Inner Work for Authentic Leadership

Most places that you go these days, and with most of the people that you talk to, we appear to be suffering from a dearth of leadership.  I frequently hear this lament at work; society at large (fueled by the media) is bemoaning lack of leadership among the leaders of The Congress, President, and other elected or appointed officials. And corporate scandals (e.g., the bank failures and home mortgage crisis of late, as well as the need for government bailout of two of the big three automakers) abound. Instead of leaders with integrity, a moral compass, and a backbone, we instead see corruption, indecisiveness, and otherwise weak-minded “leaders” who are in it for the big money. It is the in-authenticity of many of today’s leaders that seem to plague us in all areas, from corporate, to non-profit, to governmental sectors. In fact, Barbara Kellerman wrote a book back in 2012 entitled “The End of Leadership”, in which she makes the case that we have “lost the recipe” when it comes to leadership; universities and training centers no longer teach good leadership principles and the “leadership industry” (the vast array of seminars, etc. available) largely don’t know what they are doing.  So it should come as no surprise that, collectively, we find ourselves in trouble where leadership is concerned. True, we still have some notable exceptions, but by and large we appear to lack authentic leaders to lead us into this 21^st century.

What is Authentic Leadership? At present, there is not one single, unified definition.  Northouse (2016) cites three points of view on Authentic Leadership.  The first is the “intrapersonal perspective” that focuses mainly on the leader and what goes on inside the leader’s mind.  Self-knowledge, self-regulation, and self-concept are the three main components of the intrapersonal perspective.  Through these well-developed qualities, an authentic leader leads with conviction, not by necessarily emulating someone else. Also, life experiences and their meaning are critical to the development of the authentic leader. The second perspective, as described by Northouse, is interpersonal; in other words, the leader-follower relationship. “Authenticity emerges from the interactions between leaders and followers [ with the emphasis on the reciprocity of the affect each have on the other]” (Northouse, 2016). Third, authentic leadership may be addressed from the developmental perspective wherein authentic leadership develops over time and influenced (or triggered) by major life events (e.g., death of a loved one, loss of a job, etc.).

Bill George, developer of the Authentic Leadership approach, in a short YouTube video, talks about how you become an authentic leader, or a better (more authentic) leader, and touches on three main points: 1) real-world experiences to help you gain self-awareness; 2) the need to process the experience(s) through some type of introspection (e.g., meditation, prayer, or some sort of intimate relationship where you have someone whom you trust to talk to); and 3) receiving honest feedback from a person (or persons) with whom you have a more intimate and trusting relationship, and who will tell you the truth.

As I think on my own leadership experience in the real world of acquisition program management within the Department of Defense, and as a defense support contractor (now on the “other side of the table” in certain situations), I too lament the on-going decline in leadership within DoD and the federal government at large.  Failed programs, huge cost overruns, contractors caught defrauding the government, a crop of leaders who seem to prefer to not “rock the boat” by making any tough decisions (and who operate on political correctness instead of unvarnished truth), a lack of mentoring…the list goes on and on to make the case that we lack authentic leaders; and it would appear that we aren’t going to get well anytime soon.

For me, though, the real-world experiences that have had the most impact have included observing and working with what we would have called authentic leaders some 25-30 years ago. I had the extreme privilege of working with The Lockheed Skunk Works as I was starting out in my career.  In observing the kind of up-front, no-nonsense, completely honest, and attention-to-detail practices of that company, I learned how successful acquisition leadership and leadership practices could work. I learned the value of operating on a person’s word and a handshake. I learned how to cut to the chase on complex acquisition programs and focus on the essentials. And I learned what a leader with integrity, morality, and a solid work ethic looked like, acted like, and performed like.  I learned the essential qualities of forming good, trusting relationships with folks at all levels of the hierarchy, from the production and assembly floor worker, to the Vice President and General Manager for Aerial Reconnaissance Programs.

I also remember one experience that literally made all the difference for me with another contractor with whom I was working and trying to solve some significant production and performance issues.  Along with our contracting officer, I negotiated an “omnibus” contract settlement where the contractor owed the government some things and vice versa.  During that negotiation, I agreed upon a particular contractual arrangement with the contractor for production deliveries.  Two weeks later, a briefing chart on that very issue was presented by the contractor during a program review with my boss and our chief of contracting in attendance.  They both stopped the presentation and questioned the arrangement since they had a different interpretation of how things should read. The contractor person giving the briefing turned to me and asked point blank, “Which is it, Dan? The way I have it written up on the screen, or the way they just said they believed it to be?”  Moment of truth. I took a deep breath and said, “The words up on the screen are what I agreed to in negotiations.” A huge sigh of relief was felt around the room, my boss and our chief of contracts said that was okay too, and we moved on. I could have acquiesced to what I thought were the wishes of my boss and our chief of contracts and said that their interpretation was the one we would go with. I could have gone back on my word at the negotiation table, but I didn’t. The amount of professional respect that I earned that day paid huge dividends with the contractor as we made our way through the problems on the program.

