Good Ways to be a Bad Leader

Its been a long while between posts, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about leadership.  In fact, a couple of weeks ago I gave a presentation to the Ogilvy Toronto Account Group on exactly that topic.  

Before archiving the presentation, I realized that it might be worth sharing parts of it on this blog. I'll do it over 2-3 posts since the entire presentation was about 4200 words. 

Here's post #1:

Good Ways to be a Bad Leader

One of the ways that I’ve learned about leadership is through the various jobs I’ve worked over the years.  There are plenty of wise people who've spent years if not decades in universities, think tanks and companies studying and practicing leadership.  I, on the other hand, decided to take a different path. 

Until I got into advertising, I worked some of the worst jobs under the worst leaders known to humankind.  And I believe to this day that did it entirely on purpose.  

What better way to learn about leadership than from "anti-leaders" whose sole purpose in life was the mastery of ineptitude? All I had to do was watch them carefully and then do the exact opposite.

So here’s a few lessons I've learned on how to be good at being bad: 

Never leave your office

Being visible, communicating and connecting with your team is completely overrated.  Why leave the safety and comfort of your office when there’s a whole world of problems outside? Better to let someone else deal with them.

Offices are super comfortable too.  With the door shut no one will interrupt you while you watch kitten videos on YouTube.

Don’t accept responsibility for anything

It’s brilliant when you can find others to blame for mistakes, especially those who are more junior than you. 

Scapegoats are everywhere – you just need to ferret them out. 

Remember to put yourself first and protect your position of power at all times. Be accountable for nothing.

Apply generous helpings of your temper

There’s nothing more satisfying than isolating people and humiliating them to get what you want. Make sure to get angry in group settings for the greatest effect.

Comrade Stalin had had it right: rule with an iron fist and a volcanic temper and you can bring an entire nation to its knees. 

Force your methods and beliefs on others

When you see someone that’s not doing something the way you’d do it make sure to get in their face and show them how to do it right. It’s your job to set people straight when it comes to moral, political and religious beliefs. 

If they believe in gay marriage, tell them how wrong it is. If they’re Muslim, make them a good Catholic.

Good leaders gain respect by force, not by earning it.

Don’t listen

You didn’t get to be the boss because you don’t know anything. In fact, you know everything, so why bother paying attention to anyone. You spent years listening to the bullshit that your bosses told you so now it's your turn to spread some cowpat.

Cruise

Making it into a leadership position is hard work. So when you get there its time to stop. 

Put your feet up on the chaise, order a margarita and sit back and admire the view. Occasionally rise to play a game of shuffle puck with other leaders. Do not associate with the riffraff on the lower decks. 

Put a collar on positivity and praise

Optimistic people get taken advantage of all the time so drop the good attitude if you ever had one in the first place. 

Whatever you do, DO NOT let anyone on your team believe they have value or are making a contribution. It’ll go to their head and pretty soon they’ll be after your job.

Leave ethics for the righteous and compassion for the wimps

The golden rule of leadership is that you have to get dirty to get to the top. And it’s vital to stay dirty when you’re there. If deception and manipulation were good for Machiavelli then they’re good for you.

Let’s face it, if you don’t do it someone else will.

And never ever show empathy. Business is business.  That’s it. If someone brings their personal life to the office then tell them to suck it up and get back to work. 

And of course never help anyone in a jam.  You know and I know they won’t return the favour.

Forget theory. Read about practice.

I'd highly recommend you read Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War. It's a book about many things: the ridiculousness of war, friendship, valour, politics, racism, overcoming adversity, and so much more.  At its heart it is also a book about leadership . . . leadership under the most unimaginable conditions. The writing is so vivid that you can literally "see" the agonising decisions that the central character of Lt. Mellas has to make as a platoon leader.

The novel is also a welcome escape from the shelves full of leadership theory books - some written by people who are "experts" in the field but wouldn't actually know how to lead their way out of a paper bag.  The author of Matterhorn, however, has the kind of credentials that oblige you to believe him.  Karl Marlantes is a highly decorated Marine, a veteran of the Vietnam War and, among other things, a Rhodes Scholar. The guy knows what he's talking about when it comes to leadership.

Hope you get as much out of it as I did.  Enjoy.

