Adrian Furnham as having many of the characteristics of a psychopath (Leppard and Chittenden, 2001; The Sunday Times, 2001). In an ideal world, toxic personalities would all herd together into their own organizations where they could play out the manipulative mind and power games that their damaged psyches seem to crave. Unfortunately, like an unwelcome virus, they seem to have spread themselves around almost all organizations. As Alistair Mant observed more than two decades ago, there is a disturbing number of toxic lead- ers and managers, ‘who seem to survive and flourish, spewing their neuroses all about them right to the bitter end’ (Mant, 1983: 5). They also appear to be particularly attracted to careers in politics, the law, finance and stockbroking or get-rich-quick scams and, in a few cases, even managing to juggle two or three of these at the same time (an issue we will return to in Chapter 12). Something is wrong with – what shall we call it? Wall Street, Big Business. We’ll call it Big Money. Something has been wrong with it for a long time, at least a decade, maybe more. I don’t fully understand it. I can’t imagine it’s this simple: a new generation of moral and ethical zeroes rose to run Big Money over the past decade, and nobody quite noticed that they were genuinely bad people who were running the system into the ground. Those who invested in and placed faith in Global Crossing, Enron, Tyco or Worldcom have been cheated and fooled by individuals whose selfishness seems so outsized, so huge, that it seems less human and flawed than weird and puzzling. Did they think they would get away with accounting scams forever? Did they think they’d never get caught? We should study who these men are – they are still all men – and try to learn how they rationalised their actions, how they excused their decisions, and how they thought about the people they were cheating. I mention this because I’ve been wondering if we are witnessing the emergence of a new pathology: White Collar Big Money Psychopath. (Abridged from Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal On-Line, 1 July 2002) Toxic behaviour can cause significant problems in any workplace. It may result in lower morale and work performance as well as increased absenteeism, and possible legal costs associated with handling work- place bullying claims. In one survey, it was estimated that workplace bullying claims cost one Australian state, Victoria, $A26 million a year. Ray Catanzarita, a senior partner in the law firm Clayton Utz, made these comments at the time: ‘Examining the figures independently has highlighted the significant costs of bullying in the workplace. Aside from the immense financial cost, bullying can result in severe emotional and even psychological damage. With this point in mind, it may be timely to consider national standards to provide employers and employees with guidance on how to prevent, or at least minimise, workplace bullying. Violence and bullying are undesirable in any workplace, and any measure which may facilitate their reduction is a step in the right direction’ (abridged from Catanzarita, 2002). This THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 41 suggests that a technique that is often used in selection and recruit- ment, psychometric testing, should be employed with anyone who applies for leadership or senior management positions in organiza- tions. Perhaps this could also be extended to anyone who stands for elected public office, although this practice might impose impossible demands on the already overstretched psychiatric health resources of industrialized democratic countries. Leaders who engage in unethical behaviour, who bully and intimidate other people or who discriminate against other people, on the basis of gender or race for example, are psychologically and behaviourally dysfunctional. Their obsession with money, status, power and control is often the source of their ultimate downfall, although a sizeable number of these people do get away with it. Nevertheless, this does have impor- tant implications for how we can deal with these characters (a topic we will return to in Chapter 7). The good news is that, if you are reading this book, it is highly unlikely that you are this type of leader or manager. You are likely to be someone who is regarded as a good ‘corporate citi- zen’, who is conscientious, altruistic and courteous to other people. You probably subscribe to the suggestion made by Peter Drucker many years ago, that leadership is not only about doing the right things but also about doing things in the right way (Drucker, 1966). You also realize that the kind of conduct described above is, by far, the most ineffective and unproductive way of leading and managing people at work. With these thoughts in mind, let’s now turn to look at what kind of leader you would like to become in the future. Exercise 1.3 What kind of leaders do you admire? Below you will find a list of qualities, attributes and competencies that have been associated with business leaders and organizational leadership. Take a few minutes to reflect on these, and then circle the five that you would consider to be essential characteristics of a leader you would will- ingly follow in the future. Good communication skills Competent Caring Visionary/forward-looking Credible Ambitious Equitable/fair-minded Honest Dependable Rational Motivational/inspirational Decisive Self-motivated Humorous Intelligent Imaginative/creative Logical Experienced Loyal Supportive Mature Brave Powerful Charismatic 42 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE Before looking at the results of the two surveys below, please note your first five selections here Your top five: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Source: Adapted from Kouzes and Posner (1997). ◆ Now, please compare your choices with the following two surveys. Professor Barry Posner, Australian Institute of Management Leadership Conference, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Perth, Western Australia, 10 March 2004 ‘What do you admire in a leader that you would willingly follow?’ Honesty/integrity Competence/credibility Forward-looking/visionary Inspiring/motivational Fair-minded/equitable (Communication that appeals to people’s hearts, hopes and dreams*) * Communication was included in the ‘inspirational’ category Source: based on Posner’s surveys of 220 000 managers and leaders worldwide over a 15-year period. Graduate School of Management, Perth, Western Australia, Master of Business Administration Leadership Seminars 1997–2003 ‘What do followers want from their leaders?’ Honesty and integrity Competence/credibility Inspiration and motivation Creates direction/vision Good two-way communication skills THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 43 Parity and equity (Another desired quality that often appeared in the top six was a good sense of humour) Source: summary results from 15 seminars on leadership, attended by 478 MBA students, 1997–2003. It is also noticeable how often these leadership qualities appear in the repertoire of admired fictional leaders. On a cultural and symbolic level it appears that all normal people respond in a very positive way to leaders who exhibit these qualities and characteristics. To illustrate this point, here are two well-known examples of such leaders. Leadership qualities of Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwart’s School for Wizards and Witches Honesty and integrity Competent and credible Inspirational and motivational Brave and decisive Good communication skills Fair and equitable (Sense of humour) Source: the first five Harry Potter books. Leadership qualities of Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Starship Enterprise Honesty and integrity Competent and credible Inspirational and motivational Brave and decisive Good communication skills Fair and equitable (Sense of humour) Source: many enjoyable hours watching Star Trek: The New Generation. A similar exercise can be carried out with some of the principal char- acters in Tolkien’s trilogy, The Lord of the Rings. A comparison of these preferred and admired leadership qualities, attributes and characteris- tics is presented in Table 1.2. 44 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE How did your choices compare with the above? At this stage in our jour- ney, it doesn’t matter if they are different. However, it is worth reflect- ing for a few minutes about why these desired leadership attributes appear again and again, in academic research, in leadership and management development workshops, in seminars with MBA students, in fictional contexts and in the real world. If we look in more detail at these desired qualities, attributes and characteristics, the leaders/ managers that most people want to follow demonstrate the following. Honesty and integrity The word ‘honesty’ comes from the Latin honestas, meaning ‘quality’