The Cycle of Leadership. . - Books in Brief - book review

HR Magazine, May, 2003

By Noel M. Tichy with Nancy Cardwell, Harper Business, 2002, 435 pages

List Price: $26.95, ISBN: 0-06-662056-2

To succeed in today's information-based economy, companies must be smart. That means the best business leaders are those who are good teachers. In The Cycle of Leadership, Noel Tichy and Nancy Cardwell describe how organizations establish a "virtuous teaching cycle" in which "everyone is a teacher, everyone is a learner and reciprocal teaching and learning are built into the fabric of everyday activities."

In this model, write Tichy (director of the University of Michigan's Global Leadership Partnership) and Cardwell (former national editor of the Wall Street Journal), the CEO assumes the role of head teacher, and other key players also act as educators. Teaching must be interactive, "where the leader who is teaching is, at the same time, drawing on and learning from the knowledge and experience of the students."

The authors describe the corporate learning program at GE, which, they say, has "the world's largest teaching infrastructure." Elements of GE's program include:

* Quarterly Corporate Executive Council meetings. During these sessions, leaders share competitive practices and think about how to improve GE.

* Six Sigma program. Six Sigma is a process by which managers quantify the occurrence of business defects, and then work toward reducing the number. More than 15,000 middle managers serve two-year stints as Six Sigma instructors.

* Work-Out sessions. These are town-hall meetings during which employees identify ways to improve GE'S performance. Managers must then respond immediately to the suggestions.

* Change Acceleration Program. GE's top 10,000 leaders are trained to teach and lead change projects throughout the organization.

The authors emphasize that there is no single blueprint for building a teaching organization. However, there are some common factors:

* Ideas. Effective leaders must be able to provide the answer to the basic questions, "Where is our organization going?" and "What are we aiming to accomplish?"

* Values. Effective leaders shape values that support business ideas.

* Emotional energy. 'Winning leaders are motivated and they motivate others," write Tichy and Cardwell. The most effective way for leaders to energize others is to interact personally with them.

* Edge. Effective leaders are always willing to make tough, but sound, decisions.