Shelf Life Determinants of a Great Leader
Introduction
What is the “shelf life” of a leader? Is he/she the determinant to how long they stay in office or is it contingent on other factors that are less tangible? Vision, perceived success, viability, and organizational health are factors to longevity but the character and skill set of a leader are more likely the glue that keeps the leader at the head of the pack.
After reading Reflections on Character and Leadership last spring by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, I was excited about reading his book, The Leadership Mystique: Leading Behavior in the Hu]man Experience. I resonate with his assessment of leadership and his practical format for being a better leader. His practicality in writing is clear in the opening statement of the book, “Organizations are like automobiles. They don’t run themselves, except downhill. They need people to make them work. And not just any people, but the right people.”[1
Kets de Vries helps weave the essential elements that are both inherent and are nurtured in leaders. Leadership has, and will never be, “one size fits all”. The leader is a composite of two traits “nature” and “nurture”. “As with many traits, leadership is probably a combination of both factors. Although some twin studies suggest that the mixture is 60 per cent nature, 40 per cent nurture, the precise combination isn’t especially important for people in the leadership selection business.”[2]
A le
ader’s talent can propel them but their character is what sustains them. Kets de Vries states that, “Most of the nurture that’s going to happen in regard to leadership has already happened by the time people choose their career track…”.[3] Whether the 60/40 blend is true or not, there is still resident a potential greatness made by choices. Kets de Vries demonstrates that “an individual’s leadership style – a synthesis of the various roles that he or she chooses to adopt – is a complex outcome of the interplay of that person’s inner theater, as expressed in core issues…”[4]
Summary
Kets de Vries focuses on three issues in his book:
- “I’ll argue that ‘irrational’ behavior is a common pattern in organizational life and demonstrate that such behavior has a ‘rationale’ to it…
- I’ll provide a number of insights into the darker side of leadership, highlighting some of the common behavior patterns that contribute to the derailment of leaders.
- I’ll address what needed to become an effective leader, identifying what effective leaders do to create high-performance organizations and profiling what such organizations look like.”[5]
Those three issues are the crux of any organization becoming and sustaining viability and remaining competitive in the market. Then with a simple sweep it seemed he brought out his laser and stated, “For each of us, our unique mixture of motivational needs determines our character and creates the triangle of our mental life – a tightly interlocked triangle consisting of cognition, affect, and behavior.”[6]
Leadership is more than cognitive reasoning and/or acquisition of knowledge. Our affect is unique to us based on our nature and nurture combination. To top it off, our behavior is the outflow of our mental, cognition and our affect that people perceive. I was bit uneasy at this point thinking, “Why didn’t I get this sooner?” That’s when I read the Soren Kierkegaard quote, “The tragedy of life is that you only can understand it backward but you have to live it forward.”[7]
Analysis
The LGP program has been a constant tune and theme in my head of, “I sure wish I would have known that a long time ago.” All leadership is interim at best! This is when the concept of succession and “shelf life” played in.
Kets de Vries speaks of the “life-cycle” of a CEO. He states, “The word life-cycle is often used to describe the various development stages of an organism, whether plant, animal, or person. It can also be used to describe the tenure of a CEO. The life-cycle of a CEO generally has three stages: entry, consolidation, and decline.”[8]
Not only have I “lived in” in my dissertation on the transitioning of the senior leader, ultimately I will “live in” that season again. I realize that I am past the “entry” stage and hopefully leading in the “consolidation” to an eternal vision that will outlive and outlast generations yet to come.
That’s when Kets de Vries brought clarity to my, and it time all of ours, path. With succession being imminent, “…if you want evolution, you promote an insider; if you want revolution, you choose an outsider (preferably someone who’s well acquainted with the industry in which the company operates).” The concept of evolution or revolution caused me to look at my “shelf life” and wonder which way am I going to go and how long do I have ?
[1] Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, The Leadership Mystique: Leading Behavior in the Human Experience, (New York: Prentice Hall, 2001), 1.
[2] Ibid., 229.
[3] Ibid., 229.
[4] Ibid., 229.
[5] Ibid., 4.
[6] Ibid., 5.
[7] Ibid., 17.
[8] Ibid., 218.
10 responses to “Shelf Life Determinants of a Great Leader”
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I love how you end with a question. I thought of you and your research as I read the book. What a rich resource for any leader, and for you and your topic specifically.
Your quote, “Leadership is more than cognitive reasoning and/or acquisition of knowledge” got me thinking. What could our program do to encourage this? What are we doing as pastors to do this? Do you have a suggestion or two?
Aaron:
Solid questions. The LGP program does a great job of “exposure” in knowledge. The staff seems to coach and challenge us that our dissertations are leading us to be practitioners. The intensives also expose us to practical ministry in a variety of manners.
Practical ways that the LGP program could be engaging: 1. Engagement in the local church being a part of the program. 2. Part of the curriculum could be specifically engaged to those that are pastors with possible research as an alternative.
Phil
Yes!
Phil,
I thought this book was a great resource for what you are trying to understand. He spells it out in some really clear illustrations and in a very practical way.
A leaders talent can propel them but their character is what sustains them.What do you think about this line in your blog? What about when it comes to transition? Isn’t the issue of character usually where this all gets hung out? One person’s word is not what they really meant or said or the landscape changes just enough in the positive that outlook changes. Love to hear your thoughts.
Kevin
Kevin:
Transitions are challenging. When an organization hires from talent and leaves out character it is destined for “short shelf life”. The challenge is how do you truly engage a potential candidate and truly know their character? The alignment of the values and culture of an organization are difficult to understand……add that to the true understanding of a potential candidate and who they are = challenges that are sometimes insurmountable.
Phil
Phil,
Thank you for a clear presentation of how talent and character work hand in hand. What you have written and what we are learning makes me think again that I wish I’d read/learned all of this forty years ago at the beginning of my ministry life. (I was having this thought even before I read “I sure wish I would have known that a long time ago” in your blog. Hmmm – we must live in the same neighborhood of age and stage.)
I would also say that in answer to your “how long do I have,” my impression is that you are still leading with a good quantity of passion and vision. This is good.
Referencing Kierkegaard, what is the biggest lesson you have understood backwards?
Marc:
Backwards? It really HIS church…..He is going to build it (Matthew 16:18), He just asks me to get work on the Kingdom.
In reality…..there are a lot of lessons that I am still learning the lesson backwards.
Phil
Yes – HIS church. A great lesson to learn.
Gerry Sittser of Whitworth University has written a book called, “A Grace Revealed” which says that when we look back over our lives we see markers of God’s hand and guidance in our lives.
Phil,
Great great blog. As I read your blog, I can’t help but think about the fact that companies create products days (or weeks) before it’s distributed, then a company has a timeframe in which to sell it, and consumers have another timeframe in which to use it. Reading your blog caused me to reflect on my leadership to understand my place in the leadership cycle. Although I’ve been leading in several capacities, I believe the manufacturer (God) is still refining me.
Garfield
Garfield:
You are exactly right about the “manufacturer” and He having the last call on the product. You have definitely have been “productive” for the “manufacturer”. Be careful that what you have produced does not define who you are to become….you have a great potential in the hands of the God.
Phil