Taking on the mantle of the CEO role is exciting, challenging and hyper important if it goes wrong! How the new CEO performs in the critical first days and weeks of their tenure will set the tone for much of what follows. This applies to every new CEO. Being a successful internal candidate who has made it to the top job does not make the delivery of a strong start less daunting.

In a well-regarded study from twenty years ago CEOs were asked by BCG to talk about their first few months in the job—what they had intended to do, what they actually did, what they regretted, and what they now regretted not doing. A good deal of practical advice stemming from their experience emerged. It included:

                 “ Diagnose first, decide second.”

                 “ Follow your instincts.”

                 “ Take notes, then prioritise and act.”

                   “Understand…you have only three topics; people, strategy, & values.

                 “ Pick a kitchen cabinet of people you trust and use them for problem solving.”

The CEOs were asked to come up with an agenda to follow if they were starting afresh in their own jobs. Ten actions were mentioned consistently, and these are set out below in the form of challenges for the new appointee to high office.

1. Assess the leadership team—and complete your initial round of changes within 30 days.
   No one’s going to have a greater impact on the business than the CEO’s direct reports. They are the top team. It often makes sense (when thinking about changes to that team) to consider adding a few trustworthy outsiders to change the culture or create a sense of urgency. That’s fine, so long as all of the long-established people are not automatically discounted—they have years of experience and are the company’s memory banks. At its crudest, they ‘know where the bodies are buried’!

   Choosing the right people is crucial, so some research is needed. That is axiomatic, though one should not rely solely on research. What one feels about things is also important. The best leaders are those willing to act quickly on their intuition, as well as on painstaking analysis. Bear in mind the old adage that ‘The people who got you into the mess are not usually the best ones to get you out of it!”

   A good start point for a review of the top team below the CEO is to examine each team member’s track record with the head of human resources. Do they have the basics of business strategy—are they able to take the ‘helicopter view’ of things? Look at the data on their recent performance and interview the most promising players to develop a sense about who is reliable, and (regardless of how they have done in the past) consider whether they have the relevant skills for the future you now envisage.

   Any such assessment should also take into account the overall performance of the team, viewed as objectively as possible. In other words, do not rely just on the performance management data for each individual—they are a team, so has the team delivered, collectively, or not? Are the lateral relationships among team members sound?

   Bear in mind, always, that the countdown to the end of your honeymoon period in the new job begins with the announcement of your appointment, so it is impossible to overstate the importance of getting the first changes to the top team made quickly. Failure looms if the new leader persists for too long with a team that he/she, deep down, knows is inadequate. Don’t give much benefit of the doubt.

   Naturally, changing people in a small team always involves pain, but at all costs do not allow that consideration to cause prevarication and delay. Don’t let sentiment (or squeamishness) stand in your way. Once you are clear what needs to be done, then, in the words of Macbeth “…’twere well it were done quickly”. A recent episode in our The Leadership Diet podcast, a guest lamented his slow start as a first time CEO.

2. Acknowledge the past and then communicate your vision of a better company and make sure employees understand how you will get there.
   It may be too early for specific details about plans, but a new leader must communicate the basic values that will serve as the framework for future decision making. People need to understand that he/she is sincere and competent. This is also the time to be clear about your management style—how you will treat people and how they should treat you. Doing this will show you as the leader and will stop everyone wasting valuable energy trying to figure out how to please you. Answer questions honestly and don’t promise miracles.

3. Meet plenty of ‘front line’ employees to ask them what the company should be doing.
   Opening up the chain of command will introduce new sources of intelligence. People ‘at the coal face’ usually know the business intimately. They hear all of the customers’ complaints at first hand; know where all of the quality problems are; and are often able to predict a downward trend long before the finance function. Ask them what you can do to make their working lives better, what parts of their work give them most satisfaction, what needs to be preserved. Answer questions honestly and don’t promise miracles. Honest engagement now sets up a channel through which you may receive valuable information for years to come.

4. Meet with ten major customers for an outside-in view of the business.
   Customer meetings are an invaluable means of gathering anecdotal information about current performance, business trajectories, and whatever indirect competition there may be in the market-place. There is also no doubt that bringing your senior people together with their counterparts in your customers can help forge strong linkages. When meeting customers, listen carefully (and listen more than you talk!). Seek real feedback and receive it all in a statesmanlike fashion. Be sure to act fast on any valuable ideas.

5. Pay attention to personal habits.
   As the leader you will have no more privacy! Every move you make will be subject to discussion and interpretation. That includes small things as well as big ones. How early you arrive for work, how you relate to people you meet in the corridors, how well you allocate your time, and how thoroughly you prepare for meetings—these all matter and matter a lot. This is a good time to signal the strength of your commitment by identifying one or two aspects of the company culture that you want to change, but if you do that, be prepared to change them quickly. Announcing and not acting forcefully is ‘the kiss of death’—though be careful. Setting precedents while resolving today’s issues may fatally limit your range of options for finding the solutions you will need tomorrow.