Be the Beacon

I've been in PEI this past week for some much deserved R&R.  It's an idyllic island with stunning beaches and some of the best seafood you're ever likely to eat.  PEI, not surprisingly, has a lot of lighthouses. Many of these lighthouses were retired long ago due to modern navigation methods but some lighthouses remain very active - shining their lamps out over the water to help ocean craft stay on course. 

The PEI lighthouses have become quite the tourist attraction.  In fact, one of the families that we're staying with on the island took their kids to see one of them just yesterday.  They said the lighthouse they visited was interesting, but they were disappointed that it wasn't operational.  The kids were all excited about seeing the giant revolving lamp up close and although the structure itself was unique, the fact that the lamp was turned off just didn't cut it for the little ones.  Without the lamp, the lighthouse was a structure without a purpose.  Its soul seemed to be missing and everyone could feel it.

Companies need leaders the same way that rugged coastlines need working lighthouses.  They need the kind of leaders that shine a light over their people, guiding them safely to where they need to be.  Leaders without the lamp are neither effective nor attractive.  They're artifacts that have an outer shell but no inner soul and while their presence may serve as a reminder of past contributions they are not much use to us today.

Be the beacon not the bones.

Message in a Bottle

I can't deny it any longer.  I've been struggling to motivate myself to write . . . something you may have deduced from my lack of recent posts!  It's not because I've fallen out of love with writing, it's because it's bloody difficult and time consuming, which - for a hedonistic, forever active, family man who's working a pressure cooker day job and still trying to be a good husband and father - are not easy things to overcome.

I posted this quote from Canadian author Farley Mowat on my Linkedin page not long ago and I think it's somewhat appropriate to re-post here:

"Writing.  It’s tedious, tiresome and often frustrating as hell.  I don’t write for pleasure.  I write because I’m an impulsive masochist.”

Thankfully, my lack of motivation got me thinking about lack of motivation - not in writing, but in leadership.  If a regular schmuck like me can lose motivation then the guys and gals at the top must be just as fallible.  God, I hope they are.

So . . . how can you spot when the Captain loses motivation?  In the beginning it's not so obvious, but I think the single biggest sign is retreat.  Retreat into comfort; into ease; into pleasure; into routine; into grey; into blah; into Mad About You re-runs.  If leadership "retreat" is the big bucket, here are some of the behaviours that fall into it:

• Never being around 
• Never being available
• Delegating a little too much
• Only engaging with people when something is needed
• Shut door policy
• Moodiness 
• Complacency
• Selfishness

The list goes on.  

When leaders lose motivation it can have a devastating affect if left unchecked.   Lack of motivation in a leader perpetuates a lack of motivation in the people around them, and that sets the ship on a treacherous course for the Gulf of Aden.  Not a journey you want to be on if you value your career or your life.

Leaders are as vulnerable and fallible as anyone, because ultimately they are nothing more than a someone.  They aren't superhuman.  It's okay and even understandable for a leader to lose motivation at times.  It's just not okay for a leader to make a career out of it. 

If you see your Captain continually swigging the Cutty Sark when he should be checking the sextant, then it's time for you as the First Mate to step up (with your one good leg).  You need to find your inner impulsive masochist, hop over to the helm, take the wheel and change course for the Maldives.  The survival of any crew lies in the strength of individuals, their ability to recognize problems and to do what needs to be done to correct them.

Why I want to be a slow learner

Can you really fly it?

"I'm a fast learner".  We've all said it.  We've all heard it.  And I'd like to ask you to reconsider it. Why? Because I'm concerned about the value we attach to speed and how that value may be affecting the way we think and act.

We’re obsessed with speed.  Faster computers, faster communications, faster cars, faster trains, faster planes, faster services, faster products, faster relationships, faster cures, faster births, faster deaths. Do you feel anxious?  I do.

The problem with living in a speed society is that we become blinded by the false equation that faster always equals better. It doesn't. Speed and advancement are more often than not, mutually exclusive. I'm all for making things faster if we practice selectively.  Internet bandwidth can get faster. Police response times can get faster. The approval of homeless shelters can get faster. But some things just shouldn't.  Learning is one of them.

We have paid a price for being "fast learners". I can rattle off all the consequences, but for this post I'd like to focus on two: understanding and expectations. Both are consequences that aren’t worth paying for a little haste.

