse. Delivering on time with high quality is a measure of success. If you do not deliver to expectations, projects will not be deemed as successful. You will not be deemed as successful.

  Delight customers and inspire loyalty. Whether you are a leader with the title of CEO or the title of project manager, it is well known that the result that really counts is providing great value to your customers. Without delivering value you will not make a profit. In fact, it must be value that delights and inspires loyalty of the customer to the brand.

  Successful leaders get things done. Their businesses are successful. They deliver. They make a profit. And these leaders do this in spite of all the troubles that plague them.

  Many managers are successful in this way, but the call to exceptional leadership can take them to a higher level of achievement.

  Success Measures of Exceptional Leadership

  The first difference with exceptional leaders is that they have a very personal, passionate mission that goes beyond those simple (and, yes, important) results. Thus, their measures of success also have a much higher bar. Consider these famous leaders and ask yourself if they would be satisfied with simply the results in the previous section.

  • Steve Jobs, who said, “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise, why else even be here?”

  • Susan B. Anthony, who worked tirelessly for decades in support of women’s right to vote. She was often derided and even arrested. A woman’s right to vote was ratified four years after her death.

  • John F. Kennedy, who initiated the mission to the moon and said, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

  Exceptional leadership calls for exceptional measures that go beyond the simple measures of profit or on-time delivery. The following are criteria that exceptional leaders employ that are useful and inspiring.

  Measure the Positive Difference for Your Customers

  For a project to be successful, the customer must like it well enough to use it. In the history of software development, many products delivered became “shelf ware,” where people bought it and never used it. For the simple measure of short-term profit this is fine. For most, this bar of success is sufficient.

  However, having customers use your product is a simple, important measure. It is even better to have your customers be delighted. This is good in a twofold way. First, your product is making an important difference for your customers. Second, they are much more likely to buy more products in the future.

  Track the Attrition Rates of Top Talent

  Since executives know that their results are truly based on the talents, loyalties, and focus of other people, one of the key measures they watch is attrition. And although they care about the attrition of the overall organization, the exceptional leader is especially focused on retaining the top talent of the organization. If you are keeping your top talent, it is likely you are creating an environment where they thrive.

  Measure Whether Constructive Conflict Occurs Much More Often than Destructive Conflict

  Exceptional leaders understand that if you are pushing for excellence, pushing on boundaries of the status quo, conflict will occur. Some organizations have a hard time distinguishing between constructive and destructive conflict. Destructive conflict becomes more about the people than the idea. It breaks down trust even if a good idea emerges. The lost trust creates more conflict.

  Constructive conflict builds on ideas and will actually build more trust between people. Constructive conflict creates energy, passion, and greater belief in the team.

  What is the ratio of constructive versus destructive conflict in your organization?

  Watch to Ensure That the Energy Equation Is Positive

  One of the measures my best clients use when leading their critical projects is the “energy equation.” Are you ready for high math? During checkpoints for the project, the question is asked, “Is the energy you are getting out of doing this project greater than the energy you are putting in?” I have personally worked on projects where it seemed the project was draining so much energy from me that it felt that it could eat my soul! Okay, that is an exaggeration, but you see the point. The high bar for projects should be that the personal energy equation of the team is very positive.

  Watch the Trend Lines of Unacceptable Behaviors or Results

  Exceptional leaders will have clearly defined what excellence is. They will also have been clear about the behaviors that are unacceptable. How many times do you hear about trouble in these areas? How many times is it related to a specific person or team? Is this decreasing or increasing over time? Are the actions you are taking working to improve the situation or the opposite?

  Measure Your Troublesome to Tremendous Conversion Rate

  An important measure in the game of baseball is a player’s batting average. Baseball players that hit above .300 are considered heroes. Consider how many times you have had the opportunity to help someone fix negative interactions with a group. How many were fully successful and how many failed? How many times have you had to deal with projects that were in trouble and transformed them into tremendous? As with baseball players facing pitchers who throw over 90 miles per hour, these situations are often difficult. However, success is possible. How wonderful it is for you and the team when your conversion rate is high!

  Watch Your Protégés Excel

  Truly, the best measure of exceptional leadership is seeing the people who have learned from that leader. If you have had the pleasure to coach, mentor, and guide a number of people who have gone on to be highly successful, you can certainly take great pleasure in knowing that you were part of their journeys. If they still seek your counsel it is a very good indicator that your leadership is exceptional.

  Accepting the Call of Exceptional Leadership

  I took my daughter to a driving course where the students got to drive cars on a closed course that mimicked the worst conditions drivers might face on the road. One challenge had the drivers go at high speeds into a slick surface to learn how to get a car out of a skid. One of the students simply took his hands off the wheel when this happened and said “Oh My!” He did this three times before he figured out that if he could not actually control the car, he could at least influence it into the right direction!

  Some people stand on the brink of the call to exceptional leadership and back away. They back away because of fear of the responsibility of accepting that call.

  Somehow they find it easier to be able to continue to play the victim. Essentially, these leaders throw up their hands from their steering wheels and say they have no control over their problems with their customers, their managers, the technology, or those unleadable people they were allegedly leading. They refuse to keep their hands on the steering wheels.

  They choose that desolate landscape of no control, which they said they were unhappy with. The familiar is more comfortable to them than the difficultly that the changes require.

  Accepting the call to exceptional leadership does come with new challenges and new responsibilities. It isn’t always easy. Here are five things to do to help meet the challenges.

  1. Be fearless. That is e
asier said than done, and you must work at it. If your journey is similar to mine, when you start saying “no” to things you used to say “yes” to, the reactions can vary and even include anger. Nonetheless, saying “no” will often be the right choice. Be fearless and confident in your choice.

  2. Build your own community of exceptional leaders. Leaders who choose this path notice that there are not many people who have chosen this path, but they can immediately identify the leaders who have. Talk to them, work with them, and learn from them.

  3. Stop whining. That is obvious and still worth saying. It is fine to take the occasional whine break, but make it short. In the middle of the ultramarathons I run, occasionally another runner and I take a moment to compare the pains of the activity we are engaged in. We then laugh and get back to the work at hand. The best people to have a whine break with are other exceptional leaders. Make it quick, though; we don’t have much patience for it!

  4. Learn to love the challenge of transforming the troublesome to the tremendous. This is the opposite of the whining that perhaps you used to do! When you have a difficult employee who is challenging you, learn to relish this as an opportunity to grow others and yourself in the process.

  5. Know that learning will have setbacks. Taking on brand new learning opens up pathways in your mind and is very exciting. There will be moments, though, where it is a more difficult path than the familiar one. Take your time and learn the new road. It is worth the effort.

  Perhaps you are already doing these activities. If so, congratulations, as you are either already an exceptional leader or you are well on your way. If you are not doing them, consider the choice that you have. Only by leading your unleadable self can you then prepare to lead the unleadable.