What is this leadership thing all about anyway?

An article by Keith Freeland, Head of Growth, The D&G Partnership

I am in the fortunate position that I have spent 32 years inside a very large multi national company, have had a shot at being a leader in that environment but more importantly had the opportunity to observe managers and leaders (and they are very different) in action over a long period of time. The individuals I have had the privilege of observing have come from different countries and cultures, all shapes and sizes, ages and experiences. I now have the opportunity to reflect on those 32 years of observation, including my own attempts at being a leader, draw the insights that have come from that experience and share them with you. It is not likely to be considered for the Harvard Business Review but I feel represents a down to earth view offering insights based on a significant period of observation. I do hope you feel your visit to this website is worthwhile for having stopped a while to read this.

So what is this leadership thing all about anyway?………………………

In the good old days of rigid hierarchy and multi layered organizations life was very simple. The boss told you what to do and you did it. If you didn’t do it properly you could expect some kind of “feedback”. Everybody knew where they stood and what they had to do, something I observe that is very often missing in business today. But it worked and that is good. Was it leadership….absolutely not but then in that situation leadership is not what was required. Management is what I would call it. Leadership was the sort of adjective applied to those inspirational people like Ghandi, Churchill and Kennedy.

Now if you think about that, in a world of hierarchy and clearly defined roles, what is required is a manager to allocate and distribute the work, monitor and control the work flow and quality check the output. In the situation where there is a line management relationship this can, has, and still does, in certain circumstances and cultures, work well. Where this is no line management relationship, as is the case with Ghandi, Churchill and Kennedy (amongst many others of course) something called “leadership” is required but that is nothing to do with work allocation, flow or quality. It’s something different.

So what’s changed?

The world of business has become more complex, competitive, in a world of change that is so fast we cannot comprehend, fueled by the world of technology which changes by the second. On top of all of that we have all witnessed unexpected events which changed the world instantly. Remember September 11 2001. Wouldn’t it all be just great if we could live the simpler life led by our parents and grandparents. Life would just not be as stressful as it is now.

That’s the world of fantasy…….get over it!

Businesses have responded to this ever changing and increasingly complex world by cutting out layers of hierarchy, freeing up their organizations to respond rapidly and with agility to the changes and to position themselves to anticipate, respond to and generate change. Organisations are flatter, job descriptions at best vague and very often non existent. Line managers have a broad spread of people reporting directly to them. Frequently teams are virtual, line managers using technology to communicate with their remote team. Allocation and control of work very often doesn’t come from a line manager and actually business doesn’t want that because they want employees to push the boundaries, take on more, be more flexible. That is why job descriptions are becoming a thing of the past. In short managers, job descriptions and all of the processes that worked so well in the past no longer work because they actually restrict the individual employee and get in the way. As far as the individual is concerned they are far less likely to take orders from managers and have far more input to running their own job. Of course an unintended consequence of this flexibility is that individuals requiring clear structure in their lives will feel that their job and accountabilities are unclear.

In short managers don’t work!!!!! But if managers don’t work what does…………………..Leaders!

And where do we go to find out about leaders…………Ghandi, Churchill, Kennedy and Mandela. They inspired nations, but what is it about them that enabled them to do this?

My raison d’etre is to observe true leaders and through my skills as a coach, enable others to grow as their own leaders. I fundamentally believe that inside every one of us is  a unique presence and charisma required to be a leader, one that is unique and vital. After all presence is all about being present……that’s all. Easy to say but very difficult to do. Being present for people is an ability that can be learned. Combine that ability with an individual’s own uniqueness and we have the fundamental building blocks of a true, authentic leader. I am not referring to technical or commercial capability. That is assumed. A core capability is required but capability is nothing to do with leadership.

 In my career I have observed truly great leaders in actions, there were not that many. I have also observed a wide spectrum of individuals who call themselves leaders, many were, but some fell woefully short of that definition. As an HR specialist I am proud that I was able to facilitate the exit from my company of a few of those individuals not worthy to use the title of leader. I have, in my career, used what I had observed in others to help me in my own role as a leader. I have to say it is very tough. I hope that those I have led might honour me with the title of leader.

As I cast my mind back I can recall some of those individuals that I have admired through my career:

Geoff’s Story – I could not compose an article like this without mentioning Geoff who was my very first boss. He is dead now, which is a loss to the world. Geoff recruited me into my first job in my career. His memorable act of leadership came approximately 6 months after I had started the job. He candidly informed me that he felt I was an individual of great ambition, ability and potential. He let me know that remaining working in research would frustrate me and that I needed to get out as soon as I could. I did exactly that, approximately 12 months later, after having been called into my divisional manager’s office to let me know I should cease trying to move and gain promotion because I was not capable of it.

