During a recent dinner with friends, the conversation turned to the difficulty of working in an organization that lacks strong leadership.  One of my friends was particularly engaged and exasperated by the conversation.  He remarked that only one individual had been honest with him about the critical lack of senior leadership in his current organization while he was hiring into the firm.  This got me thinking about the definitive signs of weak leadership and how one might spot them during an interview.  So, here it is, the Archos Advisors 5 warning signs of critically weak leadership.

1) Lack of a clear organizational mission, vision or strategy

During the interview process, can all of your interviewers speak about the mission and vision of the organization?  If they pull a card out of their wallet, it is not necessarily a bad sign.  Just make sure that they can then tell you how the organization lives up to that mission, and more importantly how they see themselves and your position living up to it as well.

2) Micromanagement or Tyrannical Management

While different types of leaders exhibit different leadership styles, extreme micromanagement or even worse, tyrannical management styles are warning signs of leadership that is having difficulty defining and then executing against the big picture.  Unfortunately, this type of management can become contagious within organizations as the lack of a clearly defined strategy or mission impacts more than just the C-level.  When interviewing, ask individuals to describe their supervisors leadership style.   If their leader is truly corrosive, you might not get a straight answer.  That is a sign, in and of itself.

3) Poor communication

The inability to communicate is often cited as one of the biggest impediments to organizational success.  Successfully sharing ideas, information and inspiration within an organization is increasingly a mark of even middle of the pack leadership.   Leaders must not only be effective communicators in their own right, but they must also create an environment that values frictionless communication.   Ask your interviewers to describe communication in the organization.  Is information shared freely from the top down?  Do people say that they often know what they need to know, in a timely fashion?  Do they both understand and trust the messages they are getting from leadership?  If the answer is no, then perhaps there is a problem.

4)Lack of conflict or corrosive conflict.

Understanding how an organization deals with conflict will give you a clear sense of the organization’s leadership.  And unless you are working in the military under a command and control structure, conflict should be an innate and integral part of any successful team.  Leaders that fear conflict, tend to create organizations that lack diverse thinking, or worse they create passive aggressive behaviors on the part of their frustrated employees.   Ask how the organization deals with differences in opinion.  What is their model for collaboration and consensus?  You want to hear that different voices and opinions are welcome, even though they may create conflict. Even better, if they can report that better outcomes are reached as a result of recognizing different voices you likely have strong leadership in place.

5) Lack of organizational resilience

How does the organization respond to setbacks?  Solid leadership recognizes that change and challenge are unavoidable parts of running an organization.  Resilient leaders find ways of turning those events into learning opportunities, and  eventually competitive advantage.   This requires leadership to do more than react to setbacks.  Leaders should create a culture that uses even small challenges as opportunities to grow and thrive. Simply inquire about how the organization and its leadership handled its most recent setback.

A couple of additional thoughts.

First, I didn’t bother to include issues such as unethical behavior on the part of the leadership because we were just describing weak leadership, as opposed to illegal or immoral leadership.  Second, while this might seem like a lot to ask during the interview process, remember that the presence of adequate leadership in an organization is a good predictor of long-term job satisfaction.

Are there any other signs of weak leadership that I should have included?  Feel free to leave comments and let me know.

During the fifth century, the bishops of  Constantinople, known as the new Rome and the new Jerusalem, capitol of the Byzantium, took responsibility to crown the new emperor in the coronation ritual for the first time. This practice continued in Europe up to our own time, and was last seen in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne of England. She in turn invests each new prime minister.

Now, what on earth do foreign bishops, monarchs and prime ministers have to with business leadership looking to sustain peak performance here and now? Only this: the bishops represent vision and values, the big picture and the long story across time and place; the monarch represents identity and community, the self understanding of the organization (nation); and the prime minister represents strategy in action, meeting the demands of the current situation. And power passes from one to the next, in that order!

This provides a powerful lesson for contemporary leaders. First, start with vision and values, defining and nurturing a rich story that all employees, partners and audiences buy into. Next, manage and maintain their self-understanding and sense of community. And only in that context take strategic action. Without the first two, the latter has no ground to stand on, and no force behind it. This is a recipe for unsustainability.

