Leaders In London

How many lists of ‘attributes of a leader’ have you seen? Bill George of Harvard Business School sent one of his research assistants to look into it and discovered 1,400 ‘attributes’ of leadership compiled in hundreds of lists produced over the previous fifty years.

George himself says that when he was running Medtronic, a colleague said “We’ve discovered what makes a great leader at Medtronic!” and presented him with a list of fifty-one characteristics or attributes.

“You forgot one,” said George, as he read through the list. “Walks on water.”

The truth is, says George, there is no list. You don’t create a culture of great leadership by checking people’s attributes against a list of ‘What makes a good leader’. Leaders have different voices. They have some things in common, yes. But, don’t look for a list.

If your organization has or is developing a list of ‘leadership competencies’ against which your people are measured, bear that in mind. We’ve mentioned this here before, but it’s worth saying again. Rene Carayol, our Leaders in London Chairman, says that the market teaches us that sameness doesn’t work: it leads to commoditisation. Difference works. That applies to leadership too.

You can learn in person from both Bill George and Rene Carayol at Leaders in London 2008. But, it’s only a couple of weeks away, so be quick if you haven’t reserved your place already.

Bill George, who is coming to speak to us at Leaders in London, emphasises a point that Warren Bennis, the leadership guru, has been making for a long time: that great leaders are forged in hard times. Bennis says you don’t really know who you are until you have been through what he calls ‘the crucible’ of tough times.

Now, it occurs to me that many leaders out there have not been through a downturn before. And this is the first time your mettle is tested in leading through tough trading conditions. This may be your crucible time. Lesson one: Those oldies among us who have been here through previous downturns are still here. It can be done. Lesson two: get things in perspective. This will help…

After the awful Madrid plane crash last week, I was contacted by Pedro Algorta, who survived a plane crash in the Andes in 1972. He asked me to look at his blog. Part of my interest in leadership is how ordinary people are capable of extraordinary things, and how leadership (self-leadership and with the help of other leaders) can make that happen. Sometimes we only become aware of our ability to perform at extraordinary levels when facing the unfaceable, as Pedro did. Here are the key learning points he says come out of his survival experience. They apply to leading people and organizations in tough times, if you think about it. A biography of Pedro and link to his blog are below.

“1. The extraordinary capacity of the human being to overcome the most adverse situations. When one is almost defeated or dead, we build up strength from adversity to continue fighting for life. We go deep into our most basic instincts and gather strength to live.

2. We were ordinary people. Anyone, under similar circumstances would have done the same, and eventually survived. And once you have overcome your mountain, you have another one to climb. Ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary objectives.

3. We couldn’t have survived individually. Survival was team work, which needed each one of us to be OK. You need to work for the team and for you.

4. There were no absolute leaders. Different leaders emerged according to different circumstances. You have to find your authentic leadership style. Not all leaders are alike. One thing is to be a hero, another is to lead.

5. The final walk, as a group objective. The need to live focused on surviving day by day. One day at a time.

6. We didn´t have all the answers. We wanted to live, we worked to survive, but we were not sure we were going to make it.

7. Our enormous capacity to recover. Our resilient capacity. After this ordeal, we have all lived ordinary lives. How we managed. The need to put it in a backpack and look forward.

8. The different perceptions. The ordinary out of the extraordinary. For 35 years this ordeal was not an issue for me.”

About Pedro Algorta

“I am one of the survivors of the Uruguayan airplane that crashed in the Andes Mountains in 1972. Following the crash, I moved to Buenos Aires, where I graduated in Economics at the University of Buenos Aires and then furthered my education taking a Master in Business Administration from Stanford University in 1982. I have served in top management and board positions in first class Argentine companies in the food and beverage industry such as Cervecería Quilmes, Peñaflor, Campofrío and Cepas Argentinas. While doing my mainstream corporate life, I seldom talked about my Andes survival experience. But now, free of day to day responsibilities I am looking back into my ordeal and I’m willing to share my Andes experience and how I managed to live an ordinal life after such a difficult experience. I’m married to María Noelle, my wife since 1974 and mother of our three children. In 2003, we acquired a cattle breeding ranch in Uruguay, in which we apply state of the art breeding practices. Today, my time is devoted to managing my ranch, leading workshops and talking about my Andes ordeal and visiting our children and grandchildren in Spain.”

Here’s his blog: Survivor Walk (www.survivorwalk.blogspot.com)