If it were not for Geoff I might have just believed my divisional manager and accepted that I did not have the potential to go any further.

I am more grateful to Geoff than you can ever imagine. A great leader who never realized it.If it were not for Geoff I would never have done what I did with my career and never been able to touch the lives I have touched.

How many leaders like Geoff do you know?

Greg’s story – I had known Greg through most of his career. I observed him grow as an individual and a leader over many years. His “legend” was that he was the only leader who, when his organization was informed he was moving jobs witnessed his team object so strongly that the senior management agreed to let him stay in his role for a further year. I was fascinated to hear him talk on the subject of leadership. He talked of leaders setting the bigger context for their team, allowing them space inside a set of generous boundaries and then stepping back, providing support where it was needed. The one phrase that sticks in my mind that was uniquely Greg is “Push with humility”. An interesting phrase to describe a leader. A number of years later Jim Collins, in his definitive work “Good to Great” used the word “humility” in connection with leadership. Greg was there many years before. Greg was truly a leader before his time.

John’s story – I equally have known John for many years. I first met John when I worked with him in the 1980’s. One of the things that struck me about John is that, wherever he went, he was always on the lookout for “good people”. Whether he had vacancies in his organization or not, he always made space for good people. He surrounded himself with them.

Our careers went separate ways but I kept in contact with John. If I spotted a “good person” I would call John. He recruited everybody I referred to him. He was, at one stage in his career, given a role that was seemingly impossible. He had been made the leader of three failing businesses. In two years he turned these businesses around. Some years later he told me the story of these businesses. The first thing he did was to gather his teams together, all in one room. He told them how things were, plain and simple. He then indicated what he intended and then asked them all whether they were prepared to support his intentions. Who is “on the bus”? Those not prepared to get on the bus were allowed to move on with dignity. Those willing to get on the bus were rewarded many fold for their commitment. He had surrounded himself with the right people.

Many years later John told me that, in referring individuals to him I had a 100% track record. He could guarantee that if a person had the Freeland seal of approval, he almost did not need to interview them, just make them an offer.I was proud of that reputation.

Some years later, again in Jim Collins work “Good to Great” and in Jack Welch autobiography “Jack” both advocated the first steps taken by a great leader was to get the right people on board…..before even setting the vision.

John had been there for years.

Mike’s Story – I had not known Mike very well. Already a successful person I observed him with his peers. A quiet man. A man of very few words but every word he said counted. He led a very successful business. A business he had grown up in and knew inside out. He knew his business so well that he intuitively knew what was right. He was then appointed leader of those who had been his peers. The leaders of an enourmous global business. A business with some significant problems and was failing.

Mike was brutally honest. He said it the way it was. He had “kimono on” and “kimono off” conversations. He also knew what he had to do and how to do it. He turned this global business around in a year. By telling it the way it is, by demonstrating his detailed knowledge of the business, by putting himself at risk in defining a particular direction and building the critical relationships with those whose help he needed he achieved what he had set out to do.

I once witnessed him answer a question about leadership. The question was “but isn’t it true that leaders are born, not developed”. Mike’s answer was typical of the man. “Believing that leaders are born not developed is not a useful thought for me because I am not a born leader. I have to work hard at being a good leader and I have to believe I can be”

An impressive performance from the quiet man of few words.

Vivienne’s story – I knew Vivienne by reputation only until I worked with her intensively over the period of approximately 18 months. When you are with Vivienne you know that you have all of her attention. She is totally present. You feel like you are the only person that is important to her……and right then you really are.

You feel like you want to produce your very best work for Vivienne. You know that whatever you produce she will appreciate and acknowledge it. That is why you want to produce your very best you have to offer.

The work I did with Vivienne has been acknowledged externally as the global standard and best practice in the world of talent management. I did the work but Vivienne played such a big part in enabling me to produce my best. I realized, perhaps for the first time in my life, exactly what I was capable of doing.

As I talk to many people in the organization you realize just how many people connect to Vivienne personally and feel exactly the same about her. It’s something very personal, very special, to have been acknowledged by somebody you know is a great leader. You cannot help but produce the best you are capable of.

Leaders like Vivienne make connections in a way that brings the very best out in people. Imagine the value to a business that leaders like Vivienne brings.

John’s Story – I have been proud that, in my career, I have worked with somebody as special as John. I have never worked quite as hard as I did for John but it didn’t matter. To work for somebody whose intellect was so powerful, whose ability to connect with people was so empowering is something special. John is a quiet man, a small man but big in every other dimension. He is somebody equally at home with the leaders of industry and also having a mug of coffee with a team of offshore operators in the messroom on a platform somewhere in the middle of the North Sea. “Wee jockey” is the nickname they gave him and they remembered him years after he had left.

