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May 21, 2009
Dull Advice
David Brooks’ column in Tuesday’s New York Times, titled In Praise of Dullness, posits that the best chief executives are “organized, dogged, anal-retentive and slightly boring people.” He cites several academic works that commend conscientiousness and emotional stability and “mind-numbing commitment to incremental efficiency gains.” He goes on to suggest that the increasing involvement of government in the private sector will lead to a culture clash of the “charismatic and charming” politicians versus the “humble and diffident” business people, ending in a “revolution in values where CEOs are forced to adopt the traits of politicians.”
It is smart to be concerned about the new shotgun marriage of business and government. The rules of engagement are still being written as legislation is enacted to regulate environment, financial markets and credit cards. Brooks is right to point out the corporate culture thrived in places far from Washington, DC, including Redmond, Bentonville and Omaha. But in each of those cases, entrepreneurs founded companies that disrupted business as usual, provided completely new value to consumers and created jobs with rapid advancement potential. These successful CEOs did not simply “make the same old four-door sedan…. better and better.”
So, I reached out to two friends who have studied and, like Edelman, consulted for CEOs: Kevin Kelly, who runs Heidrick & Struggles, and Professor Jeff Sonnenfeld, who is the Founder and CEO of The Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute. Here are highlights of my discussions with them:
1) Making meaning of disruption—“There are so many tectonic plates moving, from rise of emerging markets to technology shifts to financial market meltdown. The CEO has constituent responsibility at a time of disruption, to explain the mission and the future trajectory,” said Sonnenfeld.
2) Give purpose and excitement—“The CEO has to communicate, to his board and to his people, to frame the issue. To say that the job is simply execution is to suggest that you can build a great building only with plumbers and masons. The CEO is the equivalent of the architect, who has the vision to create a motivating plan,” said Sonnenfeld.
3) Leadership crisis on top of the financial crisis—“We need CEOs to make decisions, not to be paralyzed by the options. In so doing, they must demonstrate courage, adaptability and humility,” said Kelly.
4) Public leadership and private sector achievement are not incompatible—“The founding generation of the Business Roundtable, leaders such as Thomas Watson Jr. of IBM or Irving Shapiro of DuPont or David Rockefeller of Chase Bank recognized the importance of doing both the external and internal aspects well,” Sonnenfeld said.
5) Interpersonal skills matter—“Charm and charisma are necessary,” said Kelly. “This is not about egomaniacal bosses; nor can it simply come down to execution,” said Sonnenfeld.
6) Dictatorial CEO style is dead—“Brooks is referring to historic traits of CEOs. The best leaders create followers who want to carry out the strategy,” said Kelly.
CEOs should not retreat to their offices in search solely of incremental savings and inefficiencies; that is the task of the chief operating officer or chief financial officer. The best leaders are out in front, unafraid of risk, changing strategy ahead of the crowd and relentlessly communicating so that the team follows and new markets are created. I would appreciate your views as always.
Posted by Edelman at May 21, 2009 10:45 AM |
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Comments
You've summed up Kevin Kelly and Professor Jeff Sonnenfeld's comments effectively. Along with that great quote by Kelly on CEOs and their decision making, I have to give a special two thumbs up to highlights 1, 2 and 6, which all seem to conveniently focus on leadership style on levels of employee relations, dealing with stakeholders and strategic planning. These are all key components to sustaining a business, satisfying audience needs and moving ahead of competition. In speaking to highlight #1, As problems arise in business and the economy, an attitude of understanding, not panic, creates opportunity for advancement when others are wallowing in distress. A leader has to lead and can't do that if he or she is too concerned with how to follow everyone else out of the cave. On # 2) When you are inclusive and communicate transparently with employees happy, they are motivated to contribute to their business (instead of required) and will continue to stay the course and support you. And last, on point #6) This is a given, but is far too often overlooked by many leaders in all industries. The best leaders know how to use the abilities of others coherently with their vision and strategies (in non-manipulative ways) to achieve stellar results and foster a strong sense of self-worth for all who contribute to the mission and goals. Richard, thanks for your humble attitude and thirst for knowledge ... it seems your "greed" makes me hungry to continually read 6 A.M.
Posted by: Mark Taylor II at May 27, 2009 2:51 PM
David Brooks's observations have led him in a viable direction, but have carried him too far. Perhaps some of today's CEOs are, in fact, under-concerned with execution. But it's preposterous to suggest they should only be concerned with execution.
Excellence often comes in the skillful combination of traits that seem mutually exclusive: Like a star running back with immense strength and blazing speed, a successful CEO demonstrates technical expertise and communication skills.
The interesting questions (the ones that I'm humbly unprepared to fully answer) arise in the proportions of this combination. The combination itself is, to me, a baseline requirement for any leader -- businessman or politico.
Posted by: Adam Tiouririne at May 28, 2009 11:12 PM
Richard,
The Steven Kaplan, Mark Klebanov, Morten Sorensen study: “Which C.E.O. Characteristics and Abilities Matter?” on which David Brooks based much of his article, dealt with characteristics and abilities of CEO candidates for companies involved in buyout (LBO) and venture capital (VC) transactions. To the degree that those operating in the LBO and VC arenas have a shorter term time horizon than the Warren Buffets of the world, the study Brooks used is from a biased subset of investors, namely: paper entrepreneurs.
Russell L. Ackoff, Professor Emeritus of The Wharton School and renowned expert on operations management said, “To manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately.”
Your post reflects the understanding that 21st century executives are no longer providing leadership for mechanical systems but social systems.
Posted by: Hugh Campbell at May 31, 2009 8:03 PM
One quick point: the authors and researchers mentioned in Brooks' column have all made important contributions but he failed to pay appropriate homage to Peter Drucker. In Management: Tasks, Responsibility, Practices, published in 1973, Drucker pointed out that success is found with "the much more modest yet more enduring leadership of dedication, determination, and serious purpose."
Posted by: Paul Oestreicher at June 4, 2009 6:02 PM
Dictatorial CEO style is dead—“Brooks is referring to historic traits of CEOs. The best leaders create followers who want to carry out the strategy,” said Kelly.
This is nonsense!
This on Rupert Murdoch:
http://www.jeffschubert.com/index.php?id=54
The truth is that successful long-lived dictators survive because they DO create follows who want to carry out the strategy:
http://www.jeffschubert.com/?s=bookchapters
Jeff Schubert
http://www.jeffschubert.com/
Posted by: Jeff Schubert at July 16, 2009 9:14 PM