6. In a turnaround situation, stop all discretionary spending until you have determined your business priorities.
   Cash is always king, and you will need all the resources you can get for your major initiatives. When considering further actions in a turnaround, rethink the whole shebang—all of it, including advertising, development of new products and the need for major operational change. Too often, the most important projects lack sufficient resources because money is being spent on less worthy causes. Every organisation’s budget supports some items that can be reduced or eliminated without risk, so create a short list of priorities and make sure they are carefully tracked and well funded. Revise (raid, even!) the current budgets to pull out the extra funds required.

7. Learn how the business creates profitability: understand leverage points and develop simple reporting metrics.
   Working out exactly where the money comes from—and where it goes to—can be difficult, but if you don’t know in your first few days, you will be ‘flying blind.’ Apart from the dangers in that, you will inevitably be meeting people—analysts, shareholders, bankers and advisers, for instance—who will expect you to know. Finally, given the close scrutiny to which all CEOs are now subjected, it will be necessary to know how all of the company’s revenues are generated. CEOs not uncommonly delegate this task to the CFO, or (when new into the business) park it with the CFO ‘for the moment’. Either may prove a big mistake. A firsthand understanding of how the revenue side works will often point the way to the generation of short-term upsides or point you to reserves that have been ‘tucked away’ for someone else’s pet project. It will also help identify the key indicators that you will need from the outset. There are profit engines inside every organisation, so find yours and accelerate them.

8. Understand each and every problem resident on the balance sheet—communicate them early.
   You are likely to get only one ‘free shot’ at erasing the mistakes of your predecessors, so identify these and move to deal with them at once. You cannot start too soon on this. Unpleasant surprises such as defunct inventory, insufficient warranty reserves, excessive goodwill, unresolved customer disputes, lingering litigation and a many other issues have a way of getting hidden in the numbers.

   Critical ‘off balance sheet’ commitments also need to be identified and understood. There may be promises made by the previous management team to be dug out and re-examined, too. A good rule of thumb is to expose everything, devise conservative principles as the basis for future strategy, and act on them.

9. Generate a multitude of opportunities for ‘quick hits.’
   Work at honing your ability to detect hidden opportunities. Take note of all threats—these are often the key to the discovery of opportunities for ‘quick hits.’ Keep a running list of quick hits. Be ready to apply sticking plaster as and where necessary. Putting in a timely patch may be a ‘quick hit’ in itself!

   ‘Quick hits’ might include such things as running more profitable product promotions, negotiating an expanded agreement with a key customer, curtailing new-product development in weak categories, and launching a comprehensive productivity initiative to match a competitor’s lower costs. But don’t fall into the trap of trying to fix every problem in an attempt to show you are in charge. You must pick and choose your quick hits and be selective. Failure to do so means that you will become so bogged down in operational detail that you lose sight of the big picture.

10. Manage the expectations of your ‘up the line stakeholders, be it a Board of directors or Regional/ Global level leadership.
    ‘Managing upward’ can be the most important part of the job. Create a master plan for all of your ‘upward’ communications and making sure the leadership team follows it consistently. Learn to set expectations that you can exceed when the time comes. Keep everyone informed about emerging risks, and about what is being done to avoid them or lessen their impact.

    Make absolutely sure that all of your own team is ‘on message’—the management team in the business must speak with one voice, from one set of facts and conclusions only. ‘Cabinet rules’ become important in this. People in your team should feel free to be able to argue the toss amongst themselves—and with you—in team meetings, etc. but once a decision is made they should support it. You may need to set some explicit ground rules for all this.

Conclusion

Fair or not, leaders are subject to close scrutiny during their first 100 days. A successful first quarter not only promises more to come; it can also help further your goals. Everyone wants to back a winner, and there is no doubt that a strong report card for the first 100 days sets the tone for the next 1,000.

“You can tell she has the it factor…”

“The ‘it’ factor?” I replied to the CEO who was talking about one of his Commercial leaders.

“Yeah, the ‘it’ factor…. presence, what people look for but rarely can describe”, he continued. “Gravitas is what the English describe the leadership ‘it’ factor to be”.

What is gravitas?

It can be a very nebulous term and it’s vital that you define it to your own satisfaction.

As a starter, the dictionary define it in this way:

grav·i· (grv-täs) n.

Substance; weightiness: e.g. ‘a frivolous biography that lacks the gravitas of its subject’.

A serious or dignified demeanour: “Our national father figure needs gravitas, [but] he’s pitched himself as the kid brother” (John Leo).

One of the great challenges and aspirations for leaders is to embody in themselves and have recognised by others that they have Gravitas. Other people may recognise this as “executive presence” or substance.  It is the “thing” that some have that cause them to be noticed for all the right reasons. It is something that can’t be physically touched but can absolutely be felt or experienced by others when they come in contact to one with Gravitas.