So, real-world experiences (especially real-world tests) I believe are essential to the development of leader authenticity. And leaders need to reflect on these experiences, both before they may occur (if such a thing can be foreseen), and afterwards.  Like the old saying goes, “Always tell the truth and it’s much easier to remember what you said.” My two main forms of reflection are “daydreaming” when I have the chance; to just sit and replay the experience in my mind and relive the emotions and thoughts that were running through me at the time; and prayer, where I also replay critical successes and critical failures in my career and my personal life. Part of reflection is the absolute necessity to learn to forgive yourself for mistakes that you have made; learn from your mistake, then move on.

Many times, it is essential to have a close, trusted friend or two with whom you can share your experiences and receive honest feedback, grace, emotional support, and encouragement for the way ahead. I am lucky enough to have two such friends, to whom I can tell anything and not be judged, but instead be understood, constructively criticized, and supported to move forward with either new ways of looking at a problem or affirmations that I’m on the right track.  These two gentlemen are both older than me, they both understand the DoD, and they are also exceptional mentors to me along the way.  Though they are senior to me, we talk on an equal footing.  We learn from each other; it is not simply a one-way street where I go talk about my problems and they tell me what to do. And we share and analyze successes as well as failures. These two confidantes are my lifelines when I’m stuck and need advice. They are also accountability partners, mostly when I ask them to be and sometimes even when I don’t.  Relationships liked these are difficult to find sometimes, but essential.  I have known and worked with these men for 12 and 24 years, respectively.  We talk regularly, and without their guidance and inputs, I would be left to fend on my own. These relationships make and keep me authentic out there in the world.

The last bit of advice on authentic leadership that I’d like to close with is to find and attend at least one good leadership seminar or summit per year where you can hear directly from proven, great, and authentic leaders. It’s inspiring; it’s insightful; and in my mind it’s essential to “recharge your batteries” when it comes to leadership and leadership in the context of your own life. I’m not trying to “sell” anything here, but if you are unsure of what I mean, look up the Global Leadership Summit online and you’ll see one such example of such a gathering. Day-to-day work inside any organization can take a toll on you, and seeing and hearing great leaders of our time not only reminds you that they still exist and authentic leadership is still possible, but it can prove inspiring to you as you face your own leadership challenges. All leaders should be authentic; I would go so far as to say that if you’re not authentic, then you aren’t really a leader.

A Leader From the Past

I have never worked for a purely, or even highly, transformational leader.  I have seen a few; two different Pastors from churches that I have attended come to mind.  These two were charismatic, excellent orators, extremely knowledgeable and insightful, and inspiringly visionary. They each grew their congregations not only in numbers but (more importantly) in Faith and moral character as Christians.  In the course of their ministries, they did indeed transform the membership and the position of their respective churches; in essence, they raised their congregants to a “higher level” and left their churches stronger and more cohesive than they were when they first arrived. One of these Pastors is now deceased, and the other is about my own age and still going strong.

In my professional career, I would have to say that the closest I came to working for a transformational leader would be my first boss on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. He was also my first mentor, and in retrospect the best mentor that I ever had; mentoring is an inherently transformational act of service. This man was a civilian who knew the business of acquisition program management as well, or better than, anyone else I have known or met since. I was indeed fortunate to have landed in my first assignment with such a strong and capable mentor. He was intensely professional, yet mild-mannered and easily approachable. I remember clearly how he would spend time explaining all of the various concepts and knowledge components of program management, then he would give me work to do that built upon those explanations. He would have me learn by doing, answering questions patiently, but quietly insisting on high-quality work and output.

