Michael Jackson's Leadership Anthem

Michael Jackson, the pop star who passed away earlier this year, has been in the news again thanks to the release of the documentary "This Is It." Jackson was a controversial figure, but there's no doubt his music was indelible. As I was reflecting on Jackson's songbook, I remembered one of my favorites: Man in the Mirror. Performed by Jackson, but written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard, the song provides a powerful message about the responsibility each of us has towards a better world. It's a musical expression of the Ghandi quote "be the change you want to see in the world."

I see applications in big and small ways. If we are bothered by behaviors in the workplace, perhaps we need to think about how our own behaviors could be a cause. If we want to see more integrity in the world, we have to examine our own ethical shortcomings. Basically, we shouldn't advocate for choices that we aren't personally willing to make and we shouldn't whine about the state of society if we aren't actively ensuring that we're not part of the problem.

As a leader, if you want to create change in your organization, community, or anywhere else, you need to begin with yourself. It sounds very cliche', but like the song suggests, it is the only true way to work towards the change you desire.

The lyrics to the song are below. Below the lyrics is the video for the song, which shows images of activism and social change.

"Man In The Mirror"

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favorite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs

A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change

Deficit of Leadership?

David Gergen argues in U.S. News and World Report that we have a national deficit of leadership. He focuses almost exclusively on political leaders, yet claims the scope of the problem is national. A link to the article is below. Mr. Gergen makes some bold statements, including:

"It was nearly four decades ago that John Gardner first observed that at the founding, with a population of 3 million, the republic spawned a dozen world-class leaders—Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Madison, and Hamilton among them—but today, with a population nearly 100 times that, we struggle to produce even one or two."

That's a fairly subjective statement. What does it mean to be "world-class?" What does one have to accomplish to meet that standard? If it requires the founding of a nation, then it's no wonder we've had so few.

Mr. Gergen also points out that "the blogosphere and 24-hour news channels that feature extreme voices and manufacture artificial controversies" provide a greater challenge to leaders today than in the past. He reminisces about the good old days when everyone was civil and the tone was positive. These would also be the days when leadership was uni-directional and ordinary folks had very limited chances to question authority. The internet has provided a chance for followers to influence leaders - and thus become leaders themselves in the process. Cable news networks can provide a lot of negativity, but can also provide more public accountability to leaders, which there was less of in the good old days. Perhaps we'd consider more leaders today world-class if we knew as little about them as citizens knew about their leaders before cable and the internet.

So - Mr. Gergen - perhaps we've seen a deficit in traditional, top-down, positional leadership. But, perhaps we've also seen a rise in innovative, bottom-up, influential grassroots leadership. I don't have any empirical evidence to support this, but my sense is that while national leaders might be failing, local folks who work through nonprofits, activist groups, and civic organizations may be leading more strongly than ever. Where you see a deficit, I think I see a shift.

Here is Mr. Gergen's article.

Cowboy Humility

I came upon this old cowboy proverb today:

"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around"

I love the analogy in this proverb, and the many messages drawn from it. Leadership really is contextual. Just because we lead in one arena doesn't necessarily mean will be effective in another. Similarly, just because we have to withdraw a bit in one setting doesn't mean we can't be a full leader in another. This proverb also matches up with the emergent belief that leadership is about the process and not about the person.

The proverb also observes the power of being humbled. When in a position of power, we may often get caught up in our own influence. I think of star athletes who are often chided after a poor performance for "believing their own press clippings." Or, the high-powered executive who comes home and gets completely flummoxed by his teenage daughter.

If we think about the context, environment, and process we are in before we think about ourselves, leadership may come more naturally. It may also keep us more humble.

Video: Modeling The Way

In their classic book, the Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner describe five practices of exemplary leadership. One of those practices in Modeling the Way. According to the authors, effective leaders set high standards and then lead by example. Good parents also understand the power their actions have on how their children behave. This point is driven home, in a VERY effective way, by a video developed by the anti-child abuse organization NAPCAN. How do your actions influence those around you? Especially those who are still learning their way in life? Are our actions the ultimate indication of our values, and thus more true than any claim we could ever make?

Yahoo CEO on Leadership

I found this great interview in the New York Times with Carol Bartz, the CEO of Yahoo. Several of the questions have to do with her approach to leadership.