But exactly what does gravitas look like for leaders?

It is presence, an aura of natural authority or an air of command.

It looks like being measured, succinct, calm, confident and sincere;

People with gravitas look like they are unruffled can carry themselves with an air of ‘being worth listening to’. They often command serious attention (from people of all sorts and conditions) by some personal mix of intelligence, style, authority, manners and wisdom.

Perhaps it’s as simple as just being ‘statesman-like’ or even leaderly!

Gravitas is relational in that it is not something we can just confer on ourselves. It is bestowed on us by others. It is how they experience us – rather than how we presume they are experiencing us. So does Gravitas come from what you do, say or look?

Certainly elements of this can contribute. My observation is that people who really embody Gravitas (all the time not just on occasion) are those who are more than the external dressing of words and body language. It is about their psyche, it is part of who they are internally. It’s who they be (pardon my poor grammar).

Those with Gravitas carry centeredness within themselves. Regardless of how they are squeezed, when or by whom they have the capability to remain calm, centered, constant and curious.

There is no doubt that tending to physical appearance and preparing for important meetings or presentations goes towards developing a presence that is positive.

However gravitas is more than window dressing. Leaders with gravitas develop a strong sense of understanding their own being and human reactions. They pay attention to their own reactions and learn to manage these with compassion and calmness so that they can pay attention to the environment around them.

Over time them gravitas becomes a way of “being”.

Dr Wayne Dyer may not be to everyone’s taste or reading style. Regardless he told wonderful stories to facilitate the learning of others. One of his stories was a conversation he had with a boy who attended one of his seminars:

 “If I were to squeeze an orange as hard as I could, what would come out?” Wayne asked.

He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, “Juice, of course.”

“Do you think apple juice could come out of it?”

“No!” he laughed.

“What about grapefruit juice?”

“No!”

“What would come out of it?”

“Orange juice, of course.”

“Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice come out?”

 “Well, it’s an orange and that’s what’s inside.”

I nodded. “Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear.

Why?

The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.”

It’s one of the great lessons of life. What comes out when life squeezes you? When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it’s because that’s what’s inside. It doesn’t matter who does the squeezing—your mother, your brother, your children, your boss, the government. If someone says something about you that you don’t like, what comes out of you is what’s inside.

And what’s inside is up to you, it’s your choice.

Simple story but nicely illustrated.

But…orange juice and gravitas, c’mon! Where is the link, I hear you say!

The link is the work needed to be done by the leader themselves.

As Jessica Leyden commented in a recent podcast episode , self-awareness is not sexy or interesting but it is fundamental.

Leading in 2020 has demanded much from all of us as leaders. Working side by side with leaders who at times were unsure how to lead or adapt offered plenty of opportunities for exploration of new possibilities.

Step #1 is to define what gravitas means to them.

Step #2 is to identify a group of people they believe exemplify gravitas, be it in public, corporate or private life.

Step #3 is to examine how do the exemplars project their gravitas, particular during times of overwhelm?  How does it manifest itself – what are the behaviours that give it away?

Step #4 Identify what particular behaviours stand out most? What might have helped them develop gravitas?

Step #5 Ask what are the common themes?

Step #6 Decide which ones are worth cultivating or experimenting with?

When the moments of overwhelm are impacting leadership and you as the leader are being squeezed like and orange, what do you hop will be squeezed out?

The announcement of a new CEO is an exciting time. Exciting for them personally as this is usually a culmination of many years effort, exciting for their family who have supported them along the way, exciting for the Board who have endorsed this individual and hopefully, exciting for the organisation who look forward to the upcoming ‘reign’ of the new leader. I imagine they are hoping for less of the Games of Thrones type of reign and more of the Tim Cook or David Thodey style!

The infamous book title of “What got you here won’t get you there” applies to new CEOs now more than ever. When the Fortune 500 was launched in 1955, according to a 2013 BCG report, CEOs had 4-7 KPIs to achieve each year. Today the same CEO will have 25-40 KPIs. Employee engagement scores in the 1990s, according to sources such as Gallup, were in the 60^th percentile. Today they measure in the 40th percentile and in many countries, are dropping. This creates the challenge of harnessing the energy of an increasingly disengaged workforce.

When Maile Carneige, became the CEO for GOOGLE ANZ , she admitted in an interview that she has to unlearn many of her previous leadership practices – that may have been best practice only five years ago. She realised that to succeed in her new role she needs to master some new characteristics quickly.

Experience in supporting new CEO transitions as part of the our consulting services shows that the role of CEO (also read Managing Director, Country Manager as titles to whom this equally applies) demands different leadership to the leadership required at any other career stage.  Here are four areas that commonly show up for these individuals.

1. Developing an intense sense of curiosity.
   The economic world is changing so fast as society adopts technological and service disruptions. Traditionally, business disruptions happened in five to ten-year increments. Due to Internet 2.0, crowd sourcing abilities and crowd funding platforms such as KickStarter, today are taking two to three years and having international impacts with speed. Our recent experiences with Covid 19, has shown how disrupted the whole world can be within a four-month time period.
   
