Why leaders in 21st century fail

Why Leaders in 21st
Century fail
– an overview
RAJUL LOKHANDWALA
LPGD/OC11/0317
Specialization: E-BUSINESS
WELINGKAR INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH
Year of Submission: February, 2013
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Student Name: RAJUL LOKHANDWALA
Admission No: LPGD/OC11/0317
Date: 18-03-2013
Time: 18:15:00 To 18:30:00
Venue: Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Reserach

Table of Contents
Chapter Page No.
1. Introduction 04
2. Role Model of the 21st
Century Leader 06
3. 21st
Century Challenges for Leaders 11
4. Inadequate Cultural Intelligence (CQ) of Global leaders may prove fatal 16
5. E-Leadership and Trust Building in Virtual Teams is necessary 18
6. Critical mistakes, Leaders make, while leading Knowledge Workers 19
7. Absence of Attitude, X-Factor makes Leaders mediocre 23
8. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) – the sharpest Leadership Tool 25
9. Poor execution by Leaders, responsible for Mergers & Acquisitions failure 30
10. Transformation Efforts Fail when Leaders are unable to guide the Change 32
11. Without Happiness Leaders cannot succeed 36
12. Why Leaders lose their way to self-destruction & Shame 39
13. Stalling E-Development will be a sure way to lose the lead 44
14. Some Most Common Reasons, Why Leaders Fail 47
15. Recommendations and Conclusions 55
16. Bibliography 60
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Chapter – 1
Introduction
Why do businesses fail?
If you’re willing to strip away all the excuses, explanations, rationalizations, and
justifications for business failures, and be really honest in your analysis, you’ll find only one
plausible reason -poor leadership. Real leaders refuse to take the credit for success, but they
will always accept responsibility for failures.
With the relentless march of technology driven innovation, mobility and connectedness, and a
rising ocean of data redefining what is possible strategically, our industrial and post-industrial
models for talent and the Organization are inadequate at best. The changes are in front of us
every day and yet we rely on talent practices and models from earlier eras: corporate ladders;
organizational hierarchies; spans of control. Even the notion of “talent management” reflects
an age when much of the world’s work (and schools) were organized on models that looked
more like factories and manufacturing lines than knowledge networks.
In the past ten years, the world of work has redrawn its boundaries: we have seen three billion
new capitalists join the global market place in China, India, Brazil, the former Soviet Union
and now Africa and the Middle East; the emergence of a hyper connected world (albeit with
spikes in global creative city centers); and social and mobile technologies that have changed
the way we live and work.
The challenges are clear: business is driven by globalization, technology, and hyper-
connectedness. And yes, work is done differently— distributed, virtual, knowledge-intensive
—and by populations that are different demographically and in their goals and expectations.
Physical space, hierarchy and tenure, which together described most of what you needed to
know about talent in decades past, have lost much of their preeminence and relevance.
At the recently concluded, 43rd World Economic Forum, DAVOS 2013: Lack of leadership
is the biggest challenge facing the world, experts warn. A crisis of leadership is the
biggest challenge facing the world this year, according to a major report published ahead
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of this week’s gathering of the rich and powerful in Davos. The global leadership
vacuum was a key concern among a poll of 1,500 experts.
Very few subjects about commerce have been studied, written about and debated more than
leadership. Marketplace fascination with this topic appears to have been particularly
insatiable over the past decade or two. Every issue of every business publication and program
broadcast today invariably profiles at least one executive as an exemplary leader, and other
accounts attribute the fate of entire organizations to an abundance or absence of leadership.
The performance of not just companies but also top executives, is now rated and ranked
annually on a range of mostly financial criteria. And we can’t seem to read enough about
whatever it takes to become a leader. A case in point: no other books in the business genre
sell nearly as well as those with "leadership" in their titles.
John Kotter, the noted Harvard Business School professor and one of the world’s foremost
experts on leadership, has noted that, Basic ingredients for effective leadership (e.g., ideal
qualities, most valuable skills and desired behavior) of businesses remain largely unchanged
from what they have been for many decades. While the conventional wisdom attributes the
changing landscape for leadership to the growing influence of the Internet and e-Commerce,
most of the challenges and opportunities facing leaders today have been around long before a
majority of us had heard of either one
.
Kotter maintains that, a vast majority of current leaders are failing to close the gap that exists
between their skills and capabilities, on one hand, and more consistent expressions of their
leadership, or core behavior, on the other.
Latest surveys put Failed Leaders at 37%, in the last decade. That is quite alarming, so
in the forthcoming Chapters of this Research Project Report, let us find out the causes
& solutions to this grave problem looming over THE TWENTIFIRST
CENTURY……….
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Chapter – 2
Role Model of the 21st
Century Leader
There are more than 10,000 books in Amazon on the topic of leadership. I've read few of
them. But even leadership development experts can't possibly read them all. Bersin &
Associates conducted a survey on this. As this data shows (directly from more than 700
companies who participated in this research), core leadership skills are being complimented
by new strengths - capabilities to deal with a more diverse, fast-changing, global workforce.
Today's leaders make faster decisions, understand how to innovate, and stay very close to
customers. They understand their people well and know how to being diverse groups
together. Their research shows that 21st century leadership competencies are different, but at
its core leadership has not changed. It's just very hard.
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21st
Century Leadership Competencies:
Great Leaders have common sense. What makes you a leader? People follow you. And
what makes people follow you is that you have "common sense." When a problem arises,
great leaders seem to have an uncanny ability to "see the right direction."
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"Common sense" comes from experience, judgment, and a practical way of understanding
how problems are solved.
Great Leaders are Learners. Great leaders understand that they are constantly learning. It's
often called "learning agility" in the HR field. These people always study their market, their
customers, their discipline, and their own organization. They never stop learning.
Are you the type of person who reads a lot, questions your own thinking, and always tries to
learn from mistakes? Or are you the one telling others what they need to learn?
If you are the former, chances are you're a great leader (or becoming one). If you're the latter,
you better find the right place to fit, because once the environment changes (and it always
does), you'll fail.
Great leaders are Realists. But also Optimistic. Great leaders see reality. They don't wear
rose colored glasses. But they also have an optimistic outlook. Much research (by SHL, the
world's #1 assessment company and others) shows that great leaders always see a "way out"
of a problem. They have an ability to "see the future" in a way that others can understand.
Great leaders are hands-on. Are you a hands-on leader? Do you understand in detail what
your people are doing? Can you really add value in their daily work? If not, you're not
keeping up. Today's strong leaders come from the business and they understand the domain.
They're no longer just "great general managers."
GE, for example, has greatly reduced its management rotation process (as have many other
companies), to force managers and leaders to get to know the business you're in. Their newest
leadership program asks rising executives to spend at least 7 years in the same business area.
Great leaders have high energy. As George Marshall, the chief of staff for the US Army
during World War II (he essentially "remade" the Army), put it: "Great leaders have high
physical energy." You, as a leader, will be asked to work long hours, travel, and endure
difficult and often highly uncertain situations. Without a high degree of physical energy you
may find this difficult.
We only need to look at leaders like Steve Jobs of Apple, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Ginni
Rometty of IBM, and dozens of other high-performing leaders to see that they are hands-on,
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highly trained experts in their businesses - with the ability to rapidly bring people together in
today's new borderless workplace.
Oh, and one more thing. Great leaders develop other leaders. Some brand new
research shows that you can predict the performance of a business by looking at the
company's leadership culture and leadership development strategy. CEO's come and go, but
companies which continuously build new talent survive.
Leadership isn't easy, but for those who step up, the rewards can be tremendous. Leading a
team, department or organization in the 21st
Century is not the same as leading in the 20th
Century: new challenges require a new set of leadership qualities.
21st
Century Leaders face three unprecedented challenges. The internet, mobile devices and
new technology have created an interconnected world of well-informed customers, new
business models and flexible working. The attitudes of the Generation Y society require
leaders to find new ways to engage employees and customers. The new economic reality is
continuing austerity, China dominated globalism and a low carbon economy.
The kind of qualities you need to lead in the 21st
Century can be clustered into three groups:
First and foremost, 21st
Century leaders need to be authentic. Authentic leaders are
completely open and transparent in their dealings with others. What you see is what you get.
They have a clear set of values and beliefs about business, themselves and the world, and
they are utterly uncompromising on these values and beliefs. They are trustworthy, in part
because they see their role as business leaders to benefit others as much as themselves.
Why authenticity? Because in an interconnected world, if you are not open, honest and
trustworthy, people will find out very quickly. As society assimilates more of the values of
Gen Y, who have little respect for formal authority and power, your authenticity is an
essential starting point for being able to influence people – and leaders without influence are
not leaders at all.
Secondly, 21st
Century leaders need to be challenging. The ability to challenge both systems
and people has always been a key leadership quality, but it is paramount in the 21st
Century.
Why? In an interconnected world, better informed customers, new business models and the
unstoppable rise of flexible working mean that leaders must challenge all their assumptions
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about what businesses do and how they do it. Gen Y cannot be managed in the way that their
Baby Boomer and Gen X managers are used to – they must be led in new ways. And in the
new economic reality, competitive advantage – which is becoming just as important for
‘public sector’ organizations as it is for private sector ones – will accrue to those
organizations who are most adept at reinventing themselves. And that means leaders who
challenge.
Thirdly, 21st
Century leaders need to be engaging. They must be able to influence, motivate
and engage people. They must be able to make a direct and personal connection with
everyone using the tools that an interconnected world can provide. They must be especially
good at engaging Gen Y, who will comprise 40% of the workforce by 2020. They must
engage people to face up to the challenges of staying competitive by doing more with less, in
a world where we in the West face decades of austerity, intense competition from China and
other Asian economies, and the global challenge of dealing with climate change.
The interconnected world, the Gen Y society and the new economic reality can be seen as
challenges or as opportunities. Those authentic, challenging and engaging leaders who grasp
these opportunities have the chance to have a huge positive lasting impact not only on the
teams, departments and organisations they lead, but also on the societies in which they
operate. What could be more exciting than that?
When was the last time you read a leadership job description? We have job descriptions
for every position under the sun, but I’ve yet to see one for leaders. Virtually every job
description you’ll read lists “leadership ability” as a quality/characteristic/attribute that is
valued, and in fact, most list it as a requirement. So why is it we place so much value in
leaders, when we can’t even define leadership?
In the absence of a clear definition for leadership, the reality is many of today’s leaders are
suffering from an identity crisis. When leaders become lost and confused, it doesn’t just
impact them – it creates a ripple effect through an organization with a destructive force much
more closely resembling a tsunami. Leadership is more than a title; it’s a privilege and
therefore a burden of the highest responsibility. Nothing is more dangerous than a leader who
loses sight of their real purpose – to serve something greater than themselves. Leadership is
about qualities that recognize others while bringing out the best in them. Leadership cannot
flourish with small minds, thinking about small things, in small ways.
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There is no perfect leader; only the right leader for a given situation. Great leaders have
the innate ability to call on the right skills in a contextually and environmentally appropriate
fashion. No single leader can possess every needed attribute. It’s not the traits you possess as
a leader, but what you do with them that matters.
Chapter – 3
21st
Century challenges for Leaders
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Why is leadership in the 21st
Century different to leadership in the 20th
Century? Because the
challenges are different. Here are the key challenges all business leaders face in the early
years of the 21st
Century.
Unreasonable customer expectations. Almost certainly, your company provides a better
level of customer service than it did five years ago – maybe better than it did just a year ago.
Do your customers thank you for it? Not at all. They judge you not by how much you’ve
improved, but against their expectations. Thanks to your competitors and thanks to the
internet, these expectations are constantly increasing – often to unreasonable levels.
Generational shift in attitudes. If you don’t know whether you are a baby boomer,
generation X or generation Y you need to find out fast, before you make the major mistake of
assuming that other generations are motivated by the same things that motivate you.
Social media and the web. Are you a bit skeptical about all this social media stuff –
especially Twitter? Yep, that used to be me. This is what changed my mind: who influences
you more, formal company advertising or what your friends and other people like you say
about a product or service? That’s why social media is big and will only get bigger. Business
leaders who don’t get it will struggle.
Flexible working. As frugal times continue (see item 6 below) why would any organisation
want to pay for offices and desks that are unused half the time? If your company hasn’t yet
moved towards flexible working it soon will. Flexible hours, flexible workplace (including
homeworking) and flexible contracts
Sustainability. The hard facts of rising energy prices and climate change on the one hand,
and the beliefs and values of Gen Y on the other, are driving every organization to become
more sustainable. Becoming sustainable while continuing to make profits is a major
challenge for every organization and every leader.
Doing more with less. Whether you live in rapidly growing China or recession hit Europe
the days of organizational profligacy are over. Every business is learning to do a lot more
with a lot less, and the most successful leaders will be those who can triumph with frugality.
Global Leadership. As the world becomes increasingly global, the need for true global
citizens to lead organizations in business, nonprofits, and government is far greater than in
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decades past. Global citizens who understand the importance of cultural nuances are able to
bring people together across organizational boundaries and are more effective working and
collaborating anywhere in the world.
For aspiring leaders who want to become global citizens and increase their global fluency,
here are some suggestions to get started:
Target at least one fundamentally different culture. While it may be tempting to live in a
culture similar to your own — for example, Americans working in Great Britain — the most
compelling learning experiences come from living in cultures that are sharply differently
from your own. Chinese professionals working in South Africa, for example, will find their
existing cultural assumptions challenged as they gain increased humility by learning local
languages and coping with different norms.
Spend time studying overseas. Studying in different cultures enables young leaders to
understand cultural nuances and become actively engaged with global organizations. Harvard
Business School now sends all 900 MBAs to work overseas in its Global Immersion
Program. Global organizations prefer candidates who have studied abroad because these early
experiences will broaden your perspective about seeking fascinating global opportunities
throughout your life. Look for opportunities, and if you're already out of school, ask if your
organization offers programs to give you experience abroad.
Learn the local language. As English becomes the language of business, it is tempting to
get by with limited knowledge of local languages. That's a mistake. Learning local languages
enables you to appreciate cultural nuances and develop more personal relationships. Being
fluent in multiple languages makes it easier to learn new ones and opens up career
opportunities.
Don't judge cultural differences or local people. When your new environment is sharply
different from prior experiences, it's tempting to make snap judgments about your
experiences and stay attached to your own culture. Resist that temptation by observing,
listening, learning, and understanding rather than judging. Use your insights to improve local
ways of operating, but don't rush to criticize.
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Share international experiences with your family. Living in new countries brings your
