Written by: Mark Steele on November 2, 2013

Friedman in his book Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix; A Failure of Nerve, describes leadership as an emotional process rather than a cognitive phenomenon (Friedman 1999). He says leaders can be hindered by an obsession with data and technique instead of making decisions from their own integrity and presence.

Freidman believes Christopher Columbus was one of the great leaders of the Renaissance because he had nerve to not believe the data of the day – current maps of the ocean and land masses. He said, “The quantum leap, or, if you prefer, the “punctuated equilibrium” that occurred around 1500 was a direct result of a complete reorientation to reality initiated by Columbus’s discoveries and the subsequent exploration of geography…I believe that the catalyst for those other imaginative breakthroughs was the “nerve” of the great navigators who led the way (Friedman 1999 p 32).

The maps of the 1400s showed the limitations of the accepted paradigm of the day, the world was flat and there were huge waterfalls at the end of the known land masses. Columbus did not believe the data of the day yet, he had nerve to test that there were new water ways that led to the West Indies. He used his emotional gut feelings to challenge the data and discovered the Americas. The rest is Renaissance History.

Today’s business paradigms are being challenge in a similar way. One example I have experienced is doing business in China which is much different than in the United States. I Tianjin, the city Government Officials want to build a CCRC in the middle of their city. They can build huge high rise buildings in a year where as it takes many years in the US. We depend on expensive detailed feasibility studies before Joint Ventures are formed and building are designed whereas the Chinese want a trusted relationship without all the data before they sign a Joint Venture or build a building.

I am currently working with a China Steering Committee made up mostly of our Senior Vice Presidents. Our Corporate Financial Officer (CFO) was having a very difficult time with signing off on a Joint Venture that did not have an in-depth feasibility study connected with it. A few months ago, I found a chart in a Harvard Business Review article that explained how various countries approached different aspects of business. When she saw the chart that had the US on one side needing  significant data to approve a project and China was on the other side of the spectrum being comfortable with vague data and strong relationships, only then did she start to understand and could sign off on the project.

Like Columbus, many of us have to rethink the way we do business and adapt to other cultures like China.

Friedman, Edwin H. Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix; A Failure of Nerve. New York, Seabury Books, 1999.

About the Author

Mark Steele