Here’s the exception that proves the rule: Napoleon Bonaparte, always seeking radical change, ascribed to the great-man-alone theory, presuming to impose and imprint his will on all comers. No bishops for him, Napoleon crowned himself, becoming the emperor after having at one time gladly settled for the title “first citizen.”  He died in exile, a prisoner on a remote island 2000 km away.

Fifth century Byzantium is a long time ago and a long way away. But until it fell in 1453 to the Ottoman Turks, the “new Romans” held it together in a way that was the envy of the time and a lesson to the ages. They knew how to sustain a civilixation. Until they lost the ability to innovate, but that’s another story.

They taught us this that all masterful leaders and critical teams must make real: Vision & Values > Identity & Community > Strategy & Action.

In that order.

This is not a political blog, nor is it a political post. We won’t touch on policy or ideology. And we know that many business leader have expressed concern that Obama’s tax policies are too left-leaning for comfort. But watching Barack Obama throughout the campaign made it clear that he is a living example of leadership mastery, independent of his policy agenda. He shows the Markers, he’s made the Five Shifts of Mastery, he’s led from his Dynamic Essence, he confounded the merely excellent and won, and he’ll reap the Five Rewards of Mastery. Whether you voted for Obama or McCain, this must be recognized. Time will tell if Obama maintains his mastery, but he clearly demonstrates it at this time. Consider first the Five Shifts of Mastery:

Shift 1. Effort to Energy. Of course, Obama gets fatigued like any other human being, but in his constant public appearances, he always appeared lively, alert, present, focused, and tireless throughout the long slog of the campaign. Few people can manage a schedule like that (and McCain is to be commended for taking on the challenge at age 72), but Obama clearly appeared to be tapping into an endless reserve of energy. He displayed even more as time went on, and his energy became self-sustaining. Effort can’t win against this kind of effortless and sustainable energy.

Shift 2. Proficiency to Expression. Obama’s native intelligence affords him a comprehensive grasp of policy, and he’s a quick study. But more importantly, he is superb at expression, both in his oratory skill and also in his ability to articulate a vision and rally people to it. Obama simply spoke his deeply-held truth; he put it out there. He displayed the inhibition that has the power to drive change.

Shift 3. Expertise to Perspective.  Here’s what we wrote in our e-book and other materials about perspective: “Perspective provides an authoritative interpretation of the here and now, as well as what is to come. It sees deeply into the nature of people and circumstances with honesty, integrity, insight, and fearlessness. It knows the score, the real story. Perspective makes us truly visionary.” Obama did this. 

Shift 4. Commitment to Intention. A political campaign is nothing if not a place for incredible commitment. However, in the cacophony of committed voices, on all sides, Obama kept his cool and led from Intention. We write this about Intention: “Intention has the power to make vision real. It is what happens when we get free from distraction and decide to come from our core. Intention says ‘yes,’ with confidence and purity of purpose. True intention is different from will. Will is about ego and power, and it’s prevalent in the Excellence Trap. Not so with Intention. True intention is rare, so it both inspires people and attracts the necessary resources to make vision real.” Intention defines Obama’s approach to leadership. This intention resonated to the rank and file, across the aisle, even to would-be adversaries.

Shift 5. Knowledge to Wisdom. It is impossible to know everything necessary to never misspeak in a presidential campaign. And Obama is no exception, particularly given his relative inexperience. But rather than try to overcome knowledge gaps with deep ideology, spin, or distractions, Obama demonstrated Wisdom. He consistently confounded, surprised, challenged, or inspired legions both in the way in which he handled a number of attacks and crises, and in the manner in which he sustained a vision of post-partisanship, new ideas, and new coalitions for a new era. He had a sense of rightness in what he chose to do and say that served him well. Detractors called this rhetoric or flash, but Obama won, and in large part buy “flipping” red states and creating a broader coalition that included former detractors, including white working class males, Hilary loyalists, moderate republicans, and African-American leadership figures (the proof of the latter is evident the tears of joy Jesse Jackson shed in Grant Park).

