By Kevin Meyer
One of my favorite topics, and passions, is the second pillar of lean: respect for people. I am completely convinced that the reason most lean initiatives fail is because they focus solely on increasing value for the customer through the elimination of waste – or worse yet just on a random set of tools without first finding a problem for the tools. That's important, but just as if not more important is leveraging the creativity, experience, and knowledge of the oft-ignored brain attached to the pair of hands that most accountants believe is sole essence of the employee.
Many leadership cognoscenti are realizing this. Just this today Terry Starbucker had a post on 10 Principles for the Selfless Leader that mentioned aspects of the respectful servant leader:
7. Remain humble. Don’t worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.
As did Dan Rockwell in a post on The CEO of Deloitte Learns Respect from his Dad.
- Treat others with respect and you can be an effective member of a team.
- Treat others with respect and you can be a leader.
Humility, respect, virtue, values. Great characteristics. Unfortunately it's still not enough.
The most recent Sports Illustrated has a cover on Ohio State's football coach Jim Tressel that begins with his leadership traits:
The character traits that have made Jim Tressel a successful football coach and a beloved figure in Ohio are numerous and frequently cited. Former NFL coach Tony Dungy has praised Tressel's "integrity" and said he is the kind of man you'd want your son to play for.
Under Tressel, the Buckeyes often sat together before meetings or at the start of practice for 10 minutes of "quiet time" to read about virtues such as humility, faith and gratitude. Tressel liked to say that his teams "play as hard as we can play" but also "respect as hard as we can respect."
Sounds familiar. Perhaps one reason why he has been compared with the greats like Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh. But respect only takes you so far.
Yet while Tressel's admirable qualities have been trumpeted, something else essential to his success has gone largely undiscussed: his ignorance. Professing a lack of awareness isn't usually the way to get ahead, but it has helped Tressel at key moments in his career.
That is, until others became all too aware. Allegations of of improper compensation for his athletes have dogged him for years – and he claimed ignorance. That changed last weekend.
A failure to disclose potential violations is considered one of the NCAA's cardinal sins and almost always leads to a coach's dismissal or resignation. Yet Ohio State supported Tressel and continued backing him despite weeks of negative press and calls by prominent alumni for him to be replaced.
That support crumbled suddenly over Memorial Day weekend. Tressel was forced out three days after Sports Illustrated alerted Ohio State officials that the wrongdoing by Tressel's players was far more widespread than had been reported.
Ignorance, whether by the supposed leader or the organization that supports him – both of which happened in this case, is not a virtue. It is not humble, and it is not respectful. True leadership begins with a solid ethical foundation.
John Hunter says
Given the large amount of ignorance those lauded claim when problems crop up in the organization they accepted credit for when things were good I think it may well have to be added to the list of traits of a great leader. At least if you define a great leader the way we seem to lately.
I agree with you. But I think most others and organizations do not (actually). They will say they do, but actually they don’t. It is similar to all those that say they want “outside the box” thinking. Which they want, so long as that thinking results in the exactly same ideas that person already has.
We seem to have lost any belief that anyone who is rich or famous should be held accountable. Unless, of course, they are very different than us, in which case they should. This lack of nearly any sense of right and wrong is a serious problem that has created many problems for us. Unfortunately I only see it getting worse over the years.
Zane Ferry says
What’s the root cause of this latest failure, I’m asking myself. Tressel’s downfall, as I see it, is just another symptom of a pervasive-yet-flawed leadership paradigm in our corporate society. Lip service to Servant Leadership aside, corporate leadership continues to be rewarded for short-term, tactical accomplishments, i.e. the ends-justify-the-means methods. Just don’t get caught (wink, wink). This culture hasn’t changed and, in fact, appears to stronger than ever with C-class salaries reflecting that.
I have no simple solutions to suggest here, just disappointment in our models. Sure, Tressel was called out and has fallen on his sword. By his colleagues and much of the sports community, I think, his demise will be viewed not so much as a disgrace, but as a technicality – just part of The Game. If true, our collective opportunity for somber reflection (hansei) on this failure of character-based leadership will be lost (again).
Peter G says
John, having lived and worked in China since 2002, I like to see concrete evidence of thinking INSIDE the box before wanting someone to think outside the box.
A couple of other creeds from my Old army days that have stood the test of time, leadership by personal example, and lead, follow or get out of the way.
It comes down to personal ethics, rooted in respect, honesty, the ability to listen, I mean really listen and lastly the least common of the senses – common sense. Does it look right, does it feel right, does it smell right.
Michael Lombard says
I’ve always thought that to be a good servant leader, I needed to close my knowledge gaps (eliminate my ignorance). In order to properly serve, I have to properly learn. If I respect the time and effort of my team, I’ll bring myself up-to-speed so I can properly support them.
In Tressel’s case, it feels more like he was trying to achieve plausible deniability, which makes him unethical.
Aaron says
What I don’t see a lot said about here is responsibility. It is all well and good to have people willing to perform, and follow, but if you, as a leader do not accept responsibility for the performance of your team, it undermines everything.
I’m not familiar with the case cited here, but that is what it appears to me to have happened. While he was a good leader in other respects, he would not accept responsibility for his teams performance.