Understanding
The idea of “fast learning” is just that - fast. Not deep. Not wide. Fast. The kind of learning you lick through to get to the end, not worrying about the scenery or what's on the road behind you. That's fine if all you want to do is get to point B, but having that attitude means you won't really understand the journey you've just taken. Understanding the journey is what learning is all about.  Experimenting, trying out theories, going off the map for the hell of it, questioning the status quo, finding your own way. You can't do this at speed.  You need time and commitment.

When we do things at speed, we think we know things before we actually do. We get all caught up in our own vanity. Of course we get it right away . . . right? We're smart, we're fast, why wouldn't we? The truth is we take short-cuts because we have no time.  We choose only to see what we want to see to get by, not to understand.

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before."
- Kurt Vonnegut

"Some people will never learn anything, for this reason, because they understand everything too soon."
- Alexander Pope

"Much learning does not teach understanding."
- Heraclitus

Expectations
We have set ourselves enormously unrealistic expectations through fast learning. When we see success, we start to believe in the fantasy that we can master everything posthaste. People around us start to believe it too - our friends, our employers, our governments.

The issue isn't so much that we believe in the myth, but the consequences that lie within in this belief. It's so bitterly crushing to the ego when we think we ought to be able to fly a plane after reading a book on aeronautics, only to find out that we can't. We refuse to accept that it will take years - not hours - of theory and practice before we can even get off the ground. In doing so, we put a huge amount of unnecessary pressure on ourselves. And we all know too well the damage that this pressure can do - the chinks to our self esteem when we fail to achieve what we thought we ought to.

Beyond the pressure we put on ourselves, I also see the myth of fast learning affecting the way businesses behave towards their employees.  Businesses have developed such high expectations of their people - particularly when it comes to learning new skills - that employees are in a constant brain race to keep up. I don't think this is doing employees or businesses any favours.  

I'm not suggesting that organizations shouldn't have high expectations of their people, but they need to be tempered with reality. They also need to be accompanied with thorough training so that expectations can actually be met wholly, rather than in part.

Learn Slow
It took my son 10months to walk. 10 months of attempts and fails. 10 months of undivided attention, tutoring, and encouragement. When has an employer ever given you 10 months of their undivided attention to learn only one new skill? Strike that. Even a handful of new skills?

Of course there are some realities about business and of course I’m being idealistic, but surely there’s room for us to re-look our obsession with speed. If you’re a manager, ask yourself whether you really need your people to learn that fast. Ask yourself whether your people really, truly have the time to understand. If you don’t want a team of pretenders then don’t contribute to the farce.

If you’re a learner, ask yourself if you really, truly understand what you’ve learned. Could you realistically teach it – in detail – to someone else? Teaching is an amazing benchmark for understanding. If you can’t meet the benchmark, then talk to your manager and explain to them that you’re getting by but you’d like a little more time or instruction so you can make it to the that level. If they’re a good manager they’ll appreciate your honesty and do everything they can to help.

Proclamation
I am hereby reclaiming the phrase “slow learner”.  It’s a great phrase and a positive description of how we should all aspire to be.  Forget fast.  Embrace slow.

Who are you? Who, who, who, who?

A good spot for some solitude

Firstly, let me apologise for not posting in the last few weeks.  Put it down to a clever, circumnavigating cold that sailed its way around the map of my family during the month of May.  It brought with it some nasty weather.

Anyway, I'm back on deck now and have plenty of ideas lined up and waiting to be written.  In the meantime, I'd like to share this article with you from The American Scholar:  http://www.theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/

It's an address given to military students at West Point and it has some fantastic insights about what a true leader is and how they behave (and how they don't).  I'd definitely encourage you to read it.

The address is in-line with much of my thinking on the topic of leadership, in that you must find yourself if you ever want to become an accomplished leader.  Whether you achieved a PHD or a D in every subject you ever took, as a leader you'll be measured not on the knowledge you possess but on your certainty of self.

What do you think?

Our Extraordinary Ability to Learn

Last week I was riding my bike home from my day job, waiting for storm clouds the size of Africa to drown me with giant sheets of water, when I had an epiphany.  Strange time to have an epiphany, I know, but that's what's charming about epiphanies isn't it?  The fact that they arrive at the most unexpected moments.

