Every since serving a hitch in the military, I have been
nagged by the question that’s been hanging around leadership
since time immemorial: How can some leaders persuade people to
believe in them and follow them and other leaders can’t? But it
wasn’t the military that provided me with a framework to answer
that question. It was Albert Einstein and his quest for the
unified field theory of the universe.
Einstein is well known for his special and general theories
of relativity, two of the crowning intellectual achievements of
the 20th century. But what he is not so well known for is a
magnificent quest that he carried on for some 30 years — and
ultimately failed in. That was his quest for a unified field
theory of the universe, a theory that explains all the forces
of the universe. And it was a quest that inspired me, in my
small way, to find an answer to the leadership question.
Einstein’s special theory combined space and time into a
single concept known as the space-time continuum. He spent the
rest of his life failing to develop a unified field theory that
incorporated gravity into the electromagnetic field. But it
wasn’t his trying to solve the conundrums of physics that
inspired me. It was his trying to unify the grand forces of
the universe that’s so compelling.
Just as there are grand forces driving the activities of
the universe, I’m convinced that there are grand forces driving
the activities of leadership. Whether we are talking about
small or large organizations, organizations of butchers, bakers
or candlestick makers, the same leadership forces — leadership
laws, if you will — apply. Or at least that I was my theory,
that was my quest: to find the laws of leadership, if they did
indeed exist, and then show how those laws can be applied in
any organizational challenge. In short, we can have a “unified
field theory of leadership.”
I won’t go into the details of how I came to develop the
theory — only that after a quest of several decades, working
with leaders of all stripes, I developed what I call the
Unified Field Theory of Leadership Success. I’m certainly not
unifying such grand concepts as gravity and the electromagnetic
field; but my theory, in its small way, has helped many leaders
around the world raise their leadership effectiveness to much
higher levels.
Here then is the Unified Field Theory of Leadership
Success. It is not magic dust to transform you into a
great leader. It is instead a polestar to guide and help
you invigorate your leadership and communication efforts.
The UFTLS is expressed as a series of four propositions.
(1) BUSINESS SUCCESS HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE GET RESULTS.
Clearly, this is not some strange, UFO- like concept.
Instead, it is a BFO — a Blinding Flash of the Obvious. Yet
obvious or not, it is ignored by many leaders — too many
leaders. Too many leaders focus on enabling such drivers as
quality initiatives, re-engineering projects, and cost-cutting
programs — at the expense of the people who must animate those
drivers.
For instance, I know of a company that is engaged in the
fourth major restructuring in the past half dozen years. Three
of those initiatives have failed, mainly because they ignored
the human/leadership aspect. In fact, I propose that the new
initiative is doomed to fail too. It’s obvious why: instead of
being driven by a compelling market strategy, strong products,
or a vision of marketplace leadership, this new restructuring
is being driven by a new computer system!
The officers are restructuring the company primarily to
better employ that system, not to better employ people for
results. I daresay the light that they may perceive to be at
the end of the tunnel will turn out in truth to be a search
party looking for survivors.
(2) LEADERS DO NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN GET RESULTS.
Another seemingly obvious statement. Yet when I give
talks to leaders around the world, and ask them, “What is the
most important thing you do as a leader?” some 95 percent of
them give every answer but this one. This is the right answer.
Understand the power in the seeming passiveness of “have.”
Leaders cannot get results by themselves. They need others to
help get those results. Today, with speed, flexibility, and
teamwork being driving competitiveness, the control-freak
order-leader who must tyrannize and micro manage can’t compete
against the leader who can build and motivate teams to get
results. In short, the leader who can “have” others get
results.
(3) THE BEST WAY TO HAVE PEOPLE GET RESULTS
IS NOT TO ORDER THEM BUT TO MOTIVATE THEM.
Like leadership purpose, motivation is another concept
that is misunderstood by many leaders. If we misunderstand
the concept of motivation, how in the world can we motivate
anybody to do anything? Here are the four “eternal truths” of
motivation: A. Motivation is not something people think or feel
but what they PHYSICALLY DO. Only when people take physical
action can they in truth be defined as “motivated.” B.
Motivation is not something we can do to anyone. We as leaders
can only communicate. The people we want to motivate must
motivate themselves. The “motivatee” and the motivator are
always the same person. C. Motivation is driven by emotion.
In fact, the words emotion and motivation come from the same
Latin root, meaning “to move.” When we want to move people,
motivate people, to take action, we engage their emotions. D.
Motivation happens best when it is triggered by face-to-face
speech.
(4) WE LEAD WELL ONLY WHEN THE PEOPLE WE LEAD ARE LEADING WELL.
Let’s throw out the old concept of leadership. That
concept is based on the idea of “followership” — successful
leaders being the ones who got people to follow them. Baloney!
Today, the speed and scope of change in the marketplace demand
a new vision of leadership, leadership that can not only deal
with that change but actually speed it up and make opportunities
of it. That vision is this fourth proposition. How many times
have we heard this seeming praise, “They’re such great leaders,
they can’t be replaced!” Within the terms of the new leadership
dynamics, those “great, irreplaceable leaders” are in truth poor
leaders that should be gotten rid of! If the leader’s function
is to have others get results, then the best way is not simply
to motivate them but to motivate them to lead others to get
those results. When we challenge our leaders to truly lead,
we change their world and ours. Only then are we leading well.
Those are the four propositions of the Unified Field Theory
of Leadership Success. Einstein failed in his quest for a
unified field theory; but the success or failure of this Theory
of Leadership rests with you. Put it into action. Guided by
its ideas, develop strategies, processes, and leadership skills.
You will start on the road to being a better leader. Because
the four propositions do provide defining differences between
leaders. Those differences are not as grand as the differences
between gravity and electromagnetic fields, but they can help
you do that very simple, down-to-earth thing that your career,
that any career, rests on: leadership.
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2004 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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