Leadership by the Numbers

Several years ago my wife and I took our oldest daughter to an alumni event hosted by the university that she would be starting at that fall. The student government association was handing out key chains that proudly proclaimed “Almost 70% of XYZ University students have never driven while intoxicated.” Cheri and I both had the same immediate thoughts; that means that almost 1-in-3 students had driven while drunk and why would the university be advertizing that number, especially to parents who were about to entrust their teenagers to them for the next four years?!

I just finished reading an article about the role that the top flight business schools and their graduates may or may not have played in helping to create the current economic crisis. The article concluded by stating that there are signs that the business schools and their graduates are starting to “get it” and offered as an example that “nearly” 20% of Harvard Business School’s 2009 graduates signed a MBA Oath to “serve the greater good” in their business careers. Again, my first thoughts were; that means over 80% didn’t sign the oath, and why, especially given the current public sentiment towards business executives, would anyone be proud of that number?

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Ross Perot gave one of my all-time favorite lines. In response to then Governor Bill Clinton’s statements about the improvements Arkansas had made in education during his terms, Perot said, “Let’s say you have a penny and I give you another penny. Now percentage wise you’re doing 100% better, but you still only have two pennies.” Numbers and percentages can be a great tool to communicate a point or build confidence in your argument, but you always need to remember they can be looked at from different angles. I’m sure that compared to schools where half the students have driven drunk “almost 70%” is a good number, and getting “nearly 20%” of your graduates to sign a greater good oath may be 100% more than would have signed it in the past. Unfortunately, on their own, both of those numbers are very sad.

In order for leaders to be effective they have to be able to instill a sense of trust in their followers, especially a sense that they have a firm enough understanding of what is currently happening that you can believe them about what they say should happen in the future. With both the University’s key chains and Harvard’s Oath, you can’t help but ask, if they can’t see how bad their own “progress numbers” are, how can we ever expect them to really fix the problems?

Looking for Leadership In a World of Managers

Usually when the question “what’s the difference between leadership and management?” comes up I answer with “management gets you through today; leadership gets you to tomorrow.” (I’ve been using the line for so long that I’ve forgotten who I probably borrowed it from.) The point being that the skills and mind-set needed to effectively complete short term tasks are not necessarily the same ones needed to insure a successful future. Unfortunately, when I look at the problems we are facing today I see a lot of management but not too much leadership.

Wall Street rewards companies not for creating a long-term business models but for meeting quarterly “numbers” often based on rapid and unsustainable growth. Consequently, corporations worry more about acquiring other companies than on developing their own core businesses. The result: Can anyone say “too big to fail”?

The long term effects of outsourcing are ignored in favor of increased sales and profits based on lower costs. (My favorite example is the town in Alabama that lost all of its fabric mills because socks could be produced cheaper overseas – 1 cent per sock less!) And if it means that we now have to compete with the economies of China and India for oil and other raw materials, or that we really don’t manufacture much anymore, so what, look at how many more cool things we can afford to buy. And besides, the housing market is sustaining the economy, right?

Both major political parties have done such a good job of dividing the country over the last three decades that it’s now common to have polls on major issues (and elections) show 51% to 49% results. And it’s no longer enough to disagree with the other side; you now have to justify the superiority of your position by painting theirs as being immoral, uncaring, stupid, or unpatriotic. And in the long run, it really doesn’t seem to matter that much because the “leaders” produced by those parties appear to be more concerned with the next election cycle than making hard (i.e.: potentially unpopular) decisions.

And holding it all together, the media that focus’s almost exclusively on ratings share than on what the long term effects of their coverage are. Any mistake a leader may make becomes fodder for the 24 hour news cycle.

So what do we do? How about rewarding business that take a long-range and steady approach to growth? And what would happen if we started to vote for politicians who emphasize what we have in common and actually tell us what we need to hear, not what they think we want to hear. Ultimately we get the leadership we demand, but until we exercise the power that comes with both the vote and the pocketbook we will continue to “lead” by a nation of managers.

Welcome

Welcome. Relax, have some fun, make yourself at home. Let me introduce you to this blog.
I’ve been involved in leadership development for over 15 years, first as a program participant, then as a volunteer and program director, and now as an independent trainer/consultant. In that time I think I’ve stumbled upon the core principle of effective leadership: while leaders have to take their responsibilities very seriously, they shouldn’t take themselves too seriously. That’s one of the main reasons for this blog; to help those leaders who have trouble poking fun at themselves. Along the way we’ll look for leadership lessons in some unusual places and try to demystify and “demythtify” what leadership is. My hope is that with each post you’ll both learn a little and laugh a little.
A couple of “heads-ups” for future posts. I grew up in a family where smart@$# was considered not only a term of endearment but also a compliment. If any of my comments seem out of place or confusing, just imagine them being said in a sarcastic tone with raised eyebrows and you should be fine. Also, it is my intention to make sure that the character of the posts never becomes mean spirited. However, that doesn’t mean that follies of some groups and individuals won’t occasionally be singled out in order to emphasize a point. So if you happen to be a politician, investment banker, auto executive, or editor for a celebrity magazine, please don’t take offense, just come back later to laugh at someone else.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!