   When warehousing industry leaders such as AMAZON announce they are targeting the healthcare industry, specifically the dental segment of that healthcare industry, as a future segment they want to dominate, then every business leader should be on notice that their industry is up for potential disruption. Curious leaders will actively seek to learn from as many different industries, leaders and other go to market strategies as possible. Staying pure to tradition and assuming that will work fine can only lead to economic threat for the company they lead.

2. Connecting the dots
   CEOs and other business leaders have an abundance of information. They often have too much information if anything.
   
   Being able to stop, stand back from the deluge of data and take time to make sense of it all is a characteristic many leaders fail to amplify.
   
   Distilling all the information into ‘What does this mean for our company…” is one of the most important practices for a new CEO. This includes being able to hold both short and long term views, which if course may contradict each other, is vital as they are responsible for guiding and directing the strategic implementation of short and long term strategies.
   
   One question I regularly pose to clients is, ‘What would GOOGLE or AMAZON) do if it owned your business….’? There is no right answer of course but thinking about it means the leader is forced to connect dots they might otherwise ignore.

3. Look, listen and learn…continually.
   In the PALDER framework, highlighted in the ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series, used supporting business leaders transitioning to new roles, the “Look, Listen and Learn” phase is a crucial step in understanding the organisational needs, the leader has inherited as part of their new role. This step requires the leader to take time to meet with a range of stakeholders, at the center and edges of the organisation to truly hear and understand what is happening for them.
   
   A mistake often made by new CEOs is flawed thinking that once the strategy has been set there is no more need to engage with their stakeholders. Egon Zendher, the international head-hunting firm, ranks the ability to continually connect on a relationship level with stakeholders as essential for CEO success. Rajeev Vasudeva, CEO of Egon Zendher, said in an interview, the ability to continually connect “requires humility and emotional intelligence from leaders who are being asked to manage more diversity in the workplace across a mix of cultures and generations”.

4. Building daily habits to ensure personal strength and resilience
   The journey to becoming a successful CEO is a fast, furious and demanding one. Our experience shows that many new business leaders lose their energy and drive about 18 months after commencement. They will then leave the role within a year from that point. The well documented failure rate of CEO transitions backs up our anecdotal experience.
   
   Successful leaders take time to build personal habits and disciplines that effectively and positively support how they actually consistently show up as a senior business leader. The world they lead in can be described as a VUCA world: (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous). Therefore, the only thing the CEO can actually control is how they manage themselves and their behaviour.
   
   Habits that underpin strong CEO performance include daily exercise and time reflecting on what has been done and what needs to be done. Regularly seeking feedback on their personal performance; spending time with the most important influencers and talent within the organisation and actively taking time to learn through reading or being coached. The 2014 study into Daily Habits of Exceptional Leaders demonstrated the consistency and efficacy of these habits across many industries and countries.

Assuming the most senior role in an organisation is a rewarding and fulfilling career step. It is also the most important leadership transition the organisation needs to support. A failed CEO impacts more than just the individual. It ripples to the wider organisation, employees, customers and sometimes entire industries.

Will you relish or perish?

If you would like to talk with us about how to best support the transition of leaders please contact us.

How many times have you heard leaders say they are over worked, their teams are too busy, everyone has an excessive amount of work to be completed? And when you say to them that looking at priorities and taking some stuff off the table is the only way forward, it is met with a look of incredulity that says, what planet are you from!

In a recent interview for my podcast, The Leadership Diet, my guest shared an activity he gave his organisation that in hindsight gave people permission to be adults in the workplace and saved the organisation over 200 ‘man’ hours per month, month after month, in wasted effort.

What did they do?

The leader told the organisation in a town hall meeting that his experience suggested most organisations were usually very busy and no matter how many hours per week people worked, there was always more to do done.

He was met with noises of violent agreement!

Therefore, he went on to say, he was instigating a ‘Stop It Month”.

From that point forward, for a trial of a month, everyone has the right to stop working.

Huh!

He explained, everyone had the right to stop doing parts of their job that they felt was a waste of time, offered no value or could be done in a more efficient way.

He gave two caveats.

If what they were hoping to stop, had the effect of providing a less than needed service to their clients, then that right was rescinded.

Secondly, if their ‘stop it actions’, put the business in risk in any way, then again that right was rescinded.

But other than that, ‘go for your lives over the coming month’, he told everyone in the organisation.

As you can imagine he was initially met with stunned silence and then lots of questions.

Essentially this leader gave permission to the organisation to act as adults in their roles.

But as the month concluded and lots of activities were stopped, or no longer worthwhile reports were finally put to bed, the organisation calculated it was saving over 200 hours per month by stopping effort on activities that were no longer needed.

That’s 200 hours in month 1,

200 hours month 2,

The same in month 3 and every following month.