Leadership mastery confounds mere excellence by achieving the extra 5% that defines greatness. McCain’s campaign threw everything they had at Obama, and still he triumphed without apparently breaking a sweat. McCain had smart people who displayed all the virtues of excellence: effort, proficiency, commitment, expertise and knowledge. But it wasn’t enough. Obama won by showing masterful leadership in his campaign, and by suggesting that he would do the same in his presidency. Conversely, McCain appeared increasingly angry, tired, and cut off from his own core beliefs. His strategy was more visible, calling into question the integrity and even the existence of his core beliefs (until he shared them in his concession speech, considered by many to be his finest moment), and causing former supporters from 2000 or 2004 to abandon him.

Obama also displayed the Five  Markers of Mastery: fearlessness (by getting into the race against the odds and taking his vision everywhere he went), gracefulness (by staying cool under great pressure, never taking the bait), generativeness (by championing new ideas and new visions), effortlessness (see above), and intuitiveness (intuiting that America was ready for him, and intuiting the best ways to respond to attacks and crises, from Rev. Wright, to  alleged links to terrorists, to charges of Marxism).

Now Obama will reap the Five Rewards of Mastery: sustainability (by building upon a deep and powerful foundation of aligned mastery), integrity (by entering office with a clear agenda, largely unsullied by dirty campaign tricks and marriages of convenience), attraction (by attracting goodwill and talent, at all levels of society), attunement (aligning a broad cross-section of global supporters and partners), and capacity (the big payoff for everything else). Ultimately, if he delivers on his campaign “promise,” Obama will enjoy unprecendented levels of effectiveness, alignment, and sustainability, and leave a lasting legacy. This is what masters do.

 Throughout the campaign, many people on both sides of the political divide spoke about how Obama is not just a set of polices, but is rather a “very special person” and a “once in a lifetime leader.” If you are an Obama supporter, you can rest assured that you have a masterful leader working for you. To the extent that business leaders are fearful of Obama’s more liberal-leaning statements regarding tax policy, you have two choices. You can work with him, trusting upon the perspective, wisdom, and pragmatism that comes with mastery. Or you can seek to undermine him from the outset. But note that if you oppose Obama and look forward to a shift in direction in the next election, you will not defeat him with mere excellence, or with only a bundle of alternative policies. A master can only be met with more mastery, so you’ll need to find a master. A real one.

When forced to deal with the Five Costs of Excellence, most people turn to one or more of the Five Failed Strategies of Excellence. And in tough economic times, all the more so. This a mistake.

The five strategies that don’t work, particularly during tough times, are these:

Denial. This is pretty hard to sustain when the numbers are staring you in the face. But it’s amazing how many people try it for a while. Denial says, “Tune out.”

Toughness. In challenging times, this can lead to a willingness simply to endure high costs and lowered rewards, accompanied by some bluster. But is misses opportunies to innovate, create, and change. During the height of a recession, I once saw an EVP deliver a “mental toughness” speech to his group that deperately needed leadership, not nonsense. His team scattered. Toughness says, “Tough it out.”

Resignation. This just accepts tough times and waits it out. Again, it’s a missed opportunity because tough times bring new opportunties, almost by definition. After all, when the pot is stirred, everything moves.Resiggnation sees “no way out.”

Escapism. Tough times are no time for checking out and retreating to private reverie. I have on two separate occasions witnessed CEO’s talk about visionary moves and the greatness of the company at the very moment the company was tanking. This isn’t leadership vision; it’s sharing a waking dream. Remember Ken Lay’s “I’m excited” speech? That’s not leadership. Escapism says, “Drop out.”

Balance. Balance is nothing more than an avoidance technique, and the last deperate act of the truly trapped. Balance is bullshit. It balances little and achieves nothing. Much better to make decisions and take action. Balance is a “cop out.”

 Instead, here are three strategies that work:

- Encourage fearlessness in your people, and invite them to speak their minds.

- Expect that everyone works from their dynamic essence (their core), chasing down what they care about most and do best, and then demand that they align this with the needs of the business.

