Have you ever felt frustrated or powerless at work? A friend of mine recently admitted, “I am at odds at work. How much commitment do I really want to give to a company that seems compelled to undermine its own success? Any commitment I do make seems like an exercise in futility.”
The question was not trite. The question stemmed from frustration. My friend is a remarkably gifted leader recruited to the company for which he now works to change to a struggling department. However, he feels stymied in the continued development of his department. The impulses of his Vice President derail planned action thus limiting the traction needed to produce consistent positive results. Unsurprisingly this is a common experience for many managers and directors.
Last week I heard Jim Collins speak – he always encourages and challenges me. I was reminded of something he wrote,
Most businesses also have a desperate need for greater discipline. Mediocre companies rarely display the relentless culture of discipline – disciplined people who engage in disciplined thought and who take disciplined action – that we find in truly great companies. A culture of discipline is not a principle of business; it is a principle of greatness….we need a new language…reject the naive imposition of the language of business…embrace the language of discipline.[1]
The concept of being great hits me every time I read it. The question I ask myself is, “do I have the discipline and perspective needed to contribute to a truly great enterprise?” Further more do I contribute to a culture of discipline? The challenge here is to buck any trend toward mediocrity by building a culture of discipline around my responsibilities.
Collins’ research concluded that building a great company occurs in four stages. Think about these stages as I have outlined them in Table 1 and consider; (1) how you contribute to these stages; (2) how do you encourage others to step into this mind-set; (3) whether you are hirable today as one who contributes to these stages and (4) if you are not hirable today in a great company what do you need to change?
One of the most important insights Collins presents in his monograph on the social sector is the insight that Level 5 leaders often exist within diffuse power structures and can be effective in creating pockets of greatness. Collins identified two kinds of power i.e., executive and legislative.
In executive leadership enough concentrated power exists to simply make right decisions. Executive power makes right decisions no matter how painful they may be. However, many Level 5 leaders do not have this kind of concentrated power. Many leaders in the middle are not the CEO but work somewhere in the mishmash of organizational structure and political reality.
Legislative leadership on the other hand possesses enough structural power to create the conditions for right decisions via persuasion, political currency, and shared interests. Many leaders have legislative power within their departments or divisions and can take the responsibility to move toward greatness not-with-standing the pressures that push the rest of the organization toward mediocrity.
Table 1: Inputs of Greatness[2]
| Inputs of Greatness | Defined | Actions I can take |
| Stage 1: Disciplined people | ||
| Level 5 Leadership | Exhibits personal humility i.e., they are ambitious for a cause and the organization and professional will i.e., fierce resolve to do whatever it takes to make good on that ambition | |
| First who, then what | First, get the right people into the right places and the wrong people out and then think about what you need to do i.e., the “what” | |
| Stage 2: Disciplined thought | ||
| Confront brutal facts | Identify and remove those barriers to being great live the Stockdale paradox i.e., confidence you will ultimately succeed while also identifying all the barriers to that success. | |
| The hedgehog concept | Attain piercing clarity about how to produce the best long-term results, then exercise relentless discipline to exit those things that fail the test – (1) what are you deeply passionate about? (2) What drives your economic engine? (3) What can you be best in the world at? | |
| Stage 3: Disciplined action | ||
| Culture of Discipline | Accepting one’s responsibility (larger than a job) to consistently work to greatness. | |
| The Flywheel | Relentless action toward the goal that builds momentum on small successes | |
| Stage 4: Building Greatness to last | ||
| Clock Building not time telling | Great organizations prosper through multiple generations of leaders – build mechanisms that stimulate greatness | |
| Preserve the core/stimulate progress | Great organizations run on a fundamental duality: (1) a timeless set of core values and reason for being and (2) a creative compulsion for change and progress. | |
What kind of leadership power do you have? Are you willing to take responsibility to exercise your power in building a great department or division? If you are unwilling to take responsibility what does this say about you as a person and a leader?
One of the things I find consistently true in leadership is that the very act of leading forces me to engage in an assessment about whom I am as a person and whether I can live with myself as that person. My friend’s question shook me up. It made me think. Taking responsibility to exercise greatness in my corner of influence is not an option – it is the only rational course by which I can make a lasting contribution to the good. How about you?