Almost 2500 hours per year.

Stopped. Just like that.

Employees treated like adults.

This was more than just a symbolic gesture to the organisation. It was the start of a transformation that saw outstanding financial results two years later.

What could you stop doing if you gave yourself or your teams permission?

Would it be worth it? I bet.

Listen to the whole interview here

There are many aspects to developing effectiveness as a leader.

Understanding the context you are in while adapting to the evolving needs of your stakeholder groups, offering clarity or direction in times of doubt and staying true to your values when they are being challenged are just three aspects to being an effective leader. We believe that what makes practices stick is the development of a discipline of reflection as another aspect to developing effectiveness as a leader.

The power of reflection is well known. Socrates, the first ever leadership coach, famously said a life unexamined is not worth living, or words to that effect. Tim Ferris, host of the most downloaded business podcasts on Apple iTunes, says that 93% of his guests have a discipline of daily or regular journaling as part of a reflective practise.

Our recent global experience of Covid-19 has surfaced an outpouring of pondering and question asking. What is the new normal? Do I want to go back to an office? Do I have to travel to see clients when I can video call them- it worked fine for the last three months!

On a personal level we have had many conversations with leaders who are asking more searching questions of themselves including, what does my world of work mean to me? What is striving in the new normal? Do I want to continually strive going forward given how much I have appreciated ‘being at home’ in the last few months?

We believe these are great questions and worth exploring in a reflective practise.

But, if reflection is useful, how does a leader maximise the practise of reflecting?

There are many ways to do so. Just asking questions as per the example as above is a good place to start. But reflecting in an ad hoc or unstructured way is going to have a limited impact.

When we are working with leaders, we invite them to foster an end of the week discipline to create a structure of reflective learning. We recommend the leader takes 10-15 minutes each Friday or Saturday morning to think through three questions.

The same questions are used each week for at least three months, i.e. twelve weeks. Many leaders email us their reflections each week. Some prefer to talk them through in a bi-weekly call. Others compile them and collate overarching insights each month.

No matter what the preference is for each leader, the structured discipline of asking these questions raises the power of reflection to beyond ad hoc into a discipline that can be transformative. Surfacing and recognising patterns of behaviour bring to light times when the leader is very impactful or maybe on occasions is unwittingly destructive. The power of pausing to ponder at the end of the week brings a close to that week’s leadership effort and impact. But it also opens the door to a fresh start the following week. A start that is influenced from a learning perspective.

Always a good way to recommence the new week.

Our suggested questions include:

1. What did I focus on this week? Why? What was the impact of my focus on our larger plans and objectives?
2. What did I learn this week?  What am I noticing about my leadership impact as a result of that learning?
3. What would I do differently now, given what I have learned?

We invite you to trial these questions at the end of each week. You do not necessarily need a partner like a leader advisor or Executive coach to send your answers to each week. Share your insights with a friend, a colleague, your spouse. Indeed, the discipline of answering these questions in a solo effort each week will elevate your learning and leadership impact.

If you would like to find out more or discuss your leadership context and what help you might need, contact us here.

Padraig (Pod) O’Sullivan is the Founding Partner of The Leadership Context, a leadership advisory firm specialising in top team development and accelerating leadership transitions. He is the author of the award winning ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series.

Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet

Greg Lourey is a Partner within The Leadership Context. His background in financial advisory, psychotherapy, as a musician, a pilot and martial arts student, makes every conversation with him an interesting one.

If there is one topic that rears its head often in conversations about leading in context it is the quest for perfection. Not just the leaders self-critic in full swing, but the expectation of the leader, real or perceived, on those they lead.

Of course, leaders want quality … a standard of work that meets the needs of the context and for which the outcome ticks all the boxes, meets the needs of users and is consistent with a quality that represents the organisation. It is how a leader determines this standard that creates what we call the #tyranny of perfection – that standard required of our people (and ourselves) that goes beyond a quality standard and endeavours to meet the personal, subjective and often unconscious needs of the leader.

Where work quality is below the standard required then leaders are, more often than not, capable of developing their people towards an improved standard of work that meets the standard required. What can happen in the quest for this is that the leader, driven by an unconscious need for perfection (as defined by them), sets unrealistic demands on people and, in the process, is in danger of demotivating to such an extent that some don’t even try and others fall off along the way.

When staff believe that living up the standard being asked of them feels beyond their capability, and all they get from their Leader is frustrating looks, little direction and maybe even a bad temper, they are not motivated to learn and grow and the situation continues to perpetuate itself to the frustration of the Leader.

How often do we hear “I just cannot get John to give me an acceptable quality of work no matter how much time I spend with him”?

Occasionally.

How often do we hear, “my boss is micro managing me up the yazoo…”?

Often.

Why do leaders fall into the trap of being perfectionistic or over managing the outcomes? Often there is a gap in their minds between what is deemed acceptable in general versus acceptable in the eyes of the leaders.It is the gap between a standard of work that would meet an objective “quality” test and the subjective needs of the leader that, once understood, can be navigated more effectively.

