Leadership styles, from Elvis to Rosa Parks

Workforce, March, 2003

Dear Workforce:

Our executive team is having trouble defining what leadership is. Can you share with me your definition?

HR Manager, software development

Santa Ana, California

Dear HR Manager:

Here's what David Brewer of the Leadership Consulting Group in San Francisco says:

Leadership is the art of enlisting people to embrace a vision or a goal as their own, and then inspiring and encouraging them to sustain their commitment so that by their own action and initiative they turn that vision into a reality. The power of leadership is reflected in familiar examples of great leaders who appeal to people to seize a compelling opportunity: John Kennedy asserted the unthinkable vision after many failures in the U.S. space program that within a decade, we would have a man on the moon. Franklin Roosevelt declared in the middle of the world's worst depression, with war on the horizon, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Ronald Reagan envisioned a unified Germany after 35 years of division--"Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!" Nelson Mandela demonstrated his vision of South Africa healing the wounds of apartheid by graciously including among those who sat with him at his inauguration the guards who kept him in prison for more than a quarter of a century

Leadership is demonstrated not only on grand occasions, though. Nor is it always performed on a large scale by people formally recognized as "leaders." Leadership can be exerted at all levels, not only by managers and supervisors but also by peers and individuals, sometimes in ways that influence those with much greater formal power. When Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat in the front of a segregated bus in the American South during the early days of the civil rights movement, she prompted others to drive more actively toward change--accomplishing more than anyone might have imagined possible for one person with no formal position of leadership. Elvis Presley exerted his own act of leadership in the music industry by displaying a revolutionary style of singing and hip swiveling that boldly contrasted with the image of the previous male idol and "king of music' Frank Sinatra.

One person, in American Psychologist magazine, put it this way: "Leadership is persuasion, not domination; persons who can require others to do their bidding because of their power are not leaders. Leadership only occurs when others willingly adopt, for a period of time, the goals of a group as their own. Thus, leadership concerns building cohesive and goal-oriented teams; there is a causal and definitional link between leadership and team performance."

Much has also been written about the difference between leadership and management. Peter Drucker has made this distinction in the pithiest way: "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

Perks and the Golden Rule

Dear Workforce:

As a way of recognizing the efforts of our senior management team in landing new business, our company intends to offer leased luxury cars to all executives. This comes on the heels of an executive planning meeting in the Caribbean. Any suggestions for communicating a positive message to our employees who will see the new cars every day, even as they're being asked to tighten their belts?

Concerned about Credibility; vice president, human resources, services, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Dear Concerned:

Kevin Herring, president of Ascent Management Consulting, responds:

The simple answer to your communication question is to follow the Golden Rule--do what you would want done to you if you were one of the line employees being asked to tighten your belt. If the luxury-car decision has been made and is unlikely to be retracted, tell employees that the cars are coming and why. Offer no excuses and don't sugarcoat the message; just tell it like it is.

Your employees will see through any attempt to cover up or mislead and will resent being treated as anything less than mature, capable adults. It will be a tough conversation, but if you're not completely honest, you'll lose credibility and may never regain it.

A problem with the luxury-car program is that it essentially rewards executives for something that hasn't even occurred yet--realizing profits from new business. And without the efforts of everyone in the business, those profits won't materialize. Make sure all employees understand the significance of each new business account and that all contributors are acknowledged. Celebrate a new account as a business unit, plant, or division, and give recognition in front of the entire group to each contributing individual, including line employees. But also celebrate and share in the reward when the profits from the additional business finally come.

A useful guideline in situations like these is when you find yourself having difficulty telling the bold truth to employees, ask yourself why. If it's because you can't justify the actions in the face of current budget constraints, for ethical or other reasons, consider that it might be time to ask the company to rethink the luxury-car deal or whatever the issue happens to be.