Bernie was his name and one day he took me through the Air Force budgeting and programming process, teaching me all of the different types of appropriations, how we developed our official budget submissions to The Pentagon, and so forth. Then, he handed me our last budget position documentation and asked me to update it, after which he reviewed my results and then tasked me to build a briefing on our budget and travel with him to Washington DC to present this same briefing to various program personnel from The Pentagon! Bernie taught you how to swim, then asked you to dive off the high board at the deep end of the pool like that. Early on, he also talked to me about our weekly Program Staff Meeting, Action Item tracking, etc., then he had me take over running those same Staff Meetings the following week. One thing that I observed about Bernie is that he would not tolerate anything being “put on the street” about our Program that was not perfectly accurate and represented high quality and pride in workmanship. One of our financial managers once let a budget document go out that had errors in it and I suspect that the whole of the first floor of our building heard Bernie dress this person down before he threw them out of our office.

Those are some examples of how Bernie operated. Everything that he did was carefully planned and timed to provide the most benefit to the health and successful execution of our acquisition program possible. To this young Second Lieutenant, watching Bernie in action provided me with a high degree of Idealized Influence. In the business of acquisition, he was a superb role model and certainly someone that I wanted to emulate. He commanded the respect of everyone associated with our Program, from the local office and various functional personnel on our team, to senior leaders at The Pentagon, and also among our Prime Contractor folks. His knowledge and business ethics were second to none. I used to joke with people through the years that all I ever really learned about acquisition program management, I learned from Bernie in the first six months that I was in the Air Force. This turned out to be a good thing as everyone, including Bernie, in our program office either moved on to other assignments or retired shortly after those first six months and I was left there by myself to carry on and run the Program. Day in and day out, I was able to succeed in this endeavor by remembering all that Bernie had taught me, and doing everything just as he had instructed and demonstrated.

Bernie also provided Inspired Motivation. His expectations were indeed high, as I have stated, and through the many “learn-by-doing” activities that he coached me through, I became knowledgeable and “bought in” to the overall mission and vision of our program office. In fact, the examples that Bernie gave to me of how to effectively run a program stuck with me for all of my career and many is the time over the years that I drew upon what he had taught me to sort out and fix other programs that I would run later on. By his having me work with our program representatives in The Pentagon, he also inspired me to want to become a Program Element Monitor (PEM) and nine years later, when I was transferred to Washington DC, that is exactly the job that I got. And through Bernie’s examples and insights, I knew the PEM job well and got to fulfill one of my biggest career aspirations.

After all that I have said, I don’t think that I need to spend much time relaying that Bernie’s assignments for me provided a great deal of Intellectual Stimulation. One thing that I will always remember is that he would task me with work that I thought was beyond my capabilities, and then he would provide instruction and mentoring to grow me into those new and more responsible activities over time. He continually challenges what I thought were my limits and then he helped me to exceed them. In an Aristotelian fashion, Bernie would also hand me open-ended challenges and then help me to figure out the solution, asking just the right questions at just the right times to prompt me to take the next steps in figuring things out.

The last major element of Transformational Leadership, Individualized Consideration, was a given with Bernie. He always had my back and whenever I truly got “stuck” on something, he would talk me through it with patience and empathy. His biggest interest was to not only teach me the business, but to see me succeed and to eventually stand on my own two feet where I could see what needed to be done and (without prompting) I would go do it. It’s a bit cliché these days, but Bernie taught me how to do things well enough that he enabled me to also “think outside the box”. Later, after he had left the Program, I was able to use those abilities to challenge our prime contractor to take on a technical issue that had plagued the program for several years. And in the end, we found and successfully implemented the new technical solution to the amazement of several senior Colonels in Strategic Air Command (SAC), who were our customers for the system we acquired.

So I guess that I’d have to say, as I draw to a close, that perhaps my opening statement was in error. I did indeed work for a transformational leader at the very beginning of my career. I’ve given a lot of examples of how Bernie exhibited these behaviors and qualities for me, but he also did the same for everyone who worked on our Program. I watched him coach and mentor others, both in our program office and across the cross-functional team that supported us (financial managers, contracting officers, manufacturing specialists, and engineering). Whenever I lament that we don’t have good mentoring going on in the Air Force today within program offices, Bernie is the guy I’m thinking about. If all of our young acquisition program management troops today had a Bernie to teach them the ropes, our acquisition programs would all be in far better shape than they are. I was lucky.

Mid-Term Reflection

As I watched the TED Talk by Talgam, ideas and affirmations about leadership at its finest began flowing like water.  Conductors, at the level of which Talgam speaks, are leaders of what we would otherwise call “High Performing Teams”. In LMX jargon, each member of the orchestra is part of the In-Group. They can all be trusted by the Conductor to perform their individual and collective duties in a thoroughly outstanding manner; each musician is at the top of his or her game and a consummate professional.  Furthermore, they have all practiced together for enough time, that they are truly a team where no one individual, or a few individuals are playing for themselves, but they fully recognize, behave, and focus on blending with one another to “speak” as one “voice” under the leadership of the Conductor.