A couple of good quotes:
"A lot of it is just picking the right team and just picking people so much better than you are, and involving them in a decision. Everybody on my team — I couldn’t do their jobs. I could not. I really mean that."

"If I had my way I wouldn’t do annual reviews, if I felt that everybody would be more honest about positive and negative feedback along the way. I think the annual review process is so antiquated. I almost would rather ask each employee to tell us if they’ve had a meaningful conversation with their manager this quarter. Yes or no. And if they say no, they ought to have one. I don’t even need to know what it is. But if you viewed it as meaningful, then that’s all that counts."

You can read the full interview here.

The Girl Effect

I stumbled upon this video thanks to the Made to Stick blog. The message is powerful, concrete, and clear. My takeaway from watching is that by putting the right people into situations where they can lead (i.e., a girl in a male-dominated culture), momentous change can happen.

The part that impacted me the most was the description of the girl gaining respect, getting into the leadership circle of the village, and once inside, convincing the males that girls can be extraordinary contributors and leaders as well.

Vanity and Leadership

I’ve read some columns and listened to political pundits over the weekend discuss at length whether or not President Obama is narcissistic and if that’s negatively affecting his impact as a leader. Conservative columnist George Will discussed this issue in the context of Obama’s (and the first lady’s) speeches to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen. In his column, Will remarks that: “In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns ‘I’ or ‘me’ 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences was sufficient to convey the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago's case compelling.” A rebuttal to Will's column is here.


President Obama’s self-confidence (described as vain, narcissistic, egotistical, arrogant) has come up repeatedly as a criticism since he took office. One of his opponents in the election, Sarah Palin, also faced similar criticism, being labeled as a “diva” by even those on her own side. She has even been accused of having a narcissistic personality disorder.

Narcissism is mostly used in the negative – as a way to describe someone who is obnoxiously self-centered. Although, if kept in check, it can be seen as a positive. Emily Yoffe, in a column on Slate.com recently wrote about narcissism and noted that it “is used to describe a quality that comes in three gradations: a characteristic that in the right amount is a normal component of healthy ego; a troublesome trait when there is too much; and a pathological state when it overwhelms a personality.”

I don’t know if the commentary about Obama or Palin is fair. It’s hard to really know anyone in this world of soundbites, instant reaction, and attack-style politics. I also don’t think they’re very different from their colleagues on capital hill. Most politicians echo, through their actions, the famous words of NFL star Chad Ochocinco: “I love me some me!”

However, it got me wondering about the vanity and its role in leadership. (By the way, I tend to use the words vanity, ego, and narcissism interchangeably, although I’m sure there are some subtle differences in those concepts).

Do leaders tend to have large egos? Probably. It takes a lot of self-confidence to step forward and assume the risks of leadership.

Does a leader have to have a large ego? No. One way to examine is something is necessary or significant as a leadership quality is to also understand the opposite trait. The opposite of vanity is humility. Some of the finest leaders, those that Jim Collins refers to as “Level 5” leaders in Good to Great, are exceptionally humble.

If you had two leaders, one of them vain, and the other humble, who has the greater chance for success? It depends on a myriad of other factors of course, but I tend to believe that the vain leader would have a greater impact immediately, whereas the humble leader would have an impact that lasts longer. Both kinds of leaders can be respected, but I wonder if the legacy of a humble leader becomes stronger by the sheer fact that we just like them more.

Should leaders nurture their ego? Perhaps - if it helps them exert influence in a positive way for the betterment of the organization. Pete Hall wrote a nice article for Education World on this topic. He states “Simply put, since we acknowledge that leaders who are charismatic and self-confident (the politically-correct term for possessing a strong ego) are likely to be effective in their leadership, then we ought to cultivate those traits.”

Should leaders keep their egos in check? Definitely. As a society, we value strength and confidence in our leaders. However, we despise unnecessary arrogance or self-grandeur – especially in our elected public servants.

Thus, in summary, I think all leaders exist on a continuum of vanity and ego. Those who stay in the middle of the continuum, or more towards the less extreme end, tend to get rewarded. Those who drift farther towards the vain or narcissistic end tend to get ridiculed and criticized.

That’s enough rambling on the subject. I’d love to have your thoughts.