Beyond the Cult of the Leader
The Tasks of the Executive in the 21st Century
Stephen Bungay, Director Ashridge Strategic Management Centre
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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
Fantasist Megalomaniac
Conman Narcissist Gambler
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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
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What are we talking about?
• Personality?
• Skills?
• Behaviour?
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The officer: 500 BC - present
Command
Management Leadership
Authority, responsibility and duty of direction
Organising and controlling resources to achieve objectives
Getting people to achieve objectives
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Different mental attitudes
Command: intellectual
Managing: physical
Leading: emotional
Probing: ‘What should we do?’
Pragmatic: ‘Let’s get organised!’
Positive: ‘We can do it!’
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Requiring self awareness
Command: intellectual
Managing: physical
Leading: emotional
Detached Calculating
Flexible
Engaged Pragmatic Realistic
Committed Passionate Determined
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Different skills
Resourcing
Controlling Organising
Achieving the task
Developing individuals
Building the team
Building the organisation
Giving direction
Developing strategy
Command: Intellectual (conceptual)
Leadership: Human (moral)
Management: Technical (physical)
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Directing as ‘command in business’
Directing: intellectual
Managing: physical
Leading: emotional
READY: I understand what I have to do and why
ABLE: I have the skills and resources to carry it through
WILLING: I am committed to making it a success
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Great commanders
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Masters of the trinity
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Distinctive qualities of the commander INTELLECTUAL
Conceptual
Absorb information
Identify essential point
MORAL Willpower
Resilience
Openness
PSYCHOLOGICAL Self-confident
Realistic
Flexible
COMMUNICATION Writing
Listening/questioning
Speaking/directing
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The executive’s trinity: propositions
• Managing, leading and directing are different
• Confusing them creates confusion
• Organisations need all three
• Mastering all three is very rare
• Top teams need the combination
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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’)