family much closer together and will be a time for growth, bonding, and learning as a family.
Hold parties for your local neighbors, join a local church, and get involved in your children's
school. Host regular visits from parents and close friends. Balance breadth and depth in your
travels to explore many different areas and countries, and spend time talking with local
people. But don't travel so much that you fail to get deeply involved in your new community
and explore its richness.
The coming decades will belong to those global citizens who are comfortable operating
anywhere in the world and who can collaborate with people of different cultures to develop
solutions to the world's most pressing problems. Organizations filled with these global
citizens will not only survive but thrive and grow. For you, life will be richer and more
fulfilling.
As global companies focus their strategies on developed and emerging markets, they require
substantial cadres of leaders capable of operating effectively anywhere in the world.
American companies and academic institutions possess unique competitive advantages in
developing these global leaders. They are remarkably open to talented people from diverse
backgrounds, and are highly skilled at giving future leaders the knowledge and experience
they need to lead successfully in the global economy. As American leaders work with foreign
nationals, they become more open, better informed, and more effective in collaborating with
people around the world. The ability to develop global leaders strengthens American
companies and the U.S. economy, expands America's global trade, and attracts foreign
companies to base operations in the U.S.
America's higher education system is a magnet for talented leaders from all over the
world. The U.S. has become a Mecca for international scientists, engineers and business
students — particularly those undertaking graduate studies. Since the 2008 financial collapse,
a new generation of business school deans is placing increased emphasis on developing
global leaders. In particular, Harvard, MIT, and Stanford have geared their programs toward
global leaders: as a result, 26-38% of their graduate students are foreign nationals.
Here at Harvard Business School, Dean Nitin Nohria has revamped HBS's MBA curriculum
to emphasize practical leadership and global experiences. In January all 900 of HBS's first-
year students — 34% of whom are international students — worked in developing countries.
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In 2011, 71% of HBS's new cases were written about foreign companies. HBS welcomes
6,360 foreign nationals (64% of the total) to its executive education courses each year,
enriching the experiences for Americans as well. As a consequence, these foreign-born
executives become more interested in doing business with American companies.
The Environment has changed — It is Becoming More Complex and Challenging
If there were two consistent themes that emerged from interviewees as the greatest challenges
for current and future leaders, it was the pace of change and the complexity of the challenges
faced.
The last decade has seen many industries enter a period of increasingly rapid change. The
most recent global recession, which began in December 2007, has contributed to an
environment that many interviewees believe is fundamentally different from that of 10 years
ago.
4
Roland Smith, senior faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL®) described the
new environment as one of perpetual whitewater. His notion of increased turbulence is
backed up by an IBM study of over 1,500 CEOs. These CEOs identified their number one
concern as the growing complexity of their environments, with the majority of those CEOs
saying that their organizations are not equipped to cope with this complexity. This theme was
consistent among many of the interviewees in this study, some of whom used the army phrase
V.U.C.A. to describe the new environment in which leaders must work:
V olatile: change happens rapidly and on a large scale
U ncertain: the future cannot be predicted with any precision
C omplex: challenges are complicated by many factors and there are few single causes or
solutions
A mbiguous: there is little clarity on what events mean and what effect they may have
In addition to the above, the most common factors cited by interviewees as challenges for
future leaders were:
• Information overload
• The interconnectedness of systems and business communities
• The dissolving of traditional organizational boundaries
• New technologies that disrupt old work practices
• The different values and expectations of new generations entering the workplace
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• Increased globalization leading to the need to lead across cultures
In summary, the new environment is typified by an increased level of complexity and
interconnectedness. One example, given by an interviewee, was the difficulty her managers
were facing when leading teams spread across the globe. Because the global economy has
become interconnected, her managers felt they could no longer afford to focus solely on
events in their local economies; instead they were constantly forced to adjust their strategies
and tactics to events that were happening in different parts of the world. This challenge was
compounded by the fact that these managers were leading team members of different
nationalities, with different cultural values, who
all operated in vastly different time zones – all of this before addressing the complexity of the
task itself.
The Skills Sets Required Have Changed – More Complex Thinkers are needed
Reflecting the changes in the environment, the competencies that will be most valuable to the
future leader appear to be changing. The most common skills, abilities and attributes cited by
interviewees were:
Adaptability
Self-awareness
Boundary spanning
Collaboration
Network thinking
Chapter -4
Inadequate Cultural Intelligence (CQ)
of Global Leaders may prove fatal
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Among the twenty-first century skills that are frequently lilked about are the ability to adapt
constantly to different people from diverse cultures and the ability to manage the
interconnectedness of today’s world, Joo-Seng Tan expresses. The global workplace requires
individuals to be sensitive to different cultures, to interact appropriately with people from
different cultures, and to analyze new cultures as they are encountered. To do all this,
individuals, whether they are at home or abroad, need cultural intelligence. It is needed to
manage the stress of culture shock and the consequent frustration and confusion that typically
result from clashes of cultural differences. It is essential in facilitating effective cross-cultural
adjustment. Positioning cultural intelligence as a key concept in the global economy raises
several questions that concern both individuals and organizations:
• How do individuals develop their capability to adapt effectively across different
cultures?
• Why do some individuals possess superior capacity to deal with the challenges of
working in different cultures?
• How do individuals reach full productive potential working in culturally diverse work
environments in their home countries and overseas?
• How do organizations build capability for effective work assignments in locations
around the world?
• How do organizations optimize individual and collective performance when they
harness the cultural diversity of their people across the world?
CQ: Cultural Intelligence at Work: Cultural intelligence determines a person’s ability to
adjust to new cultures. Thus cultural intelligence can be defined as a person’s ability to
successfully adapt to new cultural settings, that is, to unfamiliar settings attributable to
cultural context. Cultural intelligence has three key parts: thinking and solving problems in
particular ways (cultural strategic thinking), being energized and persistent in one’s actions
(motivational), and acting in certain ways (behavioral) Cultural strategic thinking refers
partly to the general thinking skills that an individual uses to create an understanding of how
and why people in a culture new to that individual act as they do.
This understanding captures not just what the people believe or value but also the procedures
and routines that they are supposed to use as they work and act. The ideas that we have about
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what people in a new culture believe or value are called declarative knowledge, or knowledge
about the state of things. In addition to cultural knowledge, cultural strategic thinking
involves cultural thinking and learning, that is, the process through which we gain our
cultural knowledge.
This kind of cultural thinking and learning, by psychologists, has also been referred to as
thinking about thinking or learning to learn. These two elements work together; cultural
strategic thinking guides the strategies that people use to acquire knowledge about country-
specific information. Clearly, cultural thinking and learning and acquiring cultural knowledge
are both critical to success.
Cultural thinking and learning and acquiring cultural knowledge are both critical to
success. Similarly, cultural intelligence is not stagnant when it comes to behavior. A person’s
actions are dynamic and must adjust to the changing called metacognition nature of the work
environment. It’s not enough to have a potential for action; potential realized through one’s
actions partly determines cultural intelligence. Without appropriate action, a person may
know what to do and feel motivated to act, but it will all be for naught.
Culturally intelligent leaders can improve the cooperation of employees from culturally
different countries, to enhance the growth and success of their enterprise.
Chapter – 5
E-leadership and trust-building
in virtual teams is necessary
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Leading a geographically dispersed workforce from an e-leadership perspective may pose
several unique challenges if the virtual workforce has no trust in the e-leadership, (Avolio et
al., 2000). Trust is critical in virtual work since direct supervision, similarity in backgrounds,
and experience and a common form of social control in traditional workforce are not feasible.
Hence, leadership in virtual workforce should facilitate the formation of trust building in a
virtual workforce context. As a result, the effects of leadership on trust should not be
underestimated.
(a) individualized consideration, whereby the leader considers and encourages
consideration of input provided by every member of the team, and (b) inspirational
motivation, whereby the leader expresses confidence in team members' collective ability to
accomplish a task all members identify with.
• The first challenge is compensating for the lack of face-to-face interaction. When
meeting in person, team members can depend upon voice levels, smiles, and raised eyebrows
to determine whether they are being understood; however, virtual teams do not have these
nonverbal cues and can fail.
• A second communication challenge for virtual teams is building relationships. Virtual
teams are confronted with the challenge of establishing trusting working relationships
through technological interaction alone.
• A third challenge is accessing and leveraging the unique knowledge of each member
to successfully achieve the team’s goal. Helping virtual team members learn to address
these differences in ways that will support full, open, and complete communication is also a
fundamental teaching objective in preparing people for virtual teaming.
Chapter – 6
Critical Mistakes Leaders make,
While leading Knowledge Workers
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Knowledge workers are those employees who have responsibility for exploring and
generating ideas and concepts rather than concentrating solely on implementing or managing
existing processes or operations within the organization. The original ‘prototype’ used by
Peter Drucker when he created the concept of ‘knowledge worker’ in the mid 1990s was a
MD/PhD developing new drugs for a pharmaceutical firm. Generally speaking, knowledge
workers have high degrees of expertise, education, or experience and the primary purpose of
their jobs involves the creation, distribution or application of knowledge. Knowledge workers
differ from manual workers because:
• Knowledge work is less standardized and structured
• knowledge workers are used to a certain end results it may be difficult to know
whether knowledge workers are working or not ?
• knowledge workers basically own their key production mean – brains
• knowledge workers need to be committed to and enjoy their jobs.
In all organizations knowledge workers are a large category of workers that continues to
grow. They are also the most expensive workers in organizations and they are essential to
realizing the business strategies of the organization. Sadly, it’s a ‘well known fact’ that it is
very hard to measure knowledge worker productivity in spite of the fact that it is a critically
important thing for any organization to be able to do.
Peter Drucker, in 1999, wrote that “Increasingly, the ability of organizations – and not only of
businesses – to survive will come to depend on their comparative advantage in making the
knowledge worker more productive”. But more than ten years later there is little movement in
the research or application field of how to measure knowledge worker productivity and from
there improve it. This gap arises partly because knowledge work is intangible and difficult to
categorize in subgroups and partly because the existing productivity measures and
performance review systems are rooted in ‘machine age’ organizations that are much more
product than service oriented. So, for example, it is easy to quantitatively measure the
number of cookies that are boxed on a production line by a particular worker, or whether
salespeople meet their sales targets, and in many of these instances the objective quantitative
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measure can be backed up by a subjective quantitative measure for example customer
satisfaction scores.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that we are no longer living in
the Industrial Age. You remember that era…a time where machines and things were the
drivers of our economy and people were there to simply “run and churn” those machines.
Machines, things and people were replaceable. It did not take a brain surgeon to run
machines. It just took an able body who acted like a robot to turn on a machine, run the
machine or work an assembly line. Well, here we are today…the year 2013, and while some
companies have truly “gotten” that we are now in the era of the knowledge worker Age
The following will spell out the most common mistakes leaders make with today’s
knowledge worker and how you can not only avoid them but shift your strategies so that you
get the most out of your knowledge workers.
Discouraging knowledge workers to find and then use their own voice. The new
employee wants to know that they can be truly authentic in your organization and be able to
bring their own unique voice to your company. Giving your knowledge workers permission
to speak up and to use their own voice will inspire them to actually contribute new ideas and
strategies to help your company thrive.
Not offering current, up to date training. Today’s knowledge worker was raised on a diet
of knowledge, and they actually crave more knowledge. Because of the internet, the
knowledge worker knows that at any hour of the day, they can go online and find more new
information. Offering training in a second language, leadership or managerial skills or
marketing and sales skills and delivering this training using digital media and shadowing will
hold the attention of the knowledge worker and will actually help the knowledge worker
build out their skill set for a stronger career down the road.
Training the knowledge worker using old classroom-style training methodologies. The
Industrial Revolution brought the world a lecture/chalkboard/classroom format, and it
worked. But times have changed. We now have the internet, social media sites, cell phones
with texting and internet capability and digital mechanisms to enhance learning. It is critical
to understand that the knowledge worker of today often comes to the workforce with an
environment induced form of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). This is not to suggest that
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the new knowledge worker has ADD, but the majority of young men and women between the
ages of 22-32 will admit that because of their use of social media, cell phones and instant
messaging (and using them all at the same time), their brains have been trained to focus for a
short period of time and then flip to a new thought or activity and that this occurs hundreds of
times each day. By using new media, shadowing and experiential training, you will be able to
grab and hold the attention of the knowledge worker much better and for longer periods of
time than in using the classroom/lecture/power point method of training.
Excluding the knowledge worker from team decisions. This is one area that is a constant
concern with the knowledge worker. They feel that their opinions, ideas and contributions are
not valued, so they are deliberately excluded from strategic meetings which could be
enhanced by their contributions. The new knowledge worker wants to know that they are
helping the companies they serve be better, “make a difference”, be more profitable or help to
conjure up the next big idea that will put your company on the map. At the end of the day, the
new knowledge worker needs to be invited to sit at the table senior leaders, and it is critical
that you take their ideas, suggestions and contributions seriously. These men and women will
be your future leaders, and it is imperative that you show them that their minds and ideas do
count and you want them in on your most critical discussions.
Treating the knowledge worker like a disposable commodity. If you are a leader, and you
are seeing your knowledge worker as a commodity to use for a short period of time and then
send them out the door, you are not only doing a disservice to your employees, you are
building a brand that says you value things more than people. This attitude simply won’t fly
in today’s world. Consumers are watching companies more and more to see if they can spot
that you have a high level of emotional intelligence, and your knowledge workers will be the
first to know if you are “using” them just to drain their brains and then send them packing.
The knowledge worker wants to be treated as a valued member of your team…a human being
and not a machine or a thing.
Trying to inspire the knowledge worker by offering more money. This is probably one of
the biggest mistakes you can make as a leader or manager of the knowledge worker. Young
hires between the ages of 22-32 truly have a different set of values than those of their parents.
While they all agree that they do need enough money to be able to live, they truly value time
over money, friends over big titles and promotions and opportunities for ongoing learning
23