John could connect with everybody he came into contact with at their own level. It really didn’t matter to him who he was talking to. Right then, at that moment in time, they were important.

Rick’s Story – I worked with Rick for approximately a year as part of a business leadership team. What was it about Rick that everybody admired him as a leader. Nobody had a bad word to say about him. Everybody loved him as a leader. He had very similar qualities to Greg whose story I told above. Humility is Rick’s secret together with the ability to be present. Whoever he speaks to feels, at that time, that they are the only person in Rick’s world which of course they are  because that is how Rick is. Imagine a person who really wants to hear what you have to say and who gives his undivided attention. How special a leader would that person be for you.

Jeff’s Story – Jeff was fun! . He has a natural vibrant energy that attracts people to him. They want to work for somebody whose energy they can feed off of.

He has time for everybody that needs it. Time for those who did a great job. Time for those who were struggling in their job or life in general. They all mattered to him, every one of them. And they all wanted to do their best for Jeff.

One amazing quality and strength Jeff has is the ability to admit that he doesn’t know. Managers are paid to know the answers. Leaders are paid to make sure the best answer comes from the best person to provide it. And most of the time that is not the leader him/herself. Jeff did not feel small by admitting he didn’t know the answer, quite the reverse.

Colin’s Story – In many ways Colin is an enigma. And I am sure he would laugh his socks off to hear me say that. He once said of me “I have known Keith forever”. Not strictly true but it felt like it. Colin has a few rough edges, he has had throughout his career and I believe he is proud that they haven’t been worn down. His great skill was in galvanizing large, diverse teams to pull together in adverse business conditions to help them hold their head high again. He did this time and time again.

Colin was a colourful character with a colourful vocabulary to match. Never afraid to take the difficult decisions but at the same time with respect to every individual in his vast team. He was, it had to be said, an acquired taste, a maverick, and there were those who found him difficult to work with.

I include Colin in my list of true leaders I have known because, like others, Colin had that special quality called humility. Colin never knew the answers and admitted it up front. That was his great strength. He used those around him collectively to work with in finding the answers. Then he implemented them in a determined way. Colin turned around businesses, lots of them.

And by contrast I have worked with some who do not match up to my definition of a leader. The value they have brought to my career is the insight to be able to distinguish great leaders from others desperately trying to be good leaders. I always believe that individuals do the best they can. These individuals fall into that category. There are many good people who, no matter how hard they try, just do not “get it”. For these individuals unfortunately, being a leader is hard work and they make hard work of it. I have witnessed many who have suffered in their struggle.

John’s Story –  I worked with John for two years. I did not know him before he asked me to come to work for him. He became aware of me because of my reputation in the field of industrial relations. I accepted the job in good faith. We worked in a heavy industrial process plant environment where he was the overall plant manager. A quote from John that I have always remembered was “we can’t involve operators in this, they are not intelligent enough”. Now I know some pretty bright operators and they have taught me a thing or two!

John liked his own way and felt he knew what was good for the business and it felt like he knew what was good for everybody in it.

I remember one conversation I had with John where I asked why, if he didn’t take any notice of my advice, did he go out of his way to get me on his team. After a particularly heated conversation I had with him once he said “I think it about time I did your appraisal”.

I remember I got to the stage where I did not feel confident enough to take the decision whether to send an employee communication to staff at their work location or to their home address, I had to ask John what he felt was best.

John lived in a world where the manager took the decisions and everybody else was there to implement them.

I reached the stage where I contacted my functional director to inform him that I was looking to find another role and intended to resign. Fortunately he persuaded me not to with the advance information that John was about to be early retired and I was to effect the retirement.

At his retirement dinner John referred affectionately to the work we did together and I still receive a Christmas card from him. He was totally unaware of his impact on those around him!

Malcolm’s Story – Malcolm was a peer of mine on a business leadership team although he did not recognize the peer relationship. He felt that I was somehow less important because I was an “admin person” who had no right to become involved in anything more strategic. Well that is how it felt!

Malcolm was a very experienced manager. I guess he may have felt that he was capable of a more senior role which he had never been offered. I don’t know what was going on in his world but I knew how he impacted mine!

Malcolm was very familiar with the Eastern culture having spent a proportion of his career working in the Middle and Far East. His wealth of experience there translated into a level of wisdom that nobody questioned. I think he enjoyed the recognition that afforded him. Of course in the West the culture does not automatically accept “the way it has always been done” which I believe Malcolm struggled with.

