Leadership

I’m a big fan of the “Freakonomics Radio” podcast. I highly recommend it, in particular an episode titled “What does a CEO actually do?” I love the question because it’s cheeky and because I’m sure many people wonder the same thing but are afraid to ask.

The show’s guests – which included a lot of biggies – had some fascinating answers. For instance, Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo., which owns major snack brands like Lay’s, Ruffles and Tostitos, sweats the small stuff:

Host: I have one gripe about chip bags, especially for the single-serve. It seems to me very suboptimal to have the only opening at the top, where you have to jam your hand in there, and you can’t really see what you’re getting. Wouldn’t it be better to have a bag that just laid out all the chips on the package, like a nice picnic blanket or something? Have you ever thought about that?

NOOYI: Well, imagine that you’re walking around, eating your bag of chips, which a lot of people do. How would that work? If you open out the Lay’s too much and a gust of wind comes by, you’re going to see a lot of chips flying. We have to worry about all these little practical things.

Jack Welch, the GE legend, focused his answer on an old school hardball approach to team-building.

“A baseball team publishes every day the batting averages. And you don’t see the.180 hitter getting all the money, or all the raises. You don’t win with a gang of mediocre players in business or in baseball. … Treating everybody the same is ludicrous. And I don’t buy it. It’s not cruel and Darwinian and things like that, that people like to call it.”

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, simply said: “What do I do? I do everything Virgin.” That’s a quirky and possibly profound answer. He didn’t say he does everything at Virgin. (I listened twice.) He specifically said he does everything Virgin. What that means is anyone’s guess, but I took it to mean he infuses the company, top to bottom, with the Branson way of doing things. And who can argue with success? Branson’s style and Virgin are a perfect match.

The key to great leaders: Character, character, character … and habits

But then success in leadership is often contextual. Eisenhower was the right type of leader for his time and place, Branson for his, Jobs for his. But it’s never just contextual. People may be born with the talent set to be a CEO, but the very best are the ones who, as David Brooks once wrote, wrestle with and polish those inner talents daily. They’re the ones who do the unglamorous work of honing their character – constantly shedding unproductive habits in favor of better ones. They’re the ones who make learning a daily ritual and a personal mantra. They’re the ones who are willing to look at something that’s working perfectly well and ask “Is there a way to do this even better?” or “Is there something here we should stop doing?”

Great CEOs also, in my experience, get out of the echo chamber of their own minds and build their worldview by having their thinking regularly challenged. They make it a point to build others up. They build trust networks of people who keep them honest and humble. They challenge themselves over and over again. They exercise, meditate, eat well, pray, play, ponder and seek solitude. (For a great read on solitude’s role in leadership, I recommend “Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude” by Raymond Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin, which was one of my favorite books of 2017.) Most of this work (except the playing part, of course) is not fun, sexy or easy but as the saying goes, “If it were easy, everybody would do it.”

Leadership: It’s not just for CEOs anymore

In the end, leadership can’t be faked and is not accidental. It arises from who you are and how you develop yourself. The tools of leadership are available to us all. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a CEO, parent, village council president or football coach. Intentionally building yourself into whom you want to be is one of those keystone habits of a good and wise life. Do that and no one will ever ask what you do or who you are.

They’ll already know.

Onward and upward.

Postscript: I’m fascinated by what makes great leaders tick, and if you’re reading this, I assume you are, too. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this post and on what you think makes a great leader. Thank you for reading.

McKeel Hagerty is CEO of Hagerty, the world’s largest membership, financial services and media organization for collectible vehicles and owners, and an in-demand speaker on business success, leadership, and personal growth. McKeel is a hands-on leader who truly cares about cars, collectors and the employees of Hagerty. In 2016, he was elected global board chairman for YPO – the world’s largest CEO organization whose members run companies that employ 16 million people and generate $6 trillion in annual revenues. Among his focuses was encouraging lifelong learning among leaders as a key to sustainable business growth.

THE BIG IDEA: There are seven behavioral patterns that characterize distinct leadership styles. Becoming aware of all seven will help inspired leaders identify their strengths and provide additional options based on the context of the situation.

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You don’t have to spend much time in executive meetings to observe that there are different ways of moving people to action.

Tom, for example, tends to give his employees commands. He’s coercive in his communication, patriarchal. “Do what I say” is the sentiment behind his statements.

Linda, in contrast, is authoritative. She has a clear goal in mind that she shares with her team. She gives her team the freedom to find their own way to achieve it. She leads others by saying, “Come with me.”

In our work with executive leaders, we’ve observed a set of common patterns of behaviors, or archetypes, that C-level executives tend to exhibit. Psychologist Daniel Goleman’s research on leadership revealed six distinct styles. The following archetypal descriptions coincide with Goleman’s findings.