over getting paid overtime. When trying to inspire the knowledge worker, offering them two
hours off on Friday to spend time with friends, to contribute back to the community or to take
an extra course at a nearby location will be much more valuable than offering them a few
extra bucks to work harder and longer hours. This demographic of workers have watched
their parents work their fingers to the bone just to keep up with the Joneses, and then watched
as their parents were downsized, laid off or fired. To work longer hours just to please the boss
and make overtime pay is not the carrot you will want to dangle under the nose of the
knowledge worker, but time off or extra learning will have the knowledge worker’s mouth
watering.
Discouraging dreams and passions. It is quite sad to see leaders throw water on a burning
passion of the new knowledge worker. The new worker of today will come to your
organization with big ideas, dreams and passions, and these should be encouraged, cultivated
and woven into the decision making for your company. If the knowledge worker feels that
her dreams are being supported, she will stick around your company much longer than if she
is told to “be realistic” and just put that dream on hold.
At the end of the day, a leadership process where senior leaders are communicating the
worth, potential and possibilities to their new knowledge workers, the future for your
company can be bright and limitless.
Chapter – 7
Absence of Attitude, X–Factor
Makes leaders mediocre
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Many of us follow the popular The X Factor series from the United States. The theme of the
show is to seek out exceptional singing talent, hence the term X Factor.
Our focus is on leadership and over the years we featured some superb leadership profiles
and principles relating to leaders that possessed the leadership X Factor. These are
exceptional individuals that move barriers to potential and excellence of performance. What
are some of these so-called leadership X factors that empower leaders to move mountains?
The Attitude X Factor: In the process of commentating on leadership performance we keep
on getting back to the immense impact that attitude has on performance. We stated that
leadership kicks in when we run up against a wall. In other words, it is when we encounter
obstacles, barriers and oppositions on a regular basis that our real leadership instincts and
passion kicks in. Leadership is as much about faith and belief in worthwhile values as it is
about knowledge and skills. This amounts to a positive attitude and our experience is that
such an attitude is the major X Factor in exceptional leadership. Those leaders who stood out
in terms of their approach to their jobs and life in general were all stamped with one core
attribute – that of a fighting positive spirit.
The something extra factor: A positive (seamless) attitude is the foundation of the X Factor
in leadership. Who really knows what miracles can follow a positive attitude with the courage
to endure? A positive attitude, backed by an honest value system, is the key to excellence.
‘Something extra’ happens to people who pursue a positive and values driven approach to
life. This ‘something’ is beyond, way beyond, mental logic alone. It is when we are
confronted with barriers that momentarily appear to be insurmountable that our X factor
leadership instincts kick in.
Valuable insights into principles governing our attitude: Attitude can be defined in
various ways. One of the definitions of the Oxford Dictionary is: ‘A settled opinion or way of
thinking’.
Attitude is a choice: Attitude is the principle cause of our perceptions and feelings in life and
work. The importance of attitude in determining either the success or failure in Leadership is
generally recognized all over the world and throughout history.
25