So I'm riding along and the clouds are getting three shades darker every second and all of a sudden my brain - which had been set to idle immediately after leaving work - slams itself into gear and produces a thought that hits me so hard it feels like The Incredible Hulk used Volume 19 of Encyclopedia Britannica to slap me across the face.  The thought tells me something like this "Do you realize how extraordinary, how remarkable the human ability to learn is?  This is your privilege and your gift.  Take advantage of this gift each moment of your life.  Find the time to reflect on what you have learned frequently.  Apply what you have learned frequently.  And never stop doing it.".  

Why is learning so important?
I may be stating the painfully obvious, but it's crucial that as a leader you are constantly learning, reflecting on that learning and applying it.  Despite how basic this thinking is, it amazes me how often leaders don't follow the rule.  So many take the attitude of "I've learned what I needed to get to this position, so why do I need to know anything more?".  In fact, it's because you've made it to a leadership position that you need to learn more.

Leadership is a tough job.  Whether it's personal leadership or leadership of others it demands an enormous amount of problem solving, future forecasting and educating. If you're serious about leadership you'll spend a lot of time doing these things.  And you can't do any of them without knowledge.  And you can't have knowledge without learning.  Simple, isn't it?           

The greatest leaders are constantly learning - they actively learn by seeking out mentors, reading texts both inside and outside their field, attending seminars and courses, etc, but they also learn through observation - they watch their team, they watch how other leaders lead, they notice subtle changes in people's behaviour, they pay attention to how an audience responds, and so on.  Great leaders cultivate learning experiences at every turn because they know it makes them a better leader.  They make learning their raison d'etre.

Get perspective
Whether you call it "taking stock" or "reflection" or "vision" or whatever, getting perspective is one of the ways I use to collect my learning, explore it and decide how to use it.  Each day, I try to find time to recount the events of the past 12 or so hours, consider observations, interpret thoughts and decipher what I've learned.  More importantly, I figure out how I might use that knowledge in the future.  I create my own knowledge action plan.  Sometimes I test that action plan by visualizing situations where it might come in handy or reworking past events that didn't go the way I wanted them to.  I find this incredibly satisfying, if not uplifting, because I know if I ever encountered those situations again, I'd handle them a whole lot better.

The idea of perspective has a very strong relationship to the practice of mindfulness, which I discussed in my post "Becoming Mindful" - if you haven't read it already then it might be a good starting point.  I believe you need to be mindful person to get perspective.  It's pretty hard to "step away from it all" when you aren't self aware.  Meditation can be a fantastic way to clear your mind, preparing it for some of the deep thinking you'll need to do on what you've learned.  What I love about meditation is that it's an active process that actually teaches you how to learn.  Think about it, has anyone actually taught you how to learn?  It sounds ridiculous, I know, but we can all learn to learn more effectively. 

Give it a try, you'll see.

Take action
In my view, if you learn without ever applying that learning it's like Michael Jordan spending his whole life on the practice court.  When you acquire knowledge you have an obligation to yourself and to others to get in the game. 

When MJ went out on a Wednesday and shot hundreds of free throws, made hundreds of passes and ran through countless plays he didn't just sit on the bench for the rest of the week, he went out and put everything he'd learned into action.  Every one of his six NBA Championships were as a result of knowledge applied, not just knowledge gained. 

So when you do get some perspective on what you've learned today, don't forget to figure out how to use that learning.  Think about what you might do differently tomorrow or next week or next time, but make it concrete and make a commitment to it.  You can take informal mental notes or, if you like, keep a knowledge diary - either serve as a way to compile your learning and plan how to use it.

Let's review

• The ability to learn.  An incredible gift that we all have.  Crucial if you want to be a successful leader.
• Get perspective.  Try to recount and formalize what you've learned every day.
• Take action.  Put your knowledge to work by planning how to use it.

What's the result?
For me, knowledge with a plan works like this: the next time I'm riding my bike home from work and The Incredible Hulk steps out in front of me with all 32 volumes of Encyclopedia Britannica tucked under his Sequoia sized arms I'll know exactly what to do: shout "Hey look, there's Iron Man!!".