The chart above presents the gaps leaders work with in developing their people. If the leader fails to appreciate the difference between continuous improvement and setting seemingly impossible targets, we get a mis-match in perspectives and expectations.

Some useful reflective questions for the leader are:

1. How often am I finding myself ‘doing the work myself’ because no one can do it as good as I can…!
2. What will this extra level of striving give us?
3. What am I delaying or inadvertently impacting by insisting on a higher level of perfection?

By all means set a stretch target, encourage continuous improvement and have people look to reach beyond a standard level of quality. Just watch where the gap between under performance and your definition of quality can derail your good intentions.

If you would like to find out more or discuss your leadership context and what help you might need, contact us here.

Greg Lourey is a Partner within The Leadership Context. His background in financial advisory, psychotherapy, as a musician, a pilot and martial arts student, makes every conversation with him an interesting one!

Padraig (Pod) O’Sullivan is a Partner of The Leadership Context. He is the author of the award winning ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series. Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet.

Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet

She was a year into her first global CEO position with we caught up for lunch. I had known Jennifer when she led a regional based leadership team in Asia Pacific for a different healthcare company and had always enjoyed her company. Visiting from New York where she was now based we had taken the opportunity to meet up again.

“What have you noticed in your first year as CEO that surprised you”, I asked Jennifer.

“I think I was prepared for lots of CEO issues or concerns. I understood the loneliness of being the ultimate leader and the sense of being constantly on the job. No one takes on a global role and expects to work 8-6 hours. I was also comfortable working into the Board, as the Chair and I struck a solid relationship up early in my tenure and he is very experienced working with market analysts and investor groups. That has been helpful”, she replied.

“But you know what has struck me really forcefully and kind of knew this from my Asia Pacific experience…two things”.

My interest was piqued to say the least.

“Firstly, as I get more senior in my career, now at CEO level, more and more people laugh at my jokes, and the jokes have not changed one bit! Secondly, and most importantly, my extraverted thinking patterns have become someone else’s orders, without me realising or meaning that. But at my level this has potential massive ramifications”.

What Jennifer was experiencing was the impact of her leadership shadow across the organisation. The more senior a leader is, often their words and utterances are taken as gospel, whether the leader has actually meant anything to be taken as literally as they sounded or not. I had known Jennifer earlier in her career and she was very talented at getting stuff done. A high achiever and task driven leader if ever I saw one.

Under stress she could revert to high controlling behaviours and listen to her core fear, in her case a fear of failure. Our coaching relationship back then was centred on helping her overcome high controlling behaviours and move to a heightened sense of creative leadership. She had successfully transformed many of her controlling styles of leadership, which led to her promotion into a global role followed by this CEO position.

One of the mis understood leadership gifts associated with Controlling mindsets, is the will to achieve, sometimes at any cost. These leaders are born to lead in many regards., They understand what a sense of urgency accelerates in a team, the drive to achieve and the energy to accomplish a range of in surmountable tasks that most other leaders baulk at.

But the cost of overly using a controlling mindset or leadership style lies in person exhaustion, high rates of staff turn over and diminished interest in innovation or free thinking. Jennifer had experienced all of these in her Asia Pacific role. I had no doubt Jennifer’s reputation had preceded her and the current organisation knew she was a leader with a reputation for winning and triumphing.

We discussed the tension for any senior leader in this position. People would listen to what she said, didn’t say and take that as a signal for a specific action to occur. At the same time Jennifer was very focussed on empowering the organisation and was working hard to develop a mindset of agile leadership across the organisation.

Before desert arrived, we talked about three levels of messaging from a senior leader when in discussions with a team member – whether this is a direct or indirect relationship. The three levels of messaging are really critical to abide by for any leader who is seen to be decisive, strong willed, successful and maybe even formidable. It gives a sense of direction and most importantly allows the team member to take accountability for their decisions without passing the buck up to the senior leader.

1. This is my opinion on the matter we are discussing.

It is no better or worse than anyone else’s opinion and you should not treat it with any more importance than anyone else’s opinion. You are the decision maker in this matter. I am only offering a perspective, not the answer.

2. This is my strong opinion on the matter we are discussion.

I have experience in this area and my learnings suggest to me that a specific course of action is at least worth considering. However, you are the leader here and this is your decision, not mine. This is an informed perspective and worth listening to, the same as any other informed perspectives.

3. This is a mandate!

I know this area really well, am exposed to thinking and have insights to other related issues that you are not exposed to. With that in mind I need to mandate a particular course of action because the one you are suggesting, whilst it is not incorrect, will lead to sub optimal outcomes for a range of other reasons.

About six months later I had a call from Jennifer. After some pleasantries she said, “I was in a meeting today with members of the global marketing team who are launching a new product into the North American market. I gave them some ideas and opinions.

