Why Should Anyone Be Led by You?

Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2000, September-October).  Why should anyone be led by you? Harvard Business Review, 63-70.

For decades, businesspeople and social scientists have been trying to identify what it is about leaders that makes them successful.  Two UK organizational behavior scholars have thrown their hat into the ring with this HBR article.  Based on the authors’ findings as researchers, consultants and executives themselves, they found the leaders who were considered most inspirational shared four unexpected qualities.  These will be outlined below.

They selectively show their weaknesses. 
By exposing some vulnerability, inspirational leaders reveal their approachability and display their humanity.  They point out that if leaders do not show some weakness, then observers may invent one for them.  “Never expose a weakness that will be seen as a fatal flaw – by which we mean a flaw that jeopardizes central aspects of your professional role,” the authors state.  Instead, selectively pick a weakness that can in some ways be considered a strength, such as being a workaholic.

They rely heavily on intuition to gauge the appropriate timing and course of their actions.
Inspiration leaders also rely on their instincts.  Leaders’ ability to collect and interpret soft data helps them know right times and right ways to act.  The authors refer to leader with such ability as great “sensors” – they can easily gauge unexpressed feelings and can very accurately judge whether relationships are working or not.

They manage employees with something we call tough empathy. 
Inspirational leaders also empathize passionately – and realistically – with people.  They reportedly care intensely about the work employees do, and the authors contend that real leaders “give people what they need, not what they want.”  The CEO of Bell Pottinger Communications, for example, explains, “If I have to, I can be ruthless.  But while they’re with me, I promise my people that they’ll learn.” 

They reveal their differences.
The fourth characteristic of inspirational leaders, the authors contend, is the most important: inspirational leaders capitalize on what’s unique to them.  They deliberately use what makes themselves different to signal their separateness and keep a social distance.  Leaders may distinguish themselves through a variety of qualities such as expertise, loyalty, or imagination, and such distinguishing proves an advantage in a world where networking is so important.

Goffee and Jones outline these four characteristics and supply relevant examples from their consulting work with business leaders.  Readers won’t find detailed explanations of what causes such characteristics to bring about success or inspiration, but their prescriptions are useful for building one’s leadership skill-set nevertheless.  

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