Leadership and Entrepreneurship Go Hand In Hand
In his book Tribes, Seth Godin (haven’t read his latest “Linchpin” yet) laid out the relationship between leadership and entrepreneurship. This is particularly true when it comes to marketing in the digital age. I believe that leadership has transcended it’s traditional role and moved on to become the number one marketing skill that an entrepreneur can have.
Understanding leadership is really important for new entrepreneurs. In a previous post I have included an interview by Yanky Fachler with Dr. Edward De Bono. I think it worked quite well. For this post, I will do something similar on the topic of Leadership. Here is an Interview conducted by entrepreneurship evangelist and expert Yanky Fachler with Stewart D. Friedman. It highlights some key leadership issues that all entrepreneurs should consider. It originally appeared in Business Plus magazine and I have kindly been given permission to republish it here by the author. Enjoy.
Interview with Stewart D. Friedman conducted by Yanky Fachler.
Leadership and management professor Stewart D Friedman is the founder/director of Wharton’s Leadership Program. Friedman developed his Total Leadership ideas during a two-year spell as a senior executive at Ford, where he ran a 50-person, $25 million Leadership Development Centre. In his new book, Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life, Friedman helps us identify our core values, and express ways in which we feel out of sync with those values. The programme is based on what Friedman calls four-way wins: our life at work, our life at home, our life in the community, and our personal development. Friedman emphasises three core aspects of leadership. Authenticity – being real – arises when leaders behave in ways that are consistent with their core values. Integrity – being whole – arises when the different aspects of life fit together coherently and consistently. Creativity – being innovative – arises when leaders question traditional assumptions.
BusinessPlus columnist Yanky Fachler interviewed Friedman in London’s Heathrow Airport recently. Despite having just stepped off a transatlantic flight, Friedman was passionate about his Total Leadership baby.
YF: All leadership philosophies claim that they help leaders stay ahead of the competition in the rapidly evolving business environment of the 21st century. How does Total Leadership differ from other leadership concepts?
SF: What distinguishes the Total Leadership approach is that it’s a combination of two different streams: growing leadership talent, and integrating the different parts of life. We need to see leadership and life as pieces of the same puzzle. Total leadership is similar to traditional leadership models in its focus on concepts and tools for increasing performance. Where it differs is on the emphasis on the whole process.
YF: Traditionally, the different domains of a business leader’s life are seen as being in conflict. What convinced you that these conflicting domains can become allies in producing better business performance?
SF: When we think of a balance, we have a visual image of scales, now tipping one way, now tipping another. The term work/life balance implies an inherent conflict between two mutually destructive forces. Balance, by definition, implies a trade off, a sacrifice that has to be made. But it is also possible to find harmony if you look for it. The goal of Total Leadership is to leverage synergies across those domains of life that are traditionally seen as conflicting, and to synchronise them to produce results that matter. I know that pursuing the opportunities for 4 way win is possible, because I’ve coached thousands of people through this. People can achieve more than they currently believe. It’s not magic. It’s not a panacea. It’s a method that requires commitment, effort and investment.
YF: Is business leadership limited to top executives, or can it take place at all levels?
SF: Leadership means creating sustainable change, which certainly does not mean only top executives. Leadership must exist in every person, whether at the top, middle or bottom of any group. Leadership is not confined to work, but extends to one’s personal life, community involvement and family life. I’ve discovered that leadership is a subject that cannot be taught – but it can be learned. Many executives are not leaders, and many leaders are not executives. The more leaders there are in an organisation, the greater the capacity for sustainable change.
YF: What about owner-managers of small-medium businesses? Is there anything in your programme for them?
Absolutely. Total Leadership is ideal for SMEs because it can be tailored to fit everyone’s world. You build trust, a sense of community. The most frequent feedback we get from participants in our programmes is “I feel closer to the people I work with now.” This works equally for someone running a small enterprise as for someone running a major corporation. Through Total leadership, you get to know people at a deeper level. You help them – and yourself. In fact, this can often work better in smaller companies because it’s easier to be more flexible.
YF: You say that the discipline of Total Leadership de-emphasizes face time and focuses instead on initiating innovation both within and across life domains. Could you explain?
SF: We have more means at our disposal to connect to people who matter most to us than we had 10 years ago. New media are transforming virtually every aspect of human action. We struggle to find the best means of determining when, where, and how to meet the demands of stakeholders in all domains of our lives. How do we manage these technologies? How do we define the boundaries? How do we capture the power of these digital communication tools – without a sense of being overwhelmed by the data? The solution lies in the way we manage this process. What percentage of my time should I be with the people most important to me? In other words, where do I need more face time, and where do I need less?
YF: You refer to leaders losing authenticity by behaving in ways that are not consistent with their core values. Can you give an example?
SF: Each of us creates our own story. We all ask the same question: what impact do I intend to have on the world? Look what happened during the US presidential campaign. Each candidate identified three or four critical incidents that represented their story. Here’s the story of Obama. Here’s where he came from. Here’s what he has done. Here’s his vision. If you stay true to your story, you remain authentic. If you stray – and I believe that McCain lost ground because he strayed from his story – you lose authenticity. The sad thing about McCain is that he pandered to constituencies that were not part of his authentic story, and he paid the price.
YF: You claim that integrity – being whole – arises when the different aspects of life fit together coherently and consistently. How do leaders achieve this?
SF: Very few people manage to achieve this coherence fully, to ensure that who they are in one part of their life is completely congruent with all other parts. The first step to enhancing the sense of integrity is to identify who are the most important people in your life. What do they expect of you? How do these expectations impact on one another? How does our performance as a father affect our performance as a citizen, as a friend? We advise participants to conduct reality check conversations with these significant others. Using the 4 way win, we help people grasp the realpolitik of their most important relationships. By dialoguing in this way, most people discover that what others expect of them is less than was expected. This allows them to reallocate time and effort to other areas that are more useful.
YF: Like Bookbuzz, the company I co-founded that facilitates executives discussing an assigned book as a launch pad for fresh thinking, your programme suggests shared reading and discussion. Why?
SF: As part of creating coaching networks, we encourage participants to form their own club where they can discuss a book, an idea, or a specific issue. In my workshops, I also assign people into randomly selected groups of three who meet periodically and coach one another through the exercises in my book. Joining a club with co-workers helps people forge closer friendships with them. These discussion groups are the secret sauce, the magic, that bring out the best that peer-to-peer coaching has to offer. By sharing their stories, participants can mutually enrich, expand and support their thinking.
YF: Finally, I am intrigued about the transition you made from being a highly respected leadership professor to becoming a senior executive at Ford. What was that like?
SF: In a word: challenging! Obviously, I had never managed anything of such a scale before, and at first I felt quite at sea. Hierarchical relationships took on a totally different quality. It took months to unravel the complexity of the job, but I was lucky to benefit from terrific mentoring and support from the guy who hired me. Actually, the reverse transition was even more mind-blowing than the original move. At Ford, I had been involved in very significant and powerful decision. Suddenly, I was back in the very different atmosphere of academia. It was culture shock all over again.