One of the brand marketeers, whom I have only met briefly once before, said to me. Can I check Jennifer is than an opinion or a mandate because if it is a mandate we will need to change our thinking on the brand strategy”!

Jennifer laughed as she recounted the story. Giving clarity to her thinking had spread across the organisation. More importantly it was helping empower leaders of all levels to think and take accountability.

Padraig (Pod) O’Sullivan is the Founding Partner of The Leadership Context, a leadership advisory firm specialising in top team development and accelerating leadership transitions. He is the author of the award winning ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series.

Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet

The annual cycle of performance feedback or leadership assessment tools means most senior leaders have received many hours of feedback by the time they get to senior roles. Books such as Mastering Leadership or What got you here wont get you there offer great insights into ways for leaders to develop useful leadership competencies or behaviours that have been proved to be effective time and time again. Yet organisational engagement scores continually illustrate the frustration employees have with their leaders. Culture audits illustrate the impact that ineffective leaders have on their entire organisations. As a former executive in a recruitment firm I know the value that industry has when a recently appointed senior leader does badly, as the organisation being led by that person suddenly offers up a whole rash of candidates eager to find new jobs else where!

So why is this so hard? What is it about leaders changing their behaviours that seem to come unstuck so often? Are these people not intelligent, educated and in may cases very well paid? Does is not seem to the mere mortals that if they were that well paid, they would change just about any behaviour!

The science of behaviour change is vast and gives us good insight into the difficulties we all face when changing deep-rooted behaviours such as leadership orientated behaviours. But one of my favourite researchers, Robert Kegan, gives some interesting insights into why changing behaviours might be difficult. His research suggests we all have competing commitments- usually un-noticed by ourselves that actually compete against the desire to change. That is they actively work to keep the status quo rather than enabling the leader to change. At first this seems bizarre or even incredulous. 

What is it about leaders changing their behaviours that seem to come unstuck so often? Are these people not intelligent, educated and in may cases very well paid?

But Kegan’s research which had been lauded globally suggests our competing commitments fall into five common clusters. Have a look to see if you recognise any of these examples.

1. My relationship(s) might be affected if I change.

This is a big one. The internal competing commitment to not changing is driven by the belief that someone important to me might not like me if I change. Imagine if I decide that I want to get really fit and run a half marathon in six months. Sounds positive! However if I also believe that my husband may not want me to spend that time in training and also may not like the smaller version of me that would emerge after that training, I am now caught between my desire to get fit and my belief that my husband will not approve of that activity.

As a leader being encouraged to be less critical and controlling in order to foster a more collaborative team sounds like good feedback. Indeed, there is an unlimited amount of research that would support this. But if a former leader or mentor had taught that person to be tough is a sign of strength, the notion of changing to a ‘less tough’ leadership stance feels like I am letting that person down. Competing commitments in action.

2. My identity will change (for the worse) if I change

Using the same example, imagine the leader trying to be less critical and controlling in order to foster a more collaborative team and at the same time they believe a leader who does that is just not them. They believe they are not the kind of leader that does good collaboration, or being less critical is not them, i.e. their identity as a leader is quite different to this desired leader. When this happens the status quo to not change is driven by the (hidden) belief that my identity is at risk if I were to change.

3. This will be painful if I were to change!

This is a complicated one! The pain associated with the effort required to change is hard to endure. Alternatively, the potential loss of changing from being a controlling leader to one that is more empowering is painful. For some people the emotions required to change are too painful to ensure. One leader I worked with was so scared of actually trusting his staff as the first step in letting go his controlling tendencies because he could not stand the potential pain associated with being let down by them. It was easier to control every output in his department- or so he believed- than to go through the possibility of empowering others and occasionally being disappointed. In that coaching scenario we used the notion of different types of parenting at different ages and stages as a useful metaphor to assist in him uncovering this hidden commitment.

One leader I worked with was so scared of actually trusting his staff as the first step in letting go his controlling tendencies because he could not stand the potential pain associated with being let down by them

4. The actual outcome I am trying to achieve will actually lead to something undesirable!

Imagine working hard to change a behaviour that ultimately leads to a promotion in the work place. Hey that’s a good thing in many people’s books! Right! Wrong. What if that promotion led to some undesirable outcomes such as more work, higher levels of stressful responsibility, more international travel, more time away from family and so the list goes on. For many leaders the rewards associated with the desired outcome are actually not desirable or the notion of potentially failing at a higher level of responsibility puts the behaviour change needed to achieve that promotion into the undesirable bucket. Just too hard!

5. I will lose my control (read power) if I change!

The last powerful competing commitment is associated with a loss of power or control. “If I am more empowering, I will then lose my ability to be on top of the numbers/ outcomes/ actions/ activities. My ability to be powerful is lost”. This is a common hidden competing commitment for leaders to uncover. Particularly if the trimmings of power are very overt in the company culture, i.e. more seniority is associated with more control/ power / authority etc. Potentially changing behaviours to be less controlling could man giving up control/ power/ all that I have worked for in order to get into this position! Powerful indeed.