When I look back on the period I worked with Malcolm I see a person who felt he should have progressed in his career further than he did, perhaps seeing others progressing further that he might have felt less deserving. In his world perhaps seniority and importance was related to time served.

Keith’s story – This is me! I have, in my career been appointed into leadership roles of varying sizes, once leading a team of over 60 people. Of course I had the benefit of all the observing I had done over the years which meant that I would be the ideal leader. After all I know how it should be done.

I really struggled personally with the role. I completely identified with the role of the leader as the coach but my problem was that there was not enough time in the day to personally coach all 60 of them in a meaningful way. There is also the role as leader which I call “tough love”. That is as tough on the person giving the tough love as the receiver!

I really do not feel I am cut out to be a big leader and to be fair I never really wanted to be. My “calling” if that is the right word, is to help others be the leaders they are capable of becoming. I have a 32 year database of information to help me in that quest.

So what is this leadership thing all about anyway?

Get it right and people will follow you anywhere. Get it wrong and life is going to be really tough and hard work for you. There is a lot written about leadership and many many examples of great leaders. Copying somebody who is a great leader is not an option though. How many leaders have you seen that appear

inauthentic because it seems like they are putting on an act?

So what does all this 32 years of observation and trying to be a good leader mean? What are the key insights from those 32 years that I can pass on to you? Always somebody that admires simplicity I think there are a small number of key themes and insights I would suggest you consider for yourself or your organization.

	Be you, but be the brightest and best version of you that you can imagine. Spend a little time contemplating what you at a 100% looks, sounds and feels like. Get a clear understanding of this in your mind in as much detail as you can. Explore and work on what prevents you being that version of yourself right now.
	Understand who you are. Why are you on this earth? What drives you and motivates you? What are the deeply held beliefs and values that has you react in a certain way in a certain set of circumstances? What impact do you have on those around you and why?
	Understand what it is about you that you would be prepared to follow? Understanding the answer to this question will give you insights into why others would follow you. Remember in order to be a leader, somebody must be prepared to follow you. You can manage somebody without necessarily having their consent. The act of following is voluntary and with consent regardless of what position you occupy in an organisation’s hierarchy.
	Be very open and responsive to open and honest feedback from those around you, in particular those in your team. Being open to honest feedback gives you space to give open and honest feedback.
	Of course the ability to give open and honest feedback is a key success factor in being a great leader. This does not mean being nice to people. A key insight I have observed in many situations is a desire for open and honest feedback. In most cases individuals are perfectly prepared for and crave feedback that they can use to improve. Being told “you are great”, whilst nice to hear, does not give an individual any useful insights to help them improve.
	Disproportionately spend your time in searching for people, achievements and events to recognize compared to criticizing. This does not mean you should not give constructive criticism when needed. If you spend most of your energy in searching for reasons to recognize and celebrate, it is likely that your balance between recognition/celebration and criticism will be about right. I once visited an organization who told me that the week before they had a party to celebrate the opening of their new mailroom. I didn’t understand why at the time but I do now.
	Take some space and dare to be different. I have, in my past, been branded a maverick. It hurt at the time but I am proud of that label now. Many great leaders have been branded such .I am not  just thinking about leaders in an organization. Some of the key thought leaders in science, engineering and medicine experienced significant opposition because they dared to challenge the established thinking. I am certain that the brand of “maverick” could well have been applied. Have the courage to take the space and create the future you want as a leader and for all those who will follow you. Sometimes this will meet resistance and at other times you will find none. Very often the most significant barriers to taking space exist only in our own head. I can see now in my own history much time wasted because the barriers inside me prevented me taking the space I needed.

On the 30^th June, 2006 I gave my retirement speech after working for 32 years in the same company. I referred to my career as “the most fantastic apprenticeship anybody could have ever wished for”. That, for me, is exactly what it has been. I could not have accumulated the experience and knowledge I have in any shorter time.

A few weeks later I was being interviewed for a webcast and was asked “what gives Keith Freeland the right to claim to be an expert in the field of talent management and leadership development?” My reply? “I have 32 years knowledge and experience in the field, have walked the talk during that time and have been acknowledged worldwide for my work in the field”. I shocked myself with that reply but it is true. It is now time to make that experience and knowledge available to a wider audience.

I really appreciate that you have taken the time to read this article. If one person takes one insight away from the time they have spent reading it, my time in writing it has been worthwhile. If each person who reads this article takes away one insight, the potential exists to change the world. That is a scary thought but one that  drives me to do more in this field, together with my business partner, Paul Page, Head of Discovery, as The D&G Partnership.The world is not such a big place after all.

Until we meet again.

Keith Freeland