Meet the Ruler

Tom (above) is an example of the Ruler style of leadership. The Ruler is generally driven by power, status, and certainty. The Ruler demands immediate compliance. This style works well in difficult situations like company turnarounds and with problem employees.

The Ruler often comes off entitled, arrogant, and authoritarian. This coercive style was the default archetype in past generations of executives. In modern business, however, the Ruler archetype inhibits creativity, autonomy, and psychological freedom—vital ingredients for cultivating a thriving corporate culture.

Meet the Visionary

Linda (above) personifies the Visionary archetype of leadership. The Visionary is authoritative as opposed to authoritarian or dictatorial. With this style, the leader has the confidence to be led by a compelling vision, but doesn’t seek control over employees. The Visionary provides freedom to employees to determine the best path to actualize the vision. This style works especially well when the organization lacks clarity and direction.

Although the Visionary style works effectively in most situations, it doesn’t work, Goleman observes, when the team is more experienced than the leader. In such cases, employees may perceive the leader to be out-of-touch or arrogant.

Meet the Mentor

The Mentor archetype of leadership is akin to the role of a teacher, trainer, or coach. Trust is vital for this archetypal style to manifest, for employees must trust and believe in the leader’s ability, authenticity, and intentions. The Mentoring leader helps build the employee’s character, competencies, and other dimensions of personal development.

This coaching style requires constant feedback and an environment where employees are committed to improving and addressing areas of weakness. Cultures that support self-actualization needs can best capitalize on the Mentor archetype. However, when the culture doesn’t support growth and its employees are unwilling to change, the Mentor’s ways will be resisted and resented.

Meet the Athlete

While virtually all leadership styles are achievement-oriented, the Athlete personifies this focus to an extreme: the quintessential over-achiever. The Athlete strives to be the best, to push himself to the limits, and so he demands the same unequivocal high performance of his employees. Unlike the Mentor, the Athlete expects employees to be self-directed.

The Athlete’s passion for achievement can have a positive impact on highly competent, self-motivated employees. The Athlete can, however, create resistance in other employees who may feel overwhelmed and pressured outside their comfort zone.

Meet the Servant

The Servant style demonstrates an ability to inspire others to action by putting people first. Leaders that employ this humanistic style demonstrate empathy, the ability to listen, self-awareness, and strong organizational skills. The Servant exemplifies the primary quality of Collins’ Level 5 leadership: humility. Participative by nature, the Servant is culture-oriented with a talent for team building. The Servant improves morale, fosters emotional bonds, and seeks to create harmony.

The Servant, however, may not offer sufficient critical feedback and advice, which can promote poor performance and create uncertainty for employees.

Meet the Ambassador

The Ambassador exercises a democratic style of leadership that strives to bring people together, giving all employees a voice while building consensus. This approach can be useful in generating creative thinking by allowing a diversity of perspectives to enter the discussion. A natural peacemaker, the Ambassador demonstrates a high level of social intelligence with charm and strong listening skills.

In attempting to establish harmony and stability, however, the Ambassador may foster an environment that produces endless meetings and directionless employees.

Meet the Shapeshifter

The Shapeshifter is faceless. It is able to take on all of the above archetypes without exclusively identifying with any of them. The most effective archetypal leadership style depends on context. The context might include market conditions; the stage of development of the company; the corporate culture; organizational objectives; and the situations, abilities, and stage of development of individual employees and their teams.

The most skilled leaders are Shapeshifters. Outperforming leaders don’t just use one of these leadership styles; they’re skilled at numerous and possess the flexibility and adaptability to shift between styles as needed.

Remember: you are not defined by any of these archetypes, and yet you have the ability to express all of them through you.

How to Become a More Effective Leader

Each leadership archetype has its strengths, but each also has a shadow element that can lead to poor performance. The key to improving your ability to effectively actualize the positive aspects of these leadership archetypes, according to Goleman’s research, is growing your emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is a set of skills. All skills can be learned. The core competencies of emotional intelligence include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill.

Goleman’s team has found that emotional intelligence, not cognitive intelligence, is the defining characteristic in outperforming leaders. We find this to be a fascinating area of study and we encourage executives to learn more about how emotional intelligence can transform their ability to get results and to improve their organizations.

Google has developed an extraordinary program on how to build emotional intelligence through mind training exercises. The program is called Search Inside Yourself.

Based on decades of scientific research from the world’s top psychologists, neuroscientists, and coaches, it is one of Google’s most popular programs within their organization. And now, Search Inside Yourself is publicly available. We invite you to check it out.