Given how easy it is to write out an action plan after receiving feedback in a performance related conversation or on a leadership development program, it is not hard to understand why so many attempts at behaviour change actually fail. Uncovering some deeper truths or commitments such as the five listed above will give the leader a higher chance of success in actually committing to change or at least committing to changing something they actually will!

Click HERE To listen to a podcast interview with Pod and Pauline Lee where we discuss the notions of Immunity to Change.

Padraig (Pod) O’Sullivan is the Founding Partner of The Leadership Context, a leadership advisory firm specialising in top team development and accelerating leadership transitions. He is the author of the award winning ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series.

Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet

Every coaching assignment, whether it be with an executive or a team, will at some point circle around to the topic of confidence. True confidence, not the overplayed type that is really only a cover for feeling inadequate or insecure, is a sexy, appealing trait that serves people and organisations well.

Research from the University of Melbourne shows what many people instinctively knew, that is confident people earn more money and have stronger career opportunities than their peers who are less confident.  Lead author Dr Reza Hasmath, from the University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, said the findings also shed new light on previous studies that argued the existence of ‘erotic capital’, meaning better looking people are more likely to get ahead in the workplace or studies which indicate taller people earn higher salaries. However, the research shows that higher confidence levels — which may be a by product of attractiveness and height — which make all the difference,” said Dr Hasmath.

While there can be much focus on what confident people do – what is more important is what enables that – what confident people believe and think which then triggers these behaviours. Truly confident people are inherently happy in their own skin. They draw their self worth from within themselves and as a result do not seek nor need the approval or attention from others. They also have an “internal locus of control” which means they believe they can impact and affect their lot. They are masters of their own destiny as opposed to be powerless in what happens to them and the role they play.

Dr. Travis Bradberry who wrote Emotional Intelligence 2.0 suggests there are some cardinal behaviours that confident leaders exhibit regularly. Like all behaviours these can be learned and cultivated.  Understanding the underlying beliefs and thinking patterns which underpin the behaviour, will make the behaviour easier to master.

Here are five behaviours and beliefs that all leaders can develop.

Don’t pass judgment
Confident people tend not to pass judgment on others. There is nothing for them to gain or protect themselves from through the criticism of others. They understand that those who overtly judge others quietly judge themselves. Those people become their own biggest critic and over time this actually saps their own confidence. Ironically this leads to a downward spiral of judging more- decreasing confidence- judging more etc.

Confident leaders look for where people can contribute. The leadership behaviour they exhibit is to actively look for the best strengths of their people.

Know how to say no and stress less
One global CEO recently told a meeting of international leaders in an advanced leadership development program held in Basel that his biggest learning as a CEO was to ‘ruthlessly guard his diary’. Studies from The University of California shows that those leaders who have difficulties in saying no to requests tend to have higher levels of burnout, stress and depression. The mindset confidant leaders adopt is that their time is finite and needs to be spent on the most strategic and important priorities. The behaviour sounds like a clear answer to requests which leave the asker in no doubt that the leader is either available or is not.

They develop strong oration skills
Remember the Presidential candidate who told his country, “Yes we can!”? Barack Obama is renowned for his speaking skills and for years instilled a sense of confidence because of how he connected with audiences. The behaviours confident leaders exhibit are to speak with certainty and clarity whilst accentuating the main points they want to be heard. Confident leaders believe that their fundamental role is to influence others and speaking well is the most basic form of influence.

Being wrong is actually right
“I don’t know the answer you are looking for but let me come back to you”, is a common approach most sales representatives are taught in sales training 101. Confident leaders are confortable with both offering their opinions, often to see if they land well but also knowing that having diverse opinions in a team can only be healthy and are happy to be wrong for the greater good. In 2020 we have seen many examples around the globe with business and political leaders assuming they knew better than Covid 19. They were proven wrong and yet many continued to profess they were right all along, to their detriment.

It was them not me
Confident leaders learn that their rewards and fulfilment come through the success of others. They do not overtly seek the limelight or public recognition preferring to direct that to others. Publicly acknowledging the source of ideas or proposals that are deemed to be positive and raising the profile of up and coming employees is an important behaviour confident leaders exhibit. The mindset they embrace stems from a sense of self worth that is internalised, i.e. their rewards do not come from external public recognition. Rather they are able to focus outwards and help assist others to succeed and gain recognition as a result.

So, if you are seeking to increase your confidence, the pay off is potential career promotions, salary increases with less associated stress. Not bad!

So, on a scale from 1-10, how truly confident are you?

Padraig (Pod) O’Sullivan is the Founding Partner of The Leadership Context, a leadership advisory firm specialising in top team development and accelerating leadership transitions. He is the author of the award winning ‘Foreigner In Charge’ book series.

Listen to the latest podcast on The Leadership Diet