Leadership is much less about what you do and much more about who you are.
This can be a hard concept for many people to grasp since most people’s experience of business, work and life comes from unconscious family and societal conditioning.
For most people, we have been told throughout our entire lives, from school to higher education and in the workplace that we need to work harder, study more, and be one step ahead of the rest. In an era where employers are competing as much for employees as they are for customers, one might be forgiven for thinking that this is a worthwhile strategy.
But having more qualifications or certifications doesn’t necessarily mean greater performance at work, or success in business, particularly in a leadership capacity.
For example, take a traditional leadership program that teaches you the power to influence those around you, how to motivate your team and how to discriminate between good and bad sources of power, and between strong and weak methods of influence. Does this really make you a better leader?
I read an article recently that indicated Millennials recognise the need to improve their leadership skills. But what does that mean? And why?
There’s still a collective bias that motivates people to believe that undertaking continuous formal education will make you smarter, more competent and most importantly for some, more employable.
But will it?
If this were right, how is it that there are hundreds of thousands of people across the globe with tertiary level qualifications who find themselves in unemployment or taking jobs that are well below the level of their educational experience?
Why, if completing a program like an MBA is so prestigious, are there so many graduates of MBA programs that are unemployed?
In 20th century models of leadership, people at the top level of the management hierarchy are more concerned about what their organisation or project looks like on paper, instead of what’s happening with each person. That getting the people with the highest level or most number of qualifications is the panacea for employee performance and business growth.
This would have you thinking that completing an MBA means walking into a leadership position and excelling straight out of the classroom.
But it doesn’t work that way, at least not anymore.
Let’s look at the MBA in more detail.
The degree was first introduced by Harvard University Graduate School of Administration in 1908 (now Harvard Business School), in response to demand from businesses in the country.
At the beginning of the 1900s, the United States was undergoing rapid industrialization. Companies were offloading manufacturing processes to machines, and the quick growth this enabled meant these businesses needed a new type of workforce formally educated in financial and management best practices.
The curriculum was based on the pioneering research of Frederick Taylor, an American engineer who spearheaded efforts to improve industrial efficiency through the newly coined discipline of ‘management science’.
Harvard taught these management principles through its now-famous case study method. Inspired by the way students discussed court cases at Harvard Law School, students in the first MBA program examined specific business problems with the same analytical mindset.
Okay, so what’s the problem with this kind of training?
Einstein famously said that
“A problem can’t be solved with the same level of thinking that created it.”
This means we can’t use 20th century management thinking to tackle the new era challenges we face today.
I’ve already highlighted in previous articles the problem with Newtonian models of leadership (of which Taylor’s management theory is an example).
But group consciousness is hard to shift and plenty of companies are still stuck in this way of thinking.
To further highlight the MBA example, here is some personal insight.
In a previous role in Sales Account Management, I remember being asked to mentor a new starter and show them the processes and elements of the role that they would need to know as part of their induction. I remember asking the recruiting manager about the skills, attributes and experience of the new starter. The short answer was “they have an MBA”.
I didn’t waste any of my time arguing about their decision making, but it was pretty clear from our first interaction that this person was ill equipped to excel in this role, because they had minimal experience in any form of working environment. The fact that they had an MBA was nothing more than acknowledgment that they knew how to study.
It only took two weeks before the new employee resigned and I was asked to give my opinions of why this happened. After I’d given my thoughts I remember the HR representative being confused, because she was certain that the new employee would be a good fit because they had “completed an MBA”.
My answer…
It takes more than just knowledge to succeed in positions of leadership.
Because you need to BE a leader, not DO leadership.
Leadership requires qualities, not qualifications. Leadership requires authenticity, not authority. Leadership requires awareness, connection and vulnerability not strategy, planning and workshops.
Business does not need more people with management certifications or technical expertise. Creating a great business or organisation requires more than just getting the best qualified person to fill a role.
If the old model of business, as a machine to make profit, meant getting skilled workers to run the machine, there is a growing realisation in the world that business has to look at itself with a sense of purpose, as an agent for change, with a sense of value and it needs to get people involved who share, believe in and model that value.
The kind of people business thinks it wants are the technician, the expert in a narrow field of knowledge.
But the person who is technically gifted may not necessarily be the right person to help take the business forward, in comparison to the person who has the qualities of a leader and is driven by value, purpose and a sense of meaning.
Never forget, skills can be taught.
Values, purpose and meaning are the foundation of a person’s motivation. Being able to tap into a person’s motivation, purpose and values and align them with the values and purpose of the organisation is gold for organisational success.
Aristotle famously said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
There are people you can bring into your teams that may not offer the strongest skill set or the right education, but they will make your team better. These people are the magnifiers of the talent you already have in your team. They elevate the team beyond the additional resources they offer.
And often they are leaders, without titles.
Because they embody how a leader needs to BE not what a leader needs to DO.
Business needs people who can BE the change, not just implement a Change Management Strategy.
Leaders need to be able to live the leadership model through authenticity, open mindedness, inclusion and a futuristic perspective, not through education, techniques and strategies founded on 20th century management theory.
Allowing people to develop to their fullest potential is not about putting them through education programs but by allowing them to do their best work, whatever that looks like and in whatever way that fits with the vision and purpose of the organisation.