Leadership Challenge

Eve Carson 1985-2008

Yesterday was a day of both celebration and sadness. Eve Carson, Student Body President at the University of North Carolina, was murdered Wednesday March 5th in what now appears to be a random act of violence. Carson was honored on Tuesday by over 10,000 members of the community in which she had established herself as an admired leader. Together the community honored her and celebrated her life and spirit and focused on the positive influence she had in her short lifetime.

When the story unfolded last week we had a wonderful discussion with our kids about guns, violence, celebrity, etc.. My daughter raised the question of how strongly the University reacted, closing down all activities the day after her murder. Her discomfort stemmed from the fact that we don't have the same strong reaction to equally senseless loss of life that pervades in our inner cities. Why don't we stop and honor the small child who is killed in a gang related shooting? Good point. Perhaps it is because Eve touched so many. Regardless of why the world seemed to stop for a time in Chapel Hill after her death, I believe it is a good thing. Anytime we stop and think, it's a good thing. We all agreed on that. But it did make me reflect on why the community had such an outpouring and I believe it comes back to her role as a leader.

From the stories that were shared, Eve was a presence on campus. She adored the university and they adored her. She never stopped thinking of both ways to enjoy it and improve it. Her enthusiasm was infectious and brought out the most positive, creative sides of the people with whom she interacted, and there were many. She repeatedly inspired shared vision, challenged the process, enabled others (very often her seniors) to act, and encouraged the heart; with her enthusiasm, her genuineness, and her simple humanity she modeled the way. She was a bright light.

It is this light and hope, this sense of what's possible, the energy this young leader provided that was mourned Tuesday along with the young woman. Something the community needed and wanted was taken away with Eve.

She leaves behind many friends, a beloved family, a grateful student body, and a world that will miss the difference her leadership could have made. She also leaves behind an example worth following, one of leading with joy, energy, commitment, and hope. That light will not dim and may light the way for another young leader to emerge. For that, Eve, thank you.
Posted by
Beth High

Selecting the Next President

My good friend and colleague, Dan Mulhern, the First Gentleman of the State of Michigan, asked me in November 2007 as the presidential election campaign was getting under way to respond on his blog to the following question: Given the needs of America at this unique moment in history, what does it especially need in a leader? Are there particular attributes, characteristics or practices that would especially serve our country?

The presidential campaign has heated up considerably since I responded to Dan's question. Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton are slugging it out for every single delegate, while John McCain is flying solo as the winner on the Republican side. It seems certain that the remaining Democratic primaries will be hard-fought and nasty, and the summer convention may become one for the history books. The Fall contest will be as intense, fierce, and entertaining as any we've seen in years. But despite all the twists and turns of the campaign melodrama, I would still respond to Dan with the same advice I offered five months ago.

Here is what I said:

For the last twenty-five years my coauthor, Barry Posner, and I have been asking working people around the world to answer the following question: “What do you look for and admire in a leader, someone whose direction you would willingly follow?” The results have been striking in their regularity over the years, and they do not significantly vary by demographical, organizational, or cultural differences.

What is most striking and most evident in our research is that only four qualities, over time, have always received over 60 percent of the votes. Mind you that this research spans 25 years, so this is not some fad. The data tell us that there are a few essential “character tests” someone must pass before others are willing to grant the designation "leader." These are the basics, and they are fundamental to what people expect of any leader in our country, no matter what the times. So, what are they?

For people to follow someone willingly, the majority of constituents believe the leader must be

• Honest
• Forward-looking
• Inspiring
• Competent

Taken by themselves, these four characteristics are useful. Write them down and take them into the polling booth with you. Put them next to the names and then vote. But what is more significant is what these qualities mean when taken as a whole. Three of these four key characteristics—honest, competent, and inspiring—make up what communications experts refer to as “source credibility.” More than anything, people want leaders in whom they can believe. Credibility is the foundation of leadership. Period. Full stop. Put another way, if you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message.

The fourth universal quality of being forward-looking is the attribute that differentiates leaders from other credible people. People expect their leaders to have a point of view about the future. They want to be confident that their leaders know where they’re going.

Now if this is what people most look for and admire in their leaders, then it seems to me that we, the voters, ought to include these four criteria among those we use in deciding who we want as our next President. When you walk into that voting booth, and before you pull that lever, here are a few basic questions you should ask yourself:

• To what extent has this person been honest with the people? How open are they about their beliefs? How much do I trust this person?
• How clear and compelling is this person's vision of the future for this country and this world? How consistent is this vision with the kind of future that the constituents want? How well are my own aspirations represented in this image of tomorrow?
• To what extent does this person convey hope and optimism about the future? How upbeat is this person? When I listen to and watch this person, how positive and uplifted do I feel?
• How capable is this person in leading others? What’s been this person’s track record of accomplishments? How successful has this person been in getting things done? Regardless of the years of experience this person has had, to what extent does this person demonstrate the capacity to learn and grow?
• And finally, here's the big one: Does this person keep promises, follow through on commitments, practice what he/she preaches, and walk the talk? Does this person do what he/she says?