- Insist that you and your team put an end the the accrued costs incurred in the excellence trap and work to  create a shift to mastery: replace effort with energy, comiitment with intention, acumen with wisdom, etc.

In this way, tough times won’t compound the negative effects of the excellence trap, and you will take the opportunity to shift to mastery. Ultimately, leadership masters don’t really have tough times, they just have opportunities. If you’re trapped in excellence, this will sound like pollyanna. But as you shift mastery, it makes sense, and it makes all the difference. 

OK, so we’re not in a recession. We may get there, or we may yet avoid it. The catch phrase of the moment is “tough times.” This is apparently the current key phrase for slow growth, expensive energy and food commodities, looming inflation, and all the rest. Certainly, tough times present challenges, and can create real harship for real people. And of course, tough times also provide opportunities, for example to trim the fat, get back to the basics, make overdue corrections and adjustments, find new niches and markets, and buy low. But the real opportunity is to shift to or leverage leadership mastery, and get out of excellence once and for all.

Here are two simple facts: First, tough times are cyclical and predictable, even if their timing isn’t; they come with the territory if we are human, alive, and engaged. And second, the real question we face during tough times is this: are we going to slip into mediocrity, can we afford to endure the high costs incurred inside the excellence trap, or are we going to flourish and prosper from mastery? The ironic “gotcha” that we face in the excellecne trap defines the human condition for so many successful people.

Often, it is crises like those we face in tough times that finally force us to face the music and get on with it. If we face it proactively, mastery is ours. If not, then it’s hello high costs and hello mediocrity.

 In tough times, masterful leaders never lower expectations, but they never get rigid (or face any of the other Five Costs or Corruptions of Excellence). They never let fear take over, or confuse ego with vision or commitment. They don’t burn out from depleted effort, or unwisely rely on acumen and expertise. Instead, they face each situation head on and ask, how I can create something new, even if it’s not what I expected? How can I truly innovate? How can I come from my core (or Dynamic Essence) both to add real value and to differentiate? How can I change the game, riding the wave, regardless of the direction it takes? How can I disarm or redefine all apparent threats? And, how can I remain calm and confident while others around me retreat into fear, lowering their expectations, accepting higher costs and lower rewards, and flirting with mediocrity? If a leader has made the Five Shifts to Mastery, and is leading from his or her Dynamic Essence, they will have the answers ready, and will be ready to take decisive action.

Here’s a tip: always remember that anything that claims to tell you specifically “how to manage in tough times” is only valuable at the level of excellence, as cost of entry advice that should be heeded but not become overly-relied upon.  Ultimately, your leadership will be based on your persomal leadership mastery, and that of everyone else in your business.

Thsi weekend, I devoured Walter Isaacson’s bestselling biography of Albert Einstein. This excellent book does a great job of helping us to understand both the science and the man. While Einstein was imperfect and a bit eccentric (he hated socks), his mastery is unquestionable. There were many excellent scientists in his circle who got close relativity, but Einstein had the decisive breakthrough primarily because he had escaped from excellence. He led with energy more than with effort (although his effort was herculean), and with intention rather than mere commitment. He also went beyond proficiency and expertise to attain true expression and perspective. And, even though his strategic moves are legendary, acumen was child’s play to him; he always sought wisdom in his science and denigrated science that lacked this wisdom.

But late last night, while in the last chapters, the elements of a new equation that explains so much of Einstein’s mastery leapt off the page at me. Here it is: C+A=W>M. To have fun wth symbols, let C be curiosity, let A be awe, and let W be wonder, with M as, you guessed it, mastery.

Einstein had a boundless curiosity, but it was always accompanied by an almost religious sense of awe. He was no mere puzzler, but needed to see to the heart of things. This curiosity and awe added up to a sense of wonder, a humble and almost child-like sense of that ’something more’ that transcends the mundane. And this wonder, even more than his technical genius, his brain, or his independance, is the driving force of his mastery. He had a sense of the beauty, of the possibility, of the sublime in nature, and he saw it as both his mission and his gift to understand nature, from atom to cosmos, and be devoted to it. He saw this as an act of artistic creation. This was his Dynamic Essence. He couldn’t not follow it. He built his life around it, and achieved mastery. The results were exponentially greater than what had come before. He also enjoyed, in his reknown, legacy, and “profit,” an exponentially greater reward. And with his unfailing good humor, he demonstrated that the costs of excellence were left far behind.

