New leaders often think about how they present to others, and many are using coaches to improve their leadership style. So what is the style that people are looking for? What is most effective for new leaders as they step into larger roles?
Self awareness? Not so much.
The concepts of self-awareness and interpersonal sensitivity in successful leaders has come up several times in recent days. One colleague raised the issue as we were working on a leadership competency model for a client. It also came up during feedback from a leadership development program, and was a part of a new book on leadership. I’m getting the impression that pundits and some management consultants see interpersonal sensitivity as a critical leadership capability.
I beg to differ. The most successful CEOs I know (and I don’t know a lot but I do know some) are not particularly interpersonally sensitive. They are interpersonally aware, to be sure. Many can read people, understand their goals and motives, and quickly capture their interest and enthusiasm. They have to be effective judges of people, selecting the best performers from a bench filled with good performers. And they have to build inspiration and motivation in individuals, teams and organizations. But interpersonal sensitivity? Self-awareness? Not so much. Many of them are demanding, confrontational, assertive to the point of aggressivenesss, persistent beyond what I would feel comfortable pushing, and willing to use fear as well as respect to accomplish their objectives.
To be an effective leader, you have to be a powerful salesman of the vision and the goal, driving for a vision that no one else believes as much as they do. Leaders require that people trust and respect them, but in the way you trust your neurosurgeon right before he operates. This is not the type of trust you have of your therapist, but a trust borne of power and confidence. Leaders have to be able to challenge people, push them beyond their comfort zone, break through organizational resistance, and manage a group of thoroughbred senior managers to ensure they are all running in the same direction on the same track.
A study last year in the Wall Street Journal found that the most effective CEOs set high standards, attend to detail, and are persistent, efficient and analytic. Their flexibility, enthusiasm and listening skills did not predict success. That’s my point. It isn’t a problem to be sensitive, thoughtful or empathic, it just isn’t essential.
How do you use this?
1) Sharpen your people assessment skills. Most people think they are good judges of people. But stop and look back, find out if you really have picked a lot of good people, or if you have only remembered the good ones.
2) If you are interpersonally sensitive, use it to analyze, motivate and drive people, not to empathize with where they are now – encourage their potential, and use your sensitivity to see how far they can go.
3) Use your power and authority consciously – make sure you understand the message you are giving and make it stick. Unintentional communication is one of the biggest derailers of leaders, new and old.
Bill Berman, Ph.D.
Managing Director, Berman & Associates
Partner, PrimeGenesis, LLC
