Leadership can look like Jekyl, Hyde
March 1st, 2010In various leadership positions throughout my career, I’ve often thought if I could wave a magic wand I would want to give people confidence. I had observed that confident people behaved differently. For the most part, they seemed less defensive.
Upon further observation, it became clear that confidence was not something that was always experienced holistically. For example, I’ve coached some folks that are very confident in their abilities to do their job, but not so confident in the value of themselves as individuals. Therefore, defensiveness emerged.
Then there are those who are so confident that their defensiveness is elevated to arrogance, and takes on the face of bullying, diminishing anyone who questions them.
Carol S. Dweck addresses these behavior differences more eloquently in her book, mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Rather than speak of them in terms of confidence, she talks about their mindset and how that translates into behavioral styles.
In examples of what most would consider successful people, she draws lines of distinction by detailing values and coinciding behaviors. She would no more put John McEnroe in the same athletic ranks with Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, than she would group Lee Iacocca and Steve Case with CEO greats Jack Welch and Lou Gerstner.
And here’s why. McEnroe, Iacocca and Case share what Dweck terms a “fixed” mindset, whereas Jordan, Ruth, Welch and Gerstner share a “growth” mindset. The differences are as stark as being billions in the red as opposed to billions in the black.
Giant egos, airs of superiority and constant parading of their greatness are characteristics of the fixed mindset group. Abuse and judgment of the underlings, especially the most competent, is routine and required to uphold the self-created royal status of fixed-mindset leaders. Talent, not effort, is supreme.
McEnroe blamed losses on many things, but never himself. The responsibility didn’t lie with him, so neither did the fix. He even blamed his temper tantrums on others for having allowed them. Jordan and Ruth, in contrast, looked losses in the face and increased efforts to improve their games. Likewise Iacocca and Case sat atop success with the sole focus of elevating their self-image. All the while, Chrysler and AOL Time Warner danced with disaster. True to their fixed mindset, both CEOs lost their crowns but not their elitist attitudes.
With a switch in mindsets, it was human potential, teamwork and growth that drove Welch and Gerstner. Like the spotlighted Undercover CEOs of the current TV program, they went to the ranks and thrived on good communication.
Turf wars were banned, credit shared and mentoring replaced blame. The “Royal I” was no where to be found, resulting in wins all around, including nothing less than stellar financial gains for GE and IBM.
So you see, while confidence is a characteristic linked to leadership, it alone does not guarantee a leadership style that is respected and sustains success. True leadership, after all, is only sustainable through the engagement and growth of self and others. Dweck’s book does a great job substantiating this through a collection of detailed examples.
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