Beyond the Cult of the Leader The Tasks of the Executive in the 21st Century
Stephen Bungay, Director Ashridge Strategic Management Centre
The executive 1908 - 1977: a manager • Management = administration – Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration founded 1908
• Administration is rational: Weber, 1947 ‒ Not traditional (religious) ‒ Not charismatic (heroic)
• Managers make organisations efficient – Organise work and people – Allocate resources – Control
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The executive 1977-2001: a leader • Leadership = inspiration – Harvard Business School ‘educates leaders who make a difference in the world’ (from ca 1990)
• Leadership is emotional: Zaleznick 1977 ‒ Not team players, but individuals ‒ Not acceptance, but love or hate
• Leaders are change agents – Tolerate chaos – Shape goals – Seek risk and danger
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Leaders: great or toxic?
Visionary Ambitious Charismatic Self belief Risk taker
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Fantasist Megalomaniac Conman Narcissist Gambler 4
What if‌?
Visionary Ambitious Charismatic Self belief Risk taker
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Fantasist Megalomaniac Conman Narcissist Gambler 5
Collins, 2001: the ‘level 5’ leader • Level 5 leaders have willpower – Run every ‘good’ company transitioning to ‘greatness’ between 1965 and 1995
• Level 5 leaders are humble ‒ Not charismatic, but self-effacing ‒ Not egocentric, but modest
• Level 5 leaders build institutions – Ambitious for the organisation – Diligent tortoises not racing hares – Thoughtful, sure-footed
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“MORE COLLINS MORE CLAPTRAP”? “In Jim Collins’ latest book, Good to Great, the author celebrates ‘self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy’ leaders who bring about the big transformations. Fine Jim… Michael Maccoby recently wrote of ‘larger than life leaders…e.g. egoists, charmers, risktakers with big visions. Exemplars he cites: Carnegie, Rockefeller, Edison, Ford, Welch, Jobs, Gates. He, of course could have added Messier and Middlehoff and Ebbers and Lay. Nonetheless, I’ll still take Michael’s list over Jim’s.” Tom Peters, Re-imagine!, p. 44 © Stephen Bungay 2010
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What are we talking about?
• Personality? • Skills? • Behaviour?
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The officer: 500 BC - present Authority, responsibility and duty of direction
Command
Leadership
Management
Getting people to achieve objectives Š Stephen Bungay 2010
Organising and controlling resources to achieve objectives 9
Directing as ‘command in business’ READY: I understand what I have to do and why
Directing: intellectual
Leading: emotional
Managing: physical
WILLING: I am committed to making it a success © Stephen Bungay 2010
ABLE: I have the skills and resources to carry it through 10
Different skills Directing: Intellectual (conceptual) Developing strategy
Giving direction
Leadership: Human (moral)
Building the organisation
Resourcing
Achieving the task
Building the team
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Organising
Developing individuals
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Controlling
Management: Technical (physical)
Different mental attitudes Probing: ‘What should we do?’
Directing: intellectual
Leading: emotional
Managing: physical
Positive: ‘We can do it!’ © Stephen Bungay 2010
Pragmatic: ‘Let’s get organised!’ 12
Working the trinity A Long View
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Self awareness Detached Calculating Flexible
Directing: intellectual
Leading: emotional
Managing: physical Engaged Pragmatic Realistic
Committed Passionate Determined Š Stephen Bungay 2010
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Woods Tribesmen
Infantry
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Woods Tribesmen
Infantry
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Woods Tribesmen
Infantry
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Woods Tribesmen
Infantry
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Woods
Tribesmen
Infantry
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Woods
Tribesmen
Infantry Infantry
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Directing: communicating intent After twelve years of campaigning, only one tribe in Germania remains resolutely hostile. We must bring hostilities to an end and create stability on the Northern frontier.
III Legion
Defeat the last militant tribe in order to bring peace to the Northern frontier
Main effort Set fire to the wood in order to drive the enemy into the open
Advance to contact in order to fix the enemy in the open
Charge through the wood in order to surround the enemy and kill their leader
Archers and artillery
Infantry
Cavalry
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Directing “People should know when they’re conquered”
Developing strategy
Giving direction
Building the organisation “Strength and honour”
“On my signal unleash hell” © Stephen Bungay 2010
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Managing “Load the catapults”
Resourcing
Organising
Controlling
“Archers ready”
“Infantry form up for advance” © Stephen Bungay 2010
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Building the team
• Show what’s in it for them • Tell it as it is • Address the value system of the audience
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Leading “Hold the line, stay with me”
Achieving the task
Building the team
Developing individuals “The range is good”
“What we do in life echoes in eternity” © Stephen Bungay 2010
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Distinctive qualities of the director INTELLECTUAL Conceptual Absorb information Identify essential point
PSYCHOLOGICAL
MORAL
Self-confident
Willpower
Realistic
Resilience
Flexible
Openness
COMMUNICATION Writing Listening/questioning Speaking/directing Š Stephen Bungay 2010
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The executive’s trinity: propositions • Managing, leading and directing are distinct • Confusing them creates confusion • Organisations need all three • They are developed in different ways • Mastering all three is very rare • Top teams need the combination © Stephen Bungay 2010
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Great commanders
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Masters of the trinity
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The commander’s ethos: ‘Viel leisten, wenig hervortreten, mehr sein als scheinen’
(‘Work hard, avoid the limelight, be more than you seem’) © Stephen Bungay 2010
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