Stephen H Baum Leadership

Reflecting on several coaching sessions with A-type-persona leaders moves me to share these thoughts, which may be of value to a broader audience.

The formula for past success for these people has often included some or all of these traits:

– Think and speak sooner and faster than anyone in the room

– Win by sheer intensity and preparation

– Drive the conversation in the direction you want from the get-go

– Parry contrary views and behavior head- on — be a bulldog

– Push for total clarity at all times

– Pack as much as possible into each minute, hour, day and week

– Outwork everyone else (hours, level of detail)

– Make your solutions and wants known early and often

A preamble to what follows is essential: diminishing your goals or lowering your standards is off the table. But continuing the above beliefs and the behaviors that flow from them will limit your future success and often has a real “dark side” penalty in supporters at work, in marriages, with children and in friendships. So many stories support this assessment.

Instead, imagine that you are the boss, the CEO, the lead partner who must enlist an entire organization to achieve your goals and often to make personal sacrifices to succeed. As Gordon Bethune said as CEO of Continental Airlines: “That aircraft will get fixed a whole lot sooner if someone wants to fix it.”  The challenges now include:

– Teasing out and harvesting the best info and ideas of the best and brightest in your organization

– Enlisting advocates to carry the load with you

– Inspiring and engaging the group toward the same goal

– Making whatever progress is possible at this moment, re-grouping and leading again later

– Increasing others’ appetites for a stretch goal

– Setting the example for the most effective way to work together (creating the culture of both excellence and interpersonal behavior)

So how should we think about adapting to the challenges? Leaders must learn by experience these talents:

– Read the room, learn what others are thinking and feeling

– “Set your watch” to the right time interval for actions and results, the right moment to push hard and the right moment not to push

– Decide what is an appropriate outcome for this moment in time balancing results with motivation of your followership

– Vary tactics according to the above

– Replace the on off switch of your intensity with a rheostat

– Wear the button of leader even if you are not officially in that position (thought leadership, exemplary behavior)

The power of corporate cultures (and the leadership of the companies) is often measured by “engagement surveys.” To learn more, visit:

http://www.gallup.com/consulting/52/employee-engagement.aspx

or click on

Gallup Engagement Survey

There is ample data to show that companies whose leaders inspire and engage perform better and for longer than those who drive by fear.

That’s just my view. What’s yours?