What is it about this quote, or attitude that stands out? Well most strong leaders have at least one signature characteristic they carry with them, perhaps as a legacy. For Henry Ford, it was most likely steadfastness. Leaders at that time were seen as captains of the ship. When the CEO made a decision, it was up to everyone in the organization to defend that decision. Not sticking with it was almost akin to treason. And the captain would go down with the ship, protecting his point of view.
This kind of leader is ego driven. The decisions this person makes are more about himself than about what is best for the company. This leader fears looking bad as much as he fears doing bad. In those days, changing your mind (or altering the course of the ship) was perceived as an unbearable weakness. It was the kiss of death upon which the leader would lose respect and no longer be able to face his workers. In parts of Asia, the concept of “saving face” is still a big issue.
While this type of leadership may appear strong to some, it usually comes with negative consequences. According to Lee Iacocca, who wrote the seminal article on Henry Ford for Time magazine, “The problem was that for too long they [Ford] worked on only one model. Although people told him to diversify, Henry Ford developed tunnel vision. He basically started saying ‘to hell with the customer,’ who can have any color as long as it's black. He didn't bring out a new design until the Model A in '27, and by then GM was gaining.”20
Tunnel vision at that time gave Ford's biggest competitor, General Motors, the break it needed to take significant market share. It was Ford's son who stepped in and finally insisted on bringing out new models (such as the Model A) and new colors that were needed for the continued survival of the company.
Ego-driven leaders tend to be driven by the past in that they look to past experiences for confirmation of their decisions, which facilitates steadfastness. What worked before should continue to work today and tomorrow. This supports their need for consistency – steadfastness. However, this can come at the cost of missing out on new opportunities, whether its technologies, changing economies, new strategies, or changes in customer focus.
Today's Leaders
Fast forward to iconic leaders of the late twentieth century. Who stands out in your mind? There are probably a number of names that you can generate, but one that always makes that list is Bill Gates. It was the development of software operating systems that enabled the personal computer to take off and basically change the world as we knew it. Of course, it was Bill Gates and his company Microsoft that made it all happen. Gates has long been seen as enthusiastic about new technologies and the potential they have to change our lives. But not too many people remember that in the early days of the Internet, Gates was decidedly pessimistic and slow off the mark.
I was one of about 2,000 people that attended what was seen at the time as a pivotal talk he gave in a large convention center ballroom back in the early 1990s. Gates spoke about how Microsoft had invested several million dollars exploring the potential of the Internet. His conclusion was that the best commercial use of the World Wide Web would be for video-on-demand, which was already available via cable and satellite. Unfortunately, he estimated that it would take another 20 years to make it practical and commercially viable. To quote Gates, “Bandwidth is a big issue. Unfortunately, it's not like microprocessors where every year you're going to see exponential improvements. But to make this happen will take something like 20 years [italics added]. And the main reason is that to get these high-speed connections to be pervasive, particularly getting them into homes around the world, will take a long time.”21
Microsoft chose to take a pass on the Internet.
Or did they?
It was only a short time after that when a fresh college graduate from the University of Illinois named Marc Andreessen teamed up with an industry veteran named Jim Clark. They created a small start-up called Netscape in Clark's kitchen. Their mission was to simplify and speed up access to the Internet. As soon as their little company went public, it changed the landscape of initial public offerings. It also changed the world. In one blow, Microsoft lagged behind in new, cutting-edge technology.
And Microsoft, in the public's mind, meant Bill Gates, who in numerous forums had staked out a steadfast position that now looked untenable. He was captain at Microsoft, and old-style captains of industry have traditionally gone down with their sinking vessels. At best, they'd find ways to shore up and continue to defend their positions because the worst thing a leader could do would be to publicly change his or her tune. Being inconsistent was worse than being wrong; it would be considered a weakness and waffling under pressure.
So how did Gates handle that situation? After all, at the time he already was one of the richest humans on the planet. Would he stick with his position and take a pass on the Internet? Or would he risk publicly changing his mind? Would he base his decision on what others would think of him? Was he concerned about his ego? Come on, do you really think Bill Gates would be concerned about what other people thought of him in a situation like this?
Gates turned a multibillion-dollar organization around immediately and went flat out after the Internet. Microsoft Explorer was developed and eventually became the world's most widely used web browser. As documented in Time magazine, “The World Wide Web emerged in 1994, making browsers necessary, and Netscape was founded that same year. Sun Microsystems developed Java, the Internet programming language. Gates hung back. It wasn't until 1996 that Microsoft finally, according to Gates himself, ‘embraced the Internet wholeheartedly.’”22
Why did he behave that way? Because Gates, like many of today's successful leaders, was and remains more concerned with success than with what people might think of him. He is driven by the future and opportunities, not by the past or his ego. Learning from the past is valuable, but preserving it can waste energy. Worrying about looking good, being consistent, or keeping the status quo were yesterday's virtues, but today's kiss of death. Successful leaders put their egos behind their missions, move forward with the times, and aren't afraid to alter their positions as necessary.
Tomorrow's Leaders
Having tested so many leaders, both young and old, I have been able to see the trends and where leadership seems to be headed. There is a new signature characteristic that I believe will be essential for tomorrow's leaders. I see it getting more and more important as we look at today's leadership successes and failures. However, I'm not ready to divulge this characteristic yet. Read on and you will discover it.
Good Leader, Bad Leader
Often when doing presentations on leadership I assign the audience an exercise. With participants working in small groups, each team is assigned one of two tasks. Each group is asked to write on a poster either the leadership characteristics most valued by their organization or the leadership characteristics least valued by their organization. On one of the posters, I found this list of descriptors:
Explosive
High ego
Always being right
Results driven
Ability to minimize ethical issues
Rigidity
No emotional control
Having serious “attitude”
I stopped to chat with the gentleman leading the group with these items on the board. When I started to ask how these behaviors were discouraged in his organization, he quickly corrected me and explained that these were the valued characteristics at the organization he and several others in the group had worked in. He then explained to me he had worked at Enron and that these were the characteristics valued by the senior team during the two years before it imploded.
We