Again, as I watched the video, I was immediately reminded of a time in my program management career where I quite unexpectedly became the leader of an extremely high-performing team for about eighteen months. When I came on board, everyone was indeed “warming up” before the concert. I want to make clear, before I go any further, that I take very little credit for the development and performance of this high-performing team. I had the extreme good fortune to have brought together individuals who were indeed at the top of their game, and eventually I became like the final conductor that Talgam showed in his videos; I almost literally could just stand in front of the group and enjoy the “music” as the team “played” it.

I learned from my experience, as Talgam discussed in his talk, that the highest form of leadership or at least the highest experience in leadership is to facilitate the bringing together of talented people on a project and helping them to weave together their talents and energies into a single story that we all tell together. I had the distinct honor to almost literally play the part of a Conductor. Everyone knew their part; I made sure of that, but not by edict, rather by dialogue and capitalizing on their ideas and talents to make them part of the unified whole. Everyone played their part to perfection. Everyone challenged one another, helped one another, and delighted in the combined accomplishments of the team.

This doesn’t happen by accident, but obviously some amount of good fortune is involved. It is not often that a leader inherits a team where everyone is a star performer, yet no one puts themselves above any other member of the team. I merely needed to have the good sense to set the objectives and get out of the way of progress. Every last member of that team took extreme pride in their performance, but even more in the performance of the team. It was an experience I will never forget. The trick would be to build and mold such a team regardless of what you have to start with as a leader. Like a Conductor, the leader would need to spend long hours with individual performers, long hours with groups of performers, long hours with the more senior and experienced performers to ensure that the right kind and amount of mentoring was happening, and long hours with the team as a whole to practice in real time how to reach for and achieve the goals and objectives set forth.

The real leaders can do just that. They can take a diverse group of individuals with varying talents and levels of development, and they can make them into a high-performing team by setting expectations, developing high-quality relationships with each individual, teaching, coaching, delegating appropriately, growing and developing the individuals, and also growing and developing the team. I think that the example of top Conductors of orchestras is a great simile to that of a top performing leader; likewise, I think that the example of the orchestra is a great simile of a top-performing team. And yes, even the audience participation is a great example of the context or external environment that leaders must also include in the equation.

We have studied many theories of leadership thus far in this Course. What I have found is that each theory contains at least some elements of what great leadership looks like, acts like, and performs like. One may argue whether traits are genetic or conditioned, but every great leader does possess some degree of personal characteristics that set them apart and make them effective. Likewise, a great leader must possess a skillset that, while variable and somewhat situation-dependent, must nonetheless be employed to achieve results. The behavior and situational approach also described inherent truths in what leaders should do, and how they might adjust their style to best fit the situation, or to fit their followers (or both).  Path-Goal Theory clearly put forth the relevant role of a leader in helping to remove or overcome obstacles in the path of the followers. And LMX showed us how the social aspects of leadership usually do evolve within an organization as relationships between leaders and followers develop; and how it is only natural that leaders come to depend on followers who have demonstrated certain qualities that the leader can depend upon to get things done.

The Conductor of the orchestra has no doubt established high-quality relationships with every musician in his or her charge. Mutual respect has no doubt been established between the players and the Conductor, and among every musician. Everyone understands that they are uniquely talented and uniquely responsible for the performance of the team as a whole. To the extent that a leader can achieve those qualities or characteristics across his or her team or organization, everyone wins. In every leadership theory we have studied thus far, there are elements of truth in how a leader should go about creating such conditions.

A511.4.3.RB - Locus of Control

Locus of Control

Within the Path-Goal Theory of leadership lies a concept known as “locus of control”.  Basically this concept holds that if a person has an external locus of control, then they believe that they have little to no control over the events or things that happen to them in life.  In other words, the “forces” that shape their lives are external to them.  Conversely, people with an internal locus of control tend to believe that they have a significant degree of control over what happens to them in life, whether or not they succeed in their endeavors, etc.  This becomes important in Path-Goal Theory in that leaders need to be directive in nature toward people with an external locus of control, and supportive in nature toward those who have an internal locus of control.

So what about this locus of control concept?  Is it real?  Does it matter?  I believe that it is real and it does matter and in this reflection I will explain my beliefs and hope to at least cause you to think about the matter as it pertains to your own experiences and perceptions.