What a guy.

Like millions of others, I was shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of NBC News Washington bureau chief and long-time Meet the Press host Tim Russert. As I took in the coverage from his passing to his memorial, and had a chance to listen the comments of his family, friends, and colleagues, it quickly became abundantly clear that Russert had escaped from excellence and achieved mastery, in a big way. Those who knew him were not merely mouthing the appropriate pro forma testiments to his professionalism, character, and success that we’d expect in circumstances like this. This was much more. This was another level. As a way to pay tribute, and to extend his legacy by holding him up as an example of mastery, let’s take a closer look.

First, Russert was clearly excellent. He is given wide credit for his effort, proficiency, expertise, commitment, and acumen, which together  comprise the Five Virtues of Excellence. His work ethic, preperation, knowledge, savviness, determination, standards, and skill are legendary.

But Russert was more. Close associates referred to his uncanny ability to build genuine relationships, to his unflagging good humor, to his inspiring yet demanding leadership, and credited him with those rare human qualities that clearly set the great ones apart. And former GE (NBC parent) CEO Jack Welch said he made sure Russert made more money too.

Russert was a master: he manifested the Five Markers of Mastery (fearlessness, gracefullness, generativeness, effortlessness, and intuitiveness), in spades. And he clearly had shifted to the Five Pillars of Mastery: Energy (the guy never lost his enthusiasm, and loved where he was and what he did; he never seem to tire); Expression (he was his own man, followed his own path, and spoke his mind, with dignity and joy); Perspective (he saw to the issue, beyond the facts, and mantained personal and professional vision); Intention (he used soft power, a feel for the truth, and a sense of mission to stand up to anyone and ask tough but fair questions, and was able to attract the people and resources to perform at his best), and Wisdom (he never lost sight of his task, his responsibility, and as a result got the job he was born for, set the standard by which others shall be judged, and left a professional and personal legacy that will be both inspiring and hard to match). He took great joy in the success of others, and in the needs of his audience, his fellow citizens. He lived and worked from his Dynamic Essence. And he enjoyed enormous and unexpected rewards.

 Tim Russert wasn’t the coolest guy, as it is defined by the tragically hip. He wasn’t edgy, dangerous, or personally glamorous, and this by choice. He didn’t wield power brutally (even though he held great power), chase the spotlight, show off, act puffed up, or take revenge for minor slights. But it would be wrong to think that he was only about humble blocking and tackling, merely excellent, much less merely a fortunate mediocrity. That would be a terrible misreading of his modus operendi, and gladly I’ve heard no one make this mistake. Instead, the combination of ease and outcome, of low cost and high return, that we saw in Tim Russert is evidence of true Leadership Mastery.

The only outstanding question is whether Tim Russert was one of those rare people who was simply born that way. Did he ever spend much time experiencing the high costs of excellence or wasting time with the five failed strategies of excellence? I suspect not. I believe he may have been one of those few who have mastery built-in to their makeup, and whose transition from excellence to mastery is seamless, apparently either hardwired into his very nature or, perhaps, becoming part of his awareness at a very early age.

As a master, in his job, he won’t be replaced, only succeeded. 

God speed, Mr. Russert. Your legacy will include your witness to mastery for all of us.

When you are nothing like the master, he or she will welcome you as their equal.

I recently read in a letter to the editor in the 6/08 issue of Guitar Player Magazine where someone said that listening to guitarist Allan Holdsworth, failed to inspire him to go home and play like hearing other great players, but instead made him want to quit playing altogether. Holdworth is considered by many to be the greatest living guitarist. He’s sort of from another planet, and acknowkedged masters confess the greatest admiration for him. He is so far beyond the rest of us that, if someone is wrestling with the excellence trap, hearing him can be the last straw.