Our prevailing attitude is a manifestation of our choices and desires and believed
values.: Our attitudes have a tremendous impact on the depth and nature of our desires and
passions and moods. Our inborn ability to determine our own attitude is a remarkable gift that
we are born with.
Our attitude and creativity are interconnected. If we possess a seamless positive attitude
that all things are possible, then we will be more open to creativity or innovation. Creativity
or innovation may be defined as acquisition of concepts and ideas that are ‘new’ in terms of
our own reference world. If we have a negative expectation attitude then it is almost
impossible to receive creative or ‘new’ ideas
Chapter – 8
Emotional Intelligence –
The Sharpest Leadership Tool
26

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand and manage both your own emotions,
and those of the people around you. People with a high degree of emotional intelligence
usually know what they're feeling, what this means, and how their emotions can affect other
people.
For leaders, having emotional intelligence is essential for success. After all, who is more
likely to succeed – a leader who shouts at his team when he's under stress, or a leader who
stay in control, and calmly assesses the situation?
According to Daniel Goleman, an American psychologist who helped make the idea of EI
popular, there are five main elements of emotional intelligence:
1. Self-awareness.
2. Self-regulation.
3. Motivation.
4. Empathy.
5. Social skills.
The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional
intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a
leader. Stand firm even when you are buffeted by events and emotions.
You might picture someone who never lets his temper get out of control, no matter what
problems he's facing When you think of a "perfect leader," what comes to mind?
. You might think of someone who has the complete trust of her staff, always speaks kindly,
listens to her team, is easy to talk to and always makes careful, informed decisions.
These are qualities of someone with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
1. Self-awareness
27

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel. And you know how your emotions, and
your actions, can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership
position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses. And it means
having humility.
So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?
Keep a journal – Journals help improve your self-awareness. If you spend just a few minutes
each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher degree of self-
awareness.
Slow down – When you experience anger or other strong emotions, slow down to examine
why. Remember, no matter what the situation, you can always choose how you react to it.
(Our article on Managing Your Emotions at Work will help you understand what your
emotions are telling you.)
2. Self-regulation
Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or
emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all
about staying in control.
This element of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman, also covers a leader's
flexibility and commitment to personal accountability.
So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate?
• Know your values – Do you have a clear idea of where you absolutely will not
compromise? Do you know what values are most important to you? Spend some time
examining your "code of ethics." If you know what's most important to you, then you
probably won't have to think twice when you face a moral or ethical decision – you'll
make the right choice.
• Hold yourself accountable – If you tend to blame others when something goes
wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and face the
consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll
quickly earn the respect of those around you.
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• Practice being calm – The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very aware
of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Practice
deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of the negative
things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away. Expressing these
emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better than speaking them
aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge your reactions to make sure
that they're fair!
3. Motivation
Self-motivated leaders consistently work toward their goals. And they have extremely high
standards for the quality of their work.
How can you improve your motivation?
Re-examine why you're doing this – It's easy to forget what you really love about your
career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If you're unhappy in your
role and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it, try the Five Whys technique to
find the root of the problem. Starting at the root often helps you look at your situation in a
new way. And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more on
this, see our article on Goal Setting.
Know where you stand – Determine how motivated you are to lead. Our Leadership
Motivation Assessment can help you see clearly how motivated you are in your leadership
role. If you need to increase your motivation to lead, and it then directs you to resources that
can help.
Be hopeful and find something good – Motivated leaders are usually optimistic, no matter
what they face. Adopting this mindset might take practice, but it's well worth the effort.
Every time you face a challenge, or even a failure, try to find at least one good thing about
the situation. It might be something small, like a new contact, or something with long-term
effects, like an important lesson learned. But there's almost always something positive – you
just have to look for it.
4. Empathy
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For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization.
Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They
help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give
constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.
If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being
empathic.
How can you improve your empathy?
Put yourself in someone else's position – It's easy to support your own point of view. After
all, it's yours! But take the time to look at situations from other people's perspectives. See our
article on Perceptual Positions for a useful technique for doing this.
Pay attention to body language – Perhaps when you listen to someone, you cross your
arms, move your feet back and forth, or bite your lip. This body language tells others how
you really feel about a situation, and the message you're giving isn't positive! Learning to
read body language can be a real asset when you're in a leadership role because you'll be
better able to determine how someone truly feels. And this gives you the opportunity to
respond appropriately.
Respond to feelings – You ask your assistant to work late – again. And although he agrees,
you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him
you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours, and that you're just as frustrated about
working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for
example, give him Monday mornings off).
5. Social skills Leaders who do well in this element of emotional intelligence are great
communicators. They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at
getting their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project.
Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving
conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they're
also not willing to make everyone else do the work. They set the example with their own
behavior.
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So, how can you improve your leadership by building social skills?
Learn conflict resolution – Leaders must know how to resolve conflicts between their team
members, customers, or vendors. Learning conflict resolution skills is vital if you want to
succeed.
Improve your communication skills – How well do you communicate? Our communication
quiz will help you answer this question, and it will give useful feedback on what you can do
to improve.
Learn how to praise others – As a leader, you can inspire the loyalty of your team simply
by giving praise when it's earned. Learning how to effectively praise others is a fine art, but
well worth the effort.
Naturally, the Leaders who do not horn their Emotional Intelligence (EQ) are sure to
fail sooner or later……….
Chapter -9
Poor Execution by Leaders responsible
For Mergers and Acquisitions failures
31

Mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances are supposed to create new, stronger
organizations, but history shows that such combinations often fall far short of expectations.
Cross-border integrations, such as those between Western and Eastern companies, are
particularly difficult to manage.
Every merger, acquisition, or strategic alliance promises to create value from some kind of
synergy, yet statistics show that the benefits that look so good on paper often do not
materialize. The result, more often than not, is value destruction. The literature on mergers
and acquisition indicates that failure rates typically range from 50 to 70 percent or even
higher. Alliances are on average more successful than mergers and acquisitions, but cross-
border alliances in particular are difficult to manage, and their performance is often
disappointing. Why do so many corporate combinations that looked like such great
opportunities end up in disaster?
Recent research suggests that contrary to common belief, it is not poor strategic fit that most
often causes mergers and acquisitions to fail but poor execution. The errors can be seen, for
example, in instances of insensitive management, lack of trust building and communication,
slow execution, power struggles, or a leadership vacuum following the deal. Research on
alliances shows by and large a similar pattern.
Even with this kind of information, most corporate combinations still place special emphasis
on the strategic and financial goals of the transaction, whereas the cultural and people
implications rarely receive as much attention.
Yet what determines whether a merger succeeds or fails is really its people. History, sadly,
has been littered with far too many examples of failed acquisitions or mergers that did not
create value for the companies involved. What lessons can we draw from them, and how can
we avoid this?” Perhaps one way to better understand what goes right or wrong in mergers,
acquisitions, and strategic alliances is to first recognize in how leadership plays a critical
role the process.
Yet even when common operating structures are well built and maintained, questions still
arise about which identity will dominate when corporate identities are combined,
coordinated, or blended. Embracing and respecting the differences between companies
32

involved in mergers, acquisitions, or alliances goes hand-in-hand with allowing trust to
grow between companies that have been, in some cases, long-time competitors.
People will not give their best efforts if they feel that their identities are being consumed by a
greater force. If any partnership or merger is to succeed, it must respect the identities and
self-esteem of all the people involved. . . . Two goals— making changes and safeguarding
identity—could easily come into conflict. Pursuing them both entails a difficult yet vital
balancing act.
To drive change, the CEO must develop value-based, leadership. In this kind of leadership
the leader reinforces the values inherent in the organization’s vision and exhibits
characteristics such as articulating a clear and appealing vision; using strong, expressive
forms of communication to do so; displaying strong self-confidence and confidence in the
attainment of the vision; communicating high expectations for followers and confidence in
their abilities; role-modeling behaviors that emphasize and reinforce the values inherent in
the vision; and empowering people to achieve the vision.
Chapter – 10
Transformation Efforts Fail
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When leaders are unable to guide
Guiding change may be the ultimate test of a leader—no business survives over the long
term if it can’t reinvent itself. But, human nature being what it is, fundamental change is
often resisted mightily by the people it most affects: those in the trenches of the business.
Thus, leadingchange is both absolutely essential and incredibly difficult.
Perhaps nobody understands the anatomy of organizational change better than retired
Harvard Business School professor John P. Kotter, in his 1995 book “LEADING
CHANGE”. It outlines eight critical success factors—from establishing a sense of
extraordinary urgency, to creating short-term wins, to changing the culture.
These efforts have gone under many banners: total quality management, reengineering,
rightsizing, restructuring, cultural change, IT Compliance and turnaround. But,in almost
every case, the basic goal has been the same: to make fundamental changes in how business
is conducted in order to help cope with a new, more challenging market environment. The
lessons that can be drawn are interesting and will probably be relevant to even more
organizations in the increasingly competitive business environment of 21st
Century.
Leaders who successfully transform businesses do eight things right (and they do them
in the right order).
Error 1: Not Establishing a Great Enough Sense of Urgency
Most successful change efforts begin when some individuals or some groups start to look
hard at a company’s competitive situation, market position, technological trends, and
financial performance. They focus on the potential revenue drop when an important patent
expires, the five-year trend indeclining margins in a core business, or an emerging market
that everyone seems to be ignoring. They then find ways to communicate this information
broadly and dramatically, especially with respect to crises, potential crises, or great
opportunities that are very timely. This first step is essential because just getting a
transformation program started requires the aggressive cooperation of many individuals.
Without motivation, people won’t help,
and the effort goes nowhere.
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Error 2: Not Creating a Powerful Enough Guiding Coalition
Major renewal programs often start with just one or two people. In cases of successful
transformation efforts, the leadership coalition grows and grows over time. But whenever
some minimum mass is not achieved early in the effort, nothing much worthwhile happens. It
is often said that major change is impossible unless the head of the organization is an active
supporter. In successful transformations, the chairman or president or division general
manager, plus another five or 15 or 50 people, come together and develop a shared
commitment to excellent performance through renewal. This group never includes all of the
company’s most senior executives because some people just won’t buy in, at least not at first.
But in the most successful cases, the coalition is always pretty powerful—in terms of titles,
information and expertise, reputations, and relationships.
Error 3: Lacking a Vision
In every successful transformation effort, the guiding coalition develops a picture of the
future that is relatively easy to communicate and appeals to customers, stockholders, and
employees. A vision always goes beyond the numbers that are typically found in five-year
plans. A vision says something that helps clarify the direction in which an organization needs
to move. Sometimes the first draft comes mostly from a single individual. It is usually a bit
blurry, at least initially. But after the coalition works at it for three or five or even 12 months,
something much better emerges through their tough analytical thinking and a little dreaming.
Eventually, a strategy for achieving that vision is also developed.
Error 4: Undercommunicating the Vision by a Factor of Ten
I’ve seen three patterns with respect to communication, all very common. In the first, a group
actually does develop a pretty good transformation vision and then proceeds to communicate
it by holding a single meeting or sending out a single communication. Having used about
0.0001% of the yearly intra company communication, the group is startled when few people
seem to understand the new approach. In the second pattern, the head of the organization
spends a considerable amount of time making speeches to employee groups, but most people
still don’t get it (not surprising, since vision captures only 0.0005% of the total yearly
communication). In the third pattern, much more effort goes into newsletters and speeches,
but some very visible senior executives still behave in ways that are antithetical to the vision.
35

The net result is that cynicism among the troops goes up, while belief in the communication
goes down. Transformation is impossible unless hundreds or thousands of people are willing
to help, often to the point of making short-term sacrifices.
Error 5: Not Removing Obstacles to the New Vision
To some degree, a guiding coalition empowers others to take action simply by successfully
communicating the new direction. But communication is never sufficient by itself. Renewal
also requires the removal of obstacles.
Too often, an employee understands the new vision and wants to help make it happen, but an
elephant appears to be blocking the path. In some cases, the elephant is in the person’s head,
and the challenge is to convince the individual that no external obstacle exists. But in most
cases, the blockers are very real.
Sometimes the obstacle is the organizational structure: Narrow job categories can seriously
undermine efforts to increase productivity or make it very difficult even to think about
customers. Sometimes compensation or performance-appraisal systems make people choose
between the new vision and their own self interest. Perhaps worst of all are bosses who refuse
to change and who make demands that are inconsistent with the overall effort.
Error 6: Not Systematically Planning for, and Creating, Short-Term Wins
Real transformation takes time, and a renewal effort risks losing momentum if there are no
short term goals to meet and celebrate. Most people won’t go on the long march unless they
see compelling evidence in 12 to 24 months that the journey is producing expected results.
Without short-term wins, too many people give up or actively join the ranks of those people
who have been resisting change. One to two years into a successful transformation effort, you
find quality beginning to go up on certain indices or the decline in net income stopping. You
find some successful new product introductions or an upward shift in market share. You find
an impressive productivity improvement or a statistically higher customer satisfaction rating.
But whatever the case, the win is unambiguous. The result is not just a judgment call that can
be discounted by those opposing change. Creating short-term wins is different from hoping
for short-term wins. The latter is passive, the former active. In a successful transformation,
managers actively look for ways to obtain clear performance improvements, establish goals
36

in the yearly planning system, achieve the objectives, and reward the people involved with
recognition, promotions, and even money.
Error 7: Declaring Victory Too Soon
After a few years of hard work, managers may be tempted to declare victory with the first
clear performance improvement. While celebrating a win is fine, declaring the war won can
be catastrophic. Until changes sink deeply into a company’s culture, a process that can take
five to ten years, new approaches are fragile and subject to regression.
Error 8: Not Anchoring Changes in the Corporation’s Culture
In the final analysis, change sticks when it becomes “the way we do things around here,”
when it seeps into the bloodstream of the corporate body. Until new behaviors are rooted in
social norms and shared values, they are subject to degradation as soon as the pressure for
change is removed. The factor particularly important in institutionalizing change in corporate
culture is, a conscious attempt to show people how the new approaches, behaviors, and
attitudes have helped improve performance. When people are left on their own to make the
connections, they sometimes create very inaccurate links.
There are still more mistakes that people make, but these eight are the big ones. In
reality, even successful change efforts are messy and full of surprises. But just as a
relatively simple vision is needed to guide people through a major change, so a vision of
the change process can reduce the error rate. And fewer errors can spell the difference
between success and failure.
Chapter – 11
37

