LEADERSHIP: CORRECTING A SHAKY FOUNDATION
Ask yourself the deeper questions
What do most CEOs struggle with in their quest
to become better leaders?
After working their way up the corporate ladder, they find themselves at the top and are not quite sure how they got there. Their biggest fear is “being found out”. What will happen when people discover that they’re just a regular person dealing with the same fears and doubt as everyone else? Once they make it to the top they realize, “Uh-ho! The buck stops here – what do I do now.
An interview with Charlie Davis Senior VP OF Vistage Florida
What would help leaders overcome this fear?
The answer lies in ancient wisdom, not so much in the pop culture’s latest management theory. Unless they are willing to kill the old beliefs that are driving their undesirable feelings and behavior, new beliefs that are capable of fueling a different way of being will remain inaccessible. An essential ingredient of CEO success is genuineness. Effective CEOs must take a long hard look in the mirror. They must figure out what’s really driving them and who they really are before they’ll know what old beliefs have to die.
Conventional wisdom encourages companies to create values and a mission statement, wouldn’t that approach be a lot easier?
Appropriate and agreed upon values and mission are very important but alone they do not address the issue of the CEO’s leadership. What’s been driven underground can be a shaky foundation resting on his or her debilitating beliefs. Once the truth of the real issue(s) is out on the table, CEOs and their organization can be transformed. People are predisposed to follow genuine CEO’s—so they too will find the courage to face and tell the whole truth. An organization with a culture of surfacing and dealing with the truth will always outperform the others. Accountability will rise and a passion to succeed will flourish—meaningful and lasting change will take place.
Why would people not be truthful if their careers are on the line?
A colleague said, “culture can be defined as a collective set of habits used by a group of people to get things done”. Unfortunately, many organizations have developed the collective habit of not telling the truth. People in these organizations will openly disclose, “the boss does not want the truth—don’t be the bearer of bad news if you want to succeed around here”. This type of organization is very limited in what it can accomplish and will blame everything and everyone for the lack of progress.
Isn’t it dangerous to challenge the status quo?
For CEOs the real risk is not taking appropriate risks—not being courageous enough to get the truth on the table and dealing with it. Inaction continues to serve the emptiness that is not allowing the CEO and his or her organization to succeed. The silver bullets offered by management books, seminars, expert speakers, and consultant flavors-of-the-day will fail if the CEOs foundation is weak. Deeper questions must be asked. For example: What are we avoiding in this company, and why do we avoid it? To what degree are we allowing our egos to drive our decisions? What is broken around here that we are pretending is OK? What are we afraid to talk about—what things are off limits in our culture?…and most importantly, “Why do we not tell the whole truth to each other?”
Organizations begin to make amazing progress when their CEO finely comes to terms with the truth—“it’s not everyone else that needs fixing – it’s me!” The speed of the pack always equals the speed of the leader. What’s keeping your organization from reaching the next level—could it be you?
“Asking yourself the deeper questions opens up new ways of being in the world.
It brings in a breath of fresh air. It makes life more joyful.
The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery.”
Fred Alan Wolf, Ph.D.