Transcendent Leadership
Before I start start publishing our definitions of the core strengths inherent in the greatest form of leadership that creates the conditions for exponential results, I first want to circle back and get clear about our hypothesis about leadership in general. In short, nothing big happens without a leader. All of us would doddle along carrying out our own agendas and doing what we please. Many people who call themselves leaders are doing this daily and are doing very little other than checking off their list and doing what they have been told to do by someone at a higher level than they are. I call this management, not leadership.
True leadership is about bringing people together in the spirit of some greater outcome, so its impossible to talk about leadership without talking about how that leader somehow convinced a large number of people to join their cause or mission in order to create something great. Great leadership, or what we call transcendent leadership, is about creating an unexpected, audacious vision toward some emotionally compelling vision of the future. The best example I can think of is when President John F. Kennedy declared that we should put a man on the moon and that we should do that in less than ten years.
Why Self-Awareness Matters…
Great vision and great leadership create the conditions for a vision that might be perceived as impossible and allow it to become a reality. In order to create the emotional connection between a leader and their followers, there have to be two conditions; First, the followers have to hold the leader in very high regard, holding admiration of their whole person and must trust that the motives of the leader are in support of a vision that is about creating some greater good. If the leader fails to be trustworthy and fails to make an emotional connection to their constituency, then the first condition for great performance will be missed.
It is almost impossible to admire someone if they have glaring flaws in their character that preclude a follower from trusting them completely because trust is at the crux of the relationship if you’re going to put your efforts behind the desires of that leader. This is what most “leaders” tend to miss. They think that they can be free with their angry demands for performance and expect unequivocal compliance, or think that they can compromise personal integrity and honesty in relationships and still expect people to blindly follow their mission. What these leaders are missing, is that what people do on the surface will be compromised by how they feel about the leader UNDER the surface and the mission will be compromised. The followers will never get fully on board to help the leader accomplish anything of major importance to the greater good of the organization.
Mom and Apple Pie…
This brings me to requirement number two; that the followers have to connect emotionally to the vision of the leader. The vision must create some kind of compelling reason to make extra effort. I have always said that the vision of a great leader always has to sound like mom and apple pie. It has to make a connection with the heart strings of those who might follow. It must relate to some advancement of humankind and must leave the world a better place. I know I am speaking in large terms here, but I learned this lesson from a good colleague and friend who taught me this lesson when I was in my early thirties. I used to make a practice of making friends with people who created some kind of special outcome through their leadership and this lesson stuck with me for the rest of my career…
Creating the Compelling Why…
When I asked my friend Tom how he and his team had accomplished such a high standing in overall performance he answered “We set a goal to have a perfect safety record this year”. His answer was surprising to me, because the team had accomplished much more than just a perfect safety record, so I made that observation. His answer was a lesson I never forgot. He said, “Well, that’s the thing, the goal itself isn’t the point…the point is that they were inspired by it because it connected with something that mattered to THEM and benefited THEM, and in the end the pride they had in working together and making my audacious goal come true, brought them together emotionally and because of that, they accomplished all of the goals that are more mundane. You can’t ever tell a team that the goal is to make more money, because they can’t connect to it emotionally. You have to have an unexpected goal and they have to think you’re crazy to believe in them that much. Then the human spirit comes together to accomplish what would otherwise be impossible”.
The Expanding Influence of a Transcendent Leader…
Tom is now leading one of the largest hospitality brands in the world and he is still that kind of leader. He believes in the spirit of people and knows why they connect with his goals emotionally to achieve the impossible. He calls me every now and then, to banter about leadership ideas and thoughts, and I still admire him as one of the great because he is always worried about making some impact that advances people in general. His last call to me was about how big business doesn’t care enough about the hourly worker and how they struggle to make ends meat, often working two jobs. He wanted to change that in his own company and make some kind of difference about that inequity by using the influence of his leadership. He would tell you himself, that his biggest worry is that he won’t care enough or won’t get people on board with his next crazy goal. Don’t get me wrong, Tom isn’t flawless or perfect in any way, but he has enough humility to accept himself as a human being and remembers that in leadership, what really matters is leaving the world a better place. The lives he touches each day will remember him as a transcendent leader. Someone who, just like every other person, HAS selfish needs, but is able to have the self mastery to rise above those needs in his role as a leader in order to impact the world in favor of some greater possibility.
My own BHAG (Big harry audacious goal)…
I have a similar goal to Tom. I want to raise awareness in leaders of the future so that we can achieve more meaningful goals, but also so that we can begin to be more responsible leaders in a greater way so that we can begin to solve the bigger problems of the world. The future is going to depend on those leaders and I want to be a part of educating them. First, about why “who they are when no one is looking” really matters and second, about why choosing to lead is a responsibility that includes having passion around a vision that creates a compelling reason to follow. This is not to say that we need to be perfect people. Quite the contrary, we need to be authentic and real people, carrying out our leadership calling. People with enough humility to admit our shortcomings so that we can work on them, and to take ourselves above our personal agendas to make a difference in our circle of influence.
Conclusion
When great leaders make a difference, the minds of their followers can never go back to where they were before the accomplishment. Transcendent leadership changes the world and makes it better. When a leader is self-aware enough to be aware of their own personal agenda, to consciously master it and to place it aside in favor of greater principles…this is called character and principled consciousness. When a leader does this, they are following a greater calling than just making a buck for their company or a paycheck for their family. Their life is a life well-lived and one that will matter to those they leave behind. And in the end, the reward is fulfillment…something that is very distinct from material pleasure. Fulfillment allows us to sleep well and actually supplies a sense of satisfaction instead of a never ending addiction to more, more, more.
After all, why do we work? Isn’t fulfillment the ultimate reward? A life well lived is a gift that gives us peace. Something precious and rare.. in this fast paced world we find ourselves in.