Without happiness
Leaders cannot succeed
What comes first success or happiness?
Common logic may convince you that, success makes one happy. But in reality happiness in
one’s life, invariably makes them successful. Leaders in business cannot expect to impassion
others about their work unless and until they are passionate themselves about what they do.
Creating successful leadership/followership demands great energy management. The source
for this kind of energy undoubtedly comes from inside. More specifically, it comes from the
heart; it is based in emotions and feelings. For leaders to move towards a state of emotional
creativity, they need constantly to be in touch with their feelings and express them in
appropriate and creative ways.
Whilst ‘emotional creativity’ involves raised awareness of our fears, sadness and insecurity –
and the way a range of emotions are played out in our lives, one might argue that a tendency
towards fulfillment and happiness is in fact the central source of energy in the human
organism. Who in this world does not desire to be happy? Although life’s rich tapestry may
derail many of us from a path of continual happiness, enduring happiness is the ultimate goal
for many of us. It is a quest that is, and will undoubtedly continue to be, one of the major
preoccupations of humankind!
So, what has this got to do with leadership in business?
How might leadership and happiness be linked? We only need to open our newspapers, let
alone any history book, to see numerous examples of how leaders have achieved followership
through connecting with followers’ fear, insecurity and other negative emotions. The results
of regimes – and businesses – built on these types of leader/follower connections are so often
unsustainable and damaging to communities and organizations. It is my view that if leaders
are able to connect with followers through their shared pursuit of happiness, there will be
more compassion, relationships will be more durable, there will be increased spiritual
wisdom and the entire community will benefit. If leaders trust the energy which is coming
from within, and if their work gives them pleasure, it is possible to achieve any great vision
they have of themselves (and their organization). The resulting energies are infectious and
spread a heightened energy amongst potential followers.
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What makes us happy?
Alan Durning contrasts our consumption-driven approach to life with his findings that
happiness is all about the quality of our various relationships with people in all aspects of our
social world:
“Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life,
that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual
satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption. Studies on happiness indicate that the main
determinants are family life (especially marriage), fulfilling work, leisure interests and
friendship. The preponderance of things that people name as their most rewarding pastimes
are infinitely sustainable. Religion, conversation, family and community gatherings, theatre,
music, dance, literature, sports, poetry, education and appreciation of nature all fit readily into
a culture of permanence – a way of life that can endure through countless generations.”
According to an old Chinese proverb, happiness consists of three things; someone to
love, something to do and something to hope for.
Someone to love
Rodney Ferris defines love specifically in an organizational context as:
“A feeling of caring or deep respect for yourself and others, of valuing and believing in
yourself and others, and of helping to achieve the best of which everyone is capable. It means
finding a sense of purpose, fulfillment and fun in your work and helping others to find these
qualities in their work as well. Without these feelings, leaders fundamentally are taking
advantage of their constituents.”
Following on from this, happiness via someone to love is clearly connected to sharing with
others. This comes about through occasionally learning to forget ourselves in the quest to
make others happy. Leaders who are willing to explore this aspect of their lives come to
realise that there are a number of significant others who play a major part in bringing this to
fruition. For most people, a partner relationship serves as a basic building block for both self-
understanding and the understanding of others. Beyond partnership, rearing children can
often be a catalyst for ‘teaching’ us that happiness comes through giving rather than
receiving. And finally, friends who are willing to play the role of ‘containers’ or confidants,
encourage us to learn the significance of reciprocity and genuine empathy with others.
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Something to do:
Finding something to do is another cornerstone of life which inevitably engages us in social
activity. For most people, more than any other feature of life, it is work which really ties them
to the human community. Work which is sufficiently enjoyable, challenging and rewarding
helps give our lives a rich sense of purpose and meaning. Leaders who feel like this about
their work don’t view it as work at all. Work becomes highly aligned with their life purpose,
vision and values…..and ultimately a major part of why they exist. Gorky summed this up
well when he said, “When work is pleasure, life is a joy. When work is duty, life is slavery.”
Something to hope for:
To a large degree, hope is a natural part of the human condition. Without it we stagnate and
shrivel up. It is hope that drives us on to explore and embrace all sorts of change in our lives.
I encourage leaders to explore this aspect of their lives by getting them to consider and talk
about their dreams. Some leaders are able to frame their dreams as possibilities, choosing to
use all their talent, energy and courage in working towards fulfilling them. Ultimately, this
sort of exercise encourages them to be proactive about their life rather than sitting and
waiting for things to happen.
Finally, in the quest to assist leaders in business to connect through positive emotional
creativity, happiness cannot and should not be turned into some kind of future-
orientated obsession. Why? Because happiness is now!
Chapter – 12
40

Why Leaders Lose Their Way to
Self-destruction & Shame
In recent years several high-level leaders have mysteriously lost their way. Dominique
Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund and a leading French
politician, was arraigned on charges of sexual assault. Before that David Sokol, rumored to
be Warren Buffett's successor, was forced to resign for trading in Lubrizol stock prior to
recommending that Berkshire Hathaway purchase the company. Examples abound of other
recent failures:
• Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd resigned for submitting false expense reports concerning
his relationship with a contractor.
• US Senator John Ensign resigned after covering up an extramarital affair with monetary
payoffs.
• Lee B. Farkas, former chairman of giant mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, in April
was found guilty for his role in one of the largest bank fraud schemes in American history.
Professor Bill George says these are not bad people; rather, they've lost their moral bearings.
To sures. Key concepts include:
stay grounded executives must prepare themselves to confront enormous complexities and
pres• Leaders who move up have greater freedom to control their destinies, but also
experience increased pressure and seduction.
• Leaders can avoid these pitfalls by devoting themselves to personal development that
cultivates their inner compass, or True North. This requires reframing their leadership
from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead.
These talented leaders were highly successful in their respective fields and at the peak of their
careers. This makes their behavior especially perplexing, raising questions about what caused
them to lose their way:
• Why do leaders known for integrity and leadership engage in unethical activities?
• Why do they risk great careers and unblemished reputations for such ephemeral
gains?
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• Do they think they won't get caught or believe their elevated status puts them above
the law?
• Was this the first time they did something inappropriate, or have they been on the
slippery slope for years?
In these ongoing revelations, the media, politicians, and the general public frequently
characterize these leaders as bad people, even calling them evil. Simplistic notions of good
and bad only cloud our understanding of why good leaders lose their way, and how this could
happen to any of us. Leaders who lose their way are not bad people; rather, they lose their
moral bearings, often yielding to seductions in their paths. Very few people go into leadership
roles to cheat or do evil, yet we all have the capacity for actions we deeply regret unless we
stay grounded.
Self-reflection: a path to leadership development
Before anyone takes on a leadership role, they should ask themselves, "Why do I want to
lead?" and "What's the purpose of my leadership?" These questions are simple to ask, but
finding the real answers may take decades. If the honest answers are power, prestige, and
money, leaders are at risk of relying on external gratification for fulfillment. There is nothing
wrong with desiring these outward symbols as long as they are combined with a deeper desire
to serve something greater than oneself. Leaders whose goal is the quest for power over
others, unlimited wealth, or the fame that comes with success tend to look to others to gain
satisfaction, and often appear self-centered and egotistical. They start to believe their own
press. As leaders of institutions, they eventually believe the institution cannot succeed
without them.
The leadership trap:
While most people value fair compensation for their accomplishments, few leaders start out
seeking only money, power, and prestige. Along the way, the rewards—bonus checks,
newspaper articles, perks, and stock appreciation—fuel increasing desires for more. This
creates a deep desire to keep it going, often driven by desires to overcome narcissistic
wounds from childhood. Many times, this desire is so strong that leaders breach the ethical
standards that previously governed their conduct, which can be bizarre and even illegal.
Very few people go into leadership to cheat or do evil:
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As Novartis chairman Daniel Vasella told Fortune magazine, "for many of us the idea of
being a successful manager—leading the company from peak to peak, delivering the goods
quarter by quarter—is an intoxicating one. It is a pattern of celebration leading to belief,
leading to distortion. When you achieve good results… you are typically celebrated, and you
begin to believe that the figure at the center of all that champagne-toasting is yourself." When
leaders focus on external gratification instead of inner satisfaction, they lose their grounding.
Often they reject the honest critic who speaks truth to power. Instead, they surround
themselves with sycophants who tell them what they want to hear. Over time, they are unable
to engage in honest dialogue; others learn not to confront them with reality.
The dark side of leadership:
Many leaders get to the top by imposing their will on others, even destroying people standing
in their way. When they reach the top, they may be paranoid that others are trying to knock
them off their pedestal. Sometimes they develop an impostor complex, caused by deep
insecurities that they aren't good enough and may be unmasked. To prove they aren't
impostors, they drive so hard for perfection that they are incapable of acknowledging their
failures. When confronted by them, they convince themselves and others that these problems
are neither their fault nor their responsibility. Or they look for scapegoats to blame for their
problems. Using their power, charisma, and communications skills, they force people to
accept these distortions, causing entire organizations to lose touch with reality. At this stage
leaders are vulnerable to making big mistakes, such as violating the law or putting their
organizations' existence at risk. Their distortions convince them they are doing nothing
wrong, or they rationalize that their deviations are acceptable to achieve a greater good.
During the financial crisis, Lehman CEO Richard Fuld refused to recognize that Lehman was
undercapitalized. His denial turned balance sheet misjudgments into catastrophe for the entire
financial system. Fuld persistently rejected advice to seek added capital, deluding himself
into thinking the federal government would bail him out. When the crisis hit, he had run out
of options other than bankruptcy. It's lonely at the top, because leaders know they are
ultimately responsible for the lives and fortunes of people. If they fail, many get deeply hurt.
They often deny the burdens and loneliness, becoming incapable of facing reality. They shut
down their inner voice, because it is too painful to confront or even acknowledge; it may,
however, appear in their dreams as they try to resolve conflicts rustling around inside their
heads. Meanwhile, their work lives and personal lives get out of balance. They lose touch
43

