What is leadership and what does good leadership look like?
This question has perplexed me for years. From the early days of my working life, stretching all the way back to 13 years of age, I wondered if my then current boss was really a good leader. Did you ever have the same thought? Like can my boss at work stand up to the leadership practices of say… NCIS’s own Special Agent Gibbs?
Yeah, she may be a really nice person but can she lead and does she work to elevate herself, the company, or me?
There are leaders that lead with motivational speeches (think Braveheart’s pre-battle speech), those that lead with kindness (think Jesus Christ), others that lead with servitude (like Chick-Fil-A’s S. Truett Cathy) and yet others that lead with fear (GE used to trim the bottom 20% of their workforce every year). BUT…. which method is the best?
I recently was invited to sit down with the marketing team of a high growth company out of the mid-west. This company was led by a hands on directive leader who treated his employees like a gear within a very large clock. He was the CMO and the highest level person on his team was a senior coordinator, no one in between. No managers, ot directors and no Vice Presents. Only him and the lowest rung of titles. He preferred this flattened organization structure because he wanted to curate and dictate every move. He worked very long hours (most of the time from 5am to 8 or 9pm). Offered little guidance or direction to his team other than get X done by Y today and the only reward for them was not being yelled at the next day. Believe it or not, this leader was indeed successful. He had a long career and was respected by leadership at multiple companies and was successful in growing organizations. His people were drones and very unhappy and I would assume his personal life was not a picnic but that I can only assume.
His team was flat being made up only of executioners who wore many hats but knew very little of the who, what, when, where, and how the clock worked or why the clock worked. They executed the day-to-day tasks but had no idea of the bigger picture. In essence the leader at this organization was driving all thoughts, strategies and developments but not sharing any of these insights. For a group of executioners, this was an ideal setting. However, when I sat down with many of the team members they all wanted more. They revered the organization and wanted to learn how to lead and grow into more challenging roles. The problem was that none of them were gaining the insight into how to lead or make any kind of decision. When asked, not one of them even knew why the current promotion or pricing deal was even being offered or what the expected outcome was for the promotion.
My findings identified that this leadership style was going to work in the short term. However, as the company grows past the +$100M in revenue mark, this type of leadership was going to stunt the growth of the organization. A company with a growing number of relationships, product offerings and moving parts had to be led by a leader that was willing to disseminate her knowledge and grow mid-management leadership. This would act as a feeder for the future leaders of the company.