The proper response to an exposure to true mastery is not to give up and accept mediocrity. But nor is it to emulate the  the master. This will only make you an imitator, a novelty who is merely fun at parties, no matter how impressive your skills nor how powerful your commitment. It will also amuse or sadden the master if they hear or see you in action. There’s a time to put emulation aside. Rather, the best response is to step back and ask yourself, what will my own mastery look like? What is my Dynamic Essence? And then let it take you wherever it may. A personal anecdote: I heard Holdsworth in ‘81. At first, I gave up. But then I said, “No more 12 hour days practicing. I’m going to find my voice. I won’t play another note unless it really comes from me. No fear, no ego, come what may.” I remember it vividly. I became a composer, songwriter and producer. It’s what I do best, musically. I also focused on acoustic guitar for the next 20 years. I’m back to electric now, with a vengeance! I still practice, for the sheer discipline and workout it provides.  And I still improvise because I enjoy it. It’s like playing chess. I’m fairly excellent actually. But I’m not a master at it. I found my voice in songwriting and producing. I’ve never been happier. And I’m better at it than anything else I do in music. This taught me a lesson greater than all the lformal essons I ever took.

If you experience a full on exposure to mastery, don’t give up, and don’t lose yourself. First work to become excellent, and then leave excellence behind. When you are nothing like the master, he or she will welcome you as their equal.

OK, we all know by now that the US economy has evolved over the past few hundred years from agriculture, to manufacturing, to technology, and now to creativity. Apparently, even in this tech-driven era, so much technology work and innovation can be outsourced or replicated globally, that our sustainable core competitive advantage, our national Dynamic Essence, is being labeled “creativity.”

Creativity is challenging because, like math, many people think it’s a specialized skill or, worse, a talent we’re either born with or we’re not. Many people hear, “Creativity Economy,” and think, “Uh-oh, I’m in trouble. That’s not me.” Often their bosses don’t help much, simply saying, “OK people, get creative! Let’s see those ideas!” But while some people are born with an extraordinary capacity for non-linear thinking, most people can learn to be creative. And jazz masters, those masters of our own national home-grown music, can teach us a lot. In fact, if sustainable U.S. prosperity requires us to be creative, then our own jazz musicians are the first place we should look for guidance. Here’s why:

Jazz musicians improvise. They compose on the spot (innovation), play what they hear as soon as they hear it (agility), respond to thier immediate situation (market conditions), listen to what it going on around them (culture and competition), find and express thier own unique voice (branding), do it in a team setting, i.e. a band (organization), and must reach and move a listener (customer). They are walking creativity, always channeling what’s inside into something new. What they do is both extremely creative, and also not unlike what people working to succeed in a creativity economy must do. (By the way, blues, country and rock musician’s also often improvise, but they are less defined by it, and they do it in a less complex context. So let’s stick with the jazz example.).

Here’s how: The best jazz musicians, the real masters, first achieve excellence. Then they escape from excellence. (more…)

Dynamic Essence is a core concept here at the Escape from Excellence blog. It holds the key to getting past Excellence and reaching Leadership Mastery.

Brands have an essence. Plants have an essence. Aristotle taught us that everything has an essence. Essence is like your DNA, it is uniquely yours. It is the core of you. But we talk about essence as dynamic because, whatever lies at the core of you, your team, your business, your brands, and your markets, it is all about energy and action. It can’t sit still. It must do what it does. It’s nature is to act, do, create. Every major wisdom tradition (spirituality, psychology, science), all over the world and throughout history, has spoken about the creative-action-energy aspect of your essence, each in their own way. Bank on it, they are onto something you need to know about!

Dynamic Essence is the core, identifying, most basic, truth about you.  It is what you bring to everything. So anything that works to undermine it also undermines you, and this can be almost anything. Masters know this. So they devote their entire life, in every moment, to discovering, releasing, expressing, and sustaining this core . Everything else is secondary, because everything necessary to be masterful comes from this. The alternatives are failure, mediocrity, and a life inside the Excellence Trap. So masterful leaders don’t focus on this only while on vacation, or during quiet times, or on alternate Thursdays between six and eight. They do it always. Always. In good times and bad, in simple moments and in times of deep crisis and decision. And they do it no matter what else is going on, or who else is in the room.