While there is more to a president than credibility and vision, this is where it all starts. After all the fog of rhetoric has cleared and the day comes when one person takes that oath of office and then grabs the helm of the ship of state, we all want to feel confident that our leader will keep the promises made during the campaign.

Posted by Jim Kouzes

Challenge Is the Opportunity for Greatness

In two recent interviews journalists asked me a similar question. Each wanted to know why Barry Posner and I had selected The Leadership Challenge as the title for our book. “What do you mean to suggest by the title, and what is the challenge you are writing about?” These questions took me back to the very early days of our investigation on the practices of exemplary leadership.

The Leadership Challenge began as a research project in 1982. We wanted to know what leaders did when they operated at their “personal best” – when they set their own individual leadership standard of excellence. With thirty-eight open-ended questions, we asked about the situations, the emotions, the actions, the methods, the people, and numerous other aspects of these personal best experiences. In that initial study we collected and analyzed over 1,300 written cases and conducted 42 in-depth interviews. In the last twenty-five years we’ve gathered thousands more personal best cases.

When we first analyzed the initial set of personal-best cases, we discovered that the situations people chose to discuss were about major change that had a significant impact on their organizations. This remains true today. Regardless of function, field, sector, level, or country, the leaders in our study talked about times when they turned around losing operations, started up new plants, developed new products or services, passed a groundbreaking piece of legislation, campaigned to get adolescents to join an environmental program, revolutionized a bureaucratic military program, installed untested procedures, renewed operations threatened with closing, or released the creative spirit trapped inside stifling bureaucratic systems. The personal-best leadership cases were about radical departures from the past, about doing things that had never been done before, about going to places not yet discovered. In many cases, the magnitude of results was in the hundreds of percent.

What’s significant about the emphasis on change and innovation in our leadership cases is that we didn’t ask people to tell us about change. We asked them to tell us about personal-best leadership experiences. They could discuss any leadership experience—past or present, unofficial or official, in any functional area, in any type of organization, and in any situation. Our respondents chose to talk about times of change. They told us they performed at their best when they were changing something, trying something new, or stretching themselves. Not one single person claimed to have achieved a personal best by keeping things the same.

When people think about their personal bests they automatically think about a challenge. Why? The fact is that when times are stable and secure, we’re not severely tested. We may perform well, get promoted, even achieve fame and fortune, but the evidence suggests that we don’t reach our fullest potential during ordinary times. Certainty and routine breed complacency. In contrast, personal and business hardships have a way of making us come face to face with who we really are and what we’re capable of becoming.

The study of leadership, then, is the study of how men and women guide us through adversity, uncertainty, hardship, disruption, transformation, transition, recovery, new beginnings, and other significant challenges. It’s also the study of how men and women, in times of constancy and complacency, actively seek to disturb the status quo and awaken us to new possibilities. Leadership and challenge are simply inseparable.

As we make choices about the people we select for leadership roles—whether it's a new supervisor, a new CEO, a club officer, a local official, or the President of the United States—we must ask ourselves, "Who is the person who is most likely to challenge the way we do things around here? Who is the person who's going to bring about the most lasting change, change that moves us farther along the path toward our vision of greatness?"

Change is the work of leaders. And the primary leadership challenge is getting extraordinary things done, especially when that challenge tests us to the limits of our capabilities.

Posted by Jim Kouzes

The Naked Violin

One of the benefits of posting regularly on a blog is you are always thinking about potential topics of interest for consideration, topics that provide unique, hopefully interesting perspectives on leadership. You end up having your feelers out all the time. It's fun and kind of addictive. My latest find came from listening to NPR this past week. I heard a compelling piece about a  young woman who is demonstrating  remarkable leadership while staying true to her art. Her name is Tasmin Little and this piece revolves around her latest album titled The Naked Violin. Tasmin is a concert violinist who has a vision for getting more people to share her love of the violin. She decided to go against the powerful norms of the music industry, challenge the process, and make the album available as a free download. When asked why, she replied, "The simple answer is it's about removing barriers." In other words, enabling others to act. But making the music more available was just part of her overall plan. Her goal was to get those who listen to more mainstream music to stretch a bit. She encouraged them to experiment and take some risks. She included with each piece of music a descriptor and tutorial providing deeper insight into the subtleties and nuances of the music. She challenged them to seriously consider the music and enabled them to do so. Her next step is where her leadership jumped out for me. After getting to know the music she challenged them to buy a cd or attend a concert. If they weren't willing to do that, she asked that they write her and explain why. "If not, why not? What would it take to get you interested?" She actively sought out a partnership with her potential audience in order to extend the reach of the music she loves. Her commitment to the vision of making violin music more mainstream is underscored by her plans this coming year to take it to those who won't get an opportunity to hear it otherwise; for example, a women's prison. If you get a chance to download the cd, I would highly recommend it. You may well find yourself enlisted in her vision.
posted by,
Beth High