with those closest to them? their spouses, children, and best friends—or co-opt them with
their points of view. Eventually, they lose their capacity to think logically about important
issues.
Values-centered leadership:
Leading is high stress work. There is no way to avoid the constant challenges of being
responsible for people, organizations, outcomes, and uncertainties in the environment.
Leaders who move up have greater freedom to control their destinies, but also experience
increased pressure and seduction. Leaders can avoid these pitfalls by devoting themselves to
personal development that cultivates their inner compass, or True North. This requires
reframing their leadership from being heroes to being servants of the people they lead. This
process requires thought and introspection because many people get into leadership roles in
response to their ego needs. It enables them to transition from seeking external gratification
to finding internal satisfaction by making meaningful contributions through their leadership.
Maintaining their equilibrium amid this stress requires discipline. Some people practice
meditation or yoga to relieve stress, while others find solace in prayer or taking long runs or
walks. Still others find relief through laughter, music, television, sporting events, and reading.
Their choices don't matter, as long as they relieve stress and enable them to think clearly
about work and personal issues.
A system to support values-centered leadership:
The reality is that people cannot stay grounded by themselves. Leaders depend on people
closest to them to stay centered. They should seek out people who influence them in profound
ways and stay connected to them. Often their spouse or partner knows them best. They aren't
impressed by titles, prestige, or wealth accumulation; instead, they worry that these outward
symbols may be causing the loss of authenticity. Spouses and partners can't carry this entire
burden though. We need mentors to advise us when facing difficult decisions. Reliable
mentors are entirely honest and straight with us, defining reality and developing action plans.
In addition, intimate support groups like the True North Groups, with whom people can share
their life experiences, hopes, fears, and challenges, are invaluable. Members of our True
North Group aren't impressed by external success, but care enough about us as human beings
and as leaders to confront us when we aren't being honest with ourselves. As Senator Ensign
told his fellow senators in a farewell speech,
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When one takes a position of leadership, there is a very real danger of getting caught up
in the hype surrounding that status … Surround yourselves with people who will be
honest with you about how you really are and what you are becoming, and then make
them promise to not hold back? from telling you the truth."
Chapter – 13
Stalling E-Development will be
A sure way to lose the Lead
45

With the rapidly increasing usage of the Internet and Web technologies, different
organizations make use of the Internet in many different ways such as solely advertising,
providing services with limited electronic transactions and conducting full collaborative
electronic businesses with both customers and partners. In general, the business utilization of
the Internet can be classified into four different levels, E-information, E-commerce, E-
business and C-commerce.
E-information, a.k.a. brochureware, is nothing more than just presenting the business’s
catalogue of products and/or services online. For example, an airline company could have a
web site just to display a timetable with all their flight details without any facilities for
making electronic transactions. The next level of utilization is E-commerce, which is
typically a two-way transaction, the sell-buy process on electronic not fully encompass the
true nature of electronic business. This introduces the next usage of the Internet, E-business,
that can be defined as that using electronic mechanisms to conduct business transactions
between networks. For example, the airline company can offer tickets for sale that can be
purchased by customers using electronic payment facilities. It is worth noting here that the E-
commerce level is restrictive and does an organization, their customers and their partners.
Consequently, E-business represents a rich set of activities that are much more diverse and
technically complicated than Ecommerce, having two major foci: Business-to-Business
(B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C). The final layer of utilization is the collaborative
commerce or ‘C-commerce’. Here, many businesses come together via a portal or similar
mechanism to create an E-market, thus creating a collaborative network of trade partners who
operate more closely and seamlessly as one value chain, connecting their business processes
with other companies as a catalyst to strong business growth. C-commerce is still in its
infancy stage and is seen by many researchers and practitioners as the second generation of
E-business and the next phase of the Internet’s impact on business.
KEY BUSINESS DRIVERS OF E-BUSINESS:
The numbers of individuals and organizations that are using the Internet and web
technologies is not only massive but also rapidly increasing. Sultan and assert that, over the
last 20 years, many of the changes in organizations have been predominantly driven by two
46

factors: globalization and technology. In the 21st century, business transformation to
globalization and e-business is one of the major reasons for organizational change. Other key
business drivers that have emerged for e-business are trade barriers, collaboration among
supply chain partners and environmental changes. Few businesses will be able to avoid
becoming an e-business in the light of such moves by their competitors. Those that do accept
the challenge will benefit from implementation of the new business approach.
EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES:
A change management strategy covers a variety of disciplines that include planning,
managing, scheduling, assigning, monitoring and analyzing the changes. Often, the creation
of a change management strategy is overlooked and the crucial issues related to assisting
people in the transition and associated cultural issues that influence the change are not
addressed. An effective change management strategy must include a specific plan for
managing the transition period to e-business. The transition period in any change process is
probably the most difficult time for most of the people involved. During this period, people
have to work harder to keep both the old and new systems running.
Management’s desire to keep the old system running during the transformation process is a
technique for managing the potential risk factors. At the same time, they desire to keep the
new system evolving and keep the momentum for the change going. Human and
organizational cultures play an imperative role during any organizational change due to their
direct and strong involvement and impact on every business process.
Human Culture and Resistance to Change:
In general, changes are always accompanied by natural resistance, as people are driven out of
their comfort zone. Some people perceive the organizational change as a direct threat to their
jobs or as a challenge to their competence of carrying out the new jobs. Changing human
values and beliefs is proving to be one of the most difficult aspects of any serious attempt to
transform business performance. In most cases, the organizational willingness and
competence to manage their human issues well during an organizational change can be the
difference between success and failure.
Organizational Culture and Management Commitment:
47

Organizational culture is set to play crucial role during the transformation to e-business
environment. Transformation to e-business is a long-term investment issue and, like all
business investment issues, the chance of success is very slim unless senior management is
committed to the project as a critical success factor in any organizational change. An e-
business change management strategy will not happen without the commitment and effective
and strong leadership of both senior and middle management. For a successful transition,
management must be dynamically involved in each and every phase of the process. In
addition, they must explicitly demonstrate their support and allocate sufficient resources to
the project.
SUCCESSFUL ADOPTION AND DIFFUSION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES:
Information Technology (IT), in general, is seen by management as an essential means to
advance and compete in today’s new e-world. Technology is only a tool; what makes the
difference in practice is the individual who makes use of the technology and the culture that
motivates people to realize and understand the advantages of adopting such a technology.
E-business practices build on a set of software applications that make e-business possible and
practical such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Resources
Planning (ERP) and Supply Chain Management (SCM). Whether organizations decide to
purchase these applications as off-the-shelf or develop them in-house, they ought to
implement a formal software development process/method in practice. A method can be
utilized to customize and maintain the pre-developed applications or to completely develop
new systems to support the new e-business processes. Also the successful adoption of a new
technology requires that IT people fully understand their organization’s strategic goals and
objectives.
Chapter – 14
Some Most common Reasons,
48