I took the Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale Test and, not surprisingly, I scored a 67%, indicating that I tend to favor the external locus of control perspective.  As I said, this is not surprising.  I have come to believe in life that a person can control very little of what happens to them; the only thing that they can control is how they respond to those external forces.  I used the word “respond” on purpose.  I have also learned that it is better to respond than to react to external forces or events.  One who responds does so with thought, reasoning, and a calm demeanor.  What one does, therefore, is a rational act as opposed to an emotional (often angry) reaction. It has taken several classes in Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend and some therapy sessions to learn this material.  I used to react to what I perceived were “unfair” or “inappropriate” things that happened to me; now I try to respond and the outcomes are much more favorable in terms of my own peace of mind and what happens next as life unfolds.

When I graduated from college in 1984, the Air Force Officer who commissioned me was a young Captain.  This man had arrived at Michigan Technological University (MTU) Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC), Detachment 400 (Det 400) two years prior to my graduation as a First Lieutenant.  Shortly thereafter, he pinned on Captain and was my AFROTC instructor during my junior and senior year of my undergraduate program.  He used to say back then that he was unsure of just how long that he would stay in the Air Force, and that he may very well serve his four years and get out.  Ironically, today, he is the only person associated with the MTU AFROTC Det 400 class of 1984 who is still on active duty, and he is a Lieutenant General.  No one, including him, ever imagined that he would go this far in the Air Force.

A couple of years ago, I talked to this 3-star about how he got to where he is, and he said very simply to me, “Dan, it was about 99% pure luck. I ended up working for the right people, in the right place, at the right time.  There is no magic formula for getting to where I am”.  Now obviously, he is an intelligent, hard-working officer who always gave (and gives) his best effort in every assignment that he has had.  But that is exactly my point.  The best that anyone can ever do is to get well educated, perform well and learn all that you can in each and every job that you have, and generally work hard in life.  Those things are within your control.  However, getting to the top of the pyramid is pretty much the result of what happens to you, and not within your control.

I have met and talked to several Medal of Honor recipients and every one of them has stated that the only reason they received the Medal of Honor, as opposed to someone else in their unit, is because they didn’t get killed in the process of doing their job well on the battlefield.  Like the 3-star I mentioned above, these Medal of Honor recipients put their achievement down to “good fortune”.

Conversely, I have seen people who were so focused on controlling their careers that they very nearly drove themselves insane in the process.  I would also add that they usually turned out to be the exact opposite of what they tried so hard to achieve (for their own sake).  These “careerists” were generally poor leaders and their own worst enemy as they tried again and again to rack up “points” and get to the top.  I remember attending Squadron Officer School (SoS) in residence in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1988.  One day, we were out at a site on Maxwell Air Force Base where they had set up several “stations”, each with a different mental and physical problem-solving challenge.  We were divided into groups of six people (teams of six) and rotated through these stations where we were given the problem, and then as a team we had to solve it and perform.  Each problem (each station) was timed and scored, and the leadership and followership of each team member was observed and recorded by the instructors.  About halfway through the exercise (called “Project X”), there was a huge commotion a few stations away from where I was involved with my team.  One guy and one gal (both young Captains) had completely lost it because they so desperately wanted to become Distinguished Graduates of SoS that when they say their team failing one of the challenges, they knew that their point score was taking a nosedive.  The guy was yelling and cursing; the gal was sobbing uncontrollably.  Two prime examples of what happens when you attempt to control everything in life.  Needless to say, they ruined their chances of being recognized as top performers in our class.  A strong internal locus of control can get you into all kinds of trouble. It took me several years to learn this lesson, and to this day I would refer to myself as a “recovering controller”.

So what does this mean in terms of how I perceive leaders?  Well, I do appreciate directive leaders (a nod toward my external locus of control) but only to a point.  If I feel that I am being “talked down to” by a leader and that his or her words reflect a perception on their part that I am of low intelligence, I get angry.  If the problem is complex, I do indeed like clear direction.  But the longer that I have spent in leadership and followership positions, I have come to prefer a supportive leader who encourages you, challenges you, rewards you, and works alongside you as part of the team.  Overly directive leaders seem to me to have a tendency to be distant or detached; they therefore don’t usually seem to truly appreciate their people.  Directive leadership may be fine if you are a restaurant manager of shift supervisor.  But I much prefer supportive leadership in professional settings, even though I tend toward an external locus of control.  I suppose this is true because if leadership is supportive, then I am content that my external environment is in good shape.