Why Leaders Fail
Poor listening skills:
The most important skill for any leader to develop and practice is the skill of listening; the
ability to listen for feelings, not just words. Leaders often fail to recognize that you never
learn anything that you didn’t already know when you’re talking, but you learn virtually
everything from listening. The single most respectful thing that a leader can do for another
person is to listen.
Lack of Humility:
If listening is the most important skill, than humility is the most important trait in effective
leaders. Leaders must place “we” before “me”, have the ability to admit mistakes, ask for
help, freely give credit to others and treat those in lower level roles as equals. Projecting
superiority is a trap and a recipe for failure.
Leaders set the wrong example:
It is an absolute truth that how you behave as a leader, as with a parent, influences the
behavior of others. How you treat people (demonstrating trust and respect) dictates how they
treat you and others. What is OK for the leader becomes OK for the employees. Leaders must
walk their talk and set the example for others to follow.
Ineffective leaders stop learning, growing and resist change:
The most effective leaders I have encountered, over a long career in business, recognize that
“whatever it was that got them where they are today will not be sufficient to keep them
there.” They embrace change as the only constant in their job, and continually seek to learn
and grow as
Professionals and as individuals, regardless of their age or longevity of service.
Inability to organize details:
49

Efficient leadership calls for (the) ability to organize and to master details. No genuine leader
is ever too busy to do anything which may be required of him in his capacity as leader. When
a man, whether he is a leader or follower, admits that he is too busy to change his plans, or to
give attention to any emergency, he admits his inefficiency. The successful leader must be the
master of all details connected with his position. That means, of course, that he must acquire
the habit of relegating details to capable lieutenants.
This failure relates to two key skills required by the successful leader or Project Manager –
good organization skills and the ability to delegate effectively. Too many managers create a
project plan at the start of the project and then do no more than tick it off, as if the project
plan can manage the project. A good leader or manager is across the details of the plan and
manages it effectively.
Unwillingness to render humble service:
Truly great leaders are willing, when occasion demands, to perform any sort of labour which
they would ask another to perform. No leader can be truly successful if they ask more of
others than they are willing to do themselves, or if they consistently delegate the most odious
tasks to more junior staff.
Expectation of pay for what they know instead of what they do with that which they
know:
The world does not pay men for that which they know. It pays them for what they do, or
induce others to do.” This one brought a smile to my face, for I have met many managers and
so-called leaders who expect remuneration and respect because they have been in a job for so
many years or they have an MBA or they know influential people. It’s not what you know or
who you know – it’s what you actually do that counts!
Fear of competition from followers:
50

The leader who fears that one of his followers may take his position is practically sure to
realize that fear sooner or later. No leader can lead who is continually looking back over his
or her shoulder to see who is gaining on them. Great leaders and managers encourage and
nurture good people and enjoy working with them.
Someone once told me that you should never be indispensable – as a manager you should
always make sure that one of your direct reports is capable and able of taking over from you
at a moment’s notice. This means that you need to nurture them, train and mentor them, and
trust them. This benefits not only them, but you, should a better opportunity open up.
Lack of imagination:
Without imagination, the leader is incapable of meeting emergencies, and of creating plans
by which to guide his followers efficiently. Sad to say, many Project Managers today seem to
think that Project Management is paint by numbers job – build a project plan and then
everything will run along tickety-boo. It doesn’t, and it doesn’t help if the Project Manager
cannot keep their head in a crisis, modify project plans, risks and issues on the fly, and
quickly ascertain viable alternatives when the project is in crisis.
Selfishness:
The leader who claims the entire honor for the work of his followers is sure to be met by
resentment. The really great leader claims none of the honors. He is contented to see the
honours, when there are any, go to his followers, because he knows that most men will work
harder for commendation and recognition than they will for money alone.” And funny how
those managers who do “steal all the glory” are the self same ones who never accept
responsibility or take the blame, even for the most minor of problems.
Disloyalty:
the leader who is not loyal to his trust, and to his associates, those above him, and those
below him, cannot long maintain his leadership. A manager who does not trust and respect
their team will find the going very tough if they need to call for extra effort from the team.
Imposing authority:
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Here, this is referring to those leaders who manage through fear and intimidation, rather than
respect. Those “I am the boss and you’ll do what I say” types (and yes, they still exist). The
efficient leader leads by encouraging and not by trying to instill fear in the hearts of his
followers. … If a leader is a real leader, he will have no need to advertise that fact except by
his conduct – his sympathy, understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he knows his
job.”
Emphasis on a title:
This touches on the subject of positional versus personal authority. A great leader or project
manager has personal authority – if they were to be demoted to the lowest rank, they would
still have the respect of their peers (and superiors) due to their personal authority. However,
many managers rely on positional authority – such as a grand title (Executive Vice President
or Corporate Change Manager) or the fact that they report directly to the Board of Directors.
Remove them from that role and they are nothing! According to Hill “the competent leader
requires no “title” to give him the respect of his followers. The man who makes too much
over his title generally has little else to emphasize.”
Basking in their past success:
Nothing causes leaders to deny current reality more than past success. As humans, success
quickly goes to our heads and it’s not long before we think we cannot fail. This arrogance and
pride blinds us to changing reality. As we all have heard and seen, pride goes before the fall.
Arrogant leaders fail to get critical feedback on changing reality and tend to over estimate
their ability, soon they are taking on challenges too big for them leading to failure.
Blaming external factors or others for the situation:
Blame is often used as a distraction, freeing leaders from the difficult task of facing reality.
Looking for someone or external factors to blame means that leaders don’t have deal with the
situation. An important task of a leader is to face reality, this requires they accept the
responsibility of defining reality and collaborating in search for a solution.
52

Making excuses and not owning their mistakes:
Successful leaders don’t make excuses. Successful leaders own their mistakes, they take
responsibility, they learn from them and move forward. However, leaders in denial put more
energy into hiding their mistakes as opposed to taking responsibility and exploring ways to
move forward.
Not allowing for constructive dissent:
High performing teams are known for their vigorous debate. Leaders in denial suppress
dissenting views, they see dissent as unhealthy and as a lack of respect for their authority. By
discouraging dissent leaders isolate themselves from a critical source of feedback. Successful
teams use constructive dissent to explore issues from different perspectives, to get all the
issues out into the open, to facilitate sound decision making and commitment to a course of
action. People don’t learn by looking into a mirror, they learn by encountering difference.
This requires constructive dissent.
Sugarcoating current reality:
Leaders in denial sugarcoat current reality, putting a positive spin on everything, this
communicates to others that the new realities do not require change. However, facing reality
requires that leaders are honest about the challenge being faced. Often leaders downplay
current reality in an attempt to protect people from the challenge and not to create
unnecessary concern. However, when people are treated as children by trying to keep them
safe from reality, the result is broken trust, low levels of commitment, reduced urgency,
putting the organization into a false sense of security.
Leaders who pursue perks, power and privilege:
One of the more telling signs that a leader has lost touch with reality is the leader who seek
perks, power and privilege. This leader has forgotten their role and purpose, the service of
others and the organization’s mission, instead they see success as a result of their greatness
and thus pursue symbols of privilege.
Leaders who are not open to learning and lack curiosity:
53

Leaders in denial fail to recognize their need to learn and to re-learn. The seeds of failure are
sown when leaders are closed to learning, no longer willing to be vulnerable, no longer
curious and not willing to be challenged. These leaders deny that they need to learn how to
respond differently in a turbulent world.
Leaders who surround themselves with “Yes Men”:
Leaders, seeking to re-enforce their ideas and thinking surround themselves with those who
hold the similar views. This creates a very unhealthy core leadership team dynamic, one that
is not open to critique, opposing ideas or constructive dissent. With a focus on maintaining
the status quo the leadership team’s decision making process breaks down as they make
decisions in isolation with and eye on pleasing the leader.
A shift in focus:
This shift can occur in several ways. Often, leaders simply lose sight on what's important. The
laser-like focus that catapulted them to the top disappears, and they become distracted by the
trappings of leadership, such as wealth and notoriety. Leaders are usually distinguished by their
ability to "think big." But when their focus shifts, they suddenly start thinking small. They micro
manage, they get caught up in details better left to others, they become consumed with the trivial
and unimportant. And to make matters worse, this tendency can be exacerbated by an inclination
toward perfectionism. A more subtle leadership derailer is an obsession with "doing" rather than
"becoming." The good work of leadership is usually a result of who the leader is. What the leader
does then flows naturally from inner vision and character. It is possible for a leader to become
too action oriented and, in the process, lose touch with the more important development of self.
Poor Communication:
A lack of focus and its resulting disorientation typically lead to poor communication. Followers
can't possibly understand a leader's intent when the leader him- or herself isn't sure what it is!
And when leaders are unclear about their own purpose, they often hide their confusion and
uncertainty in ambiguous communication. Sometimes, leaders fall into the clairvoyance trap. In
other words, they begin to believe that truly committed followers automatically sense their goals
and know what they want without being told. Misunderstanding is seen by such managers as a
lack of effort (or commitment) on the listener's part, rather than their own communication
54

Why leaders in 21st century fail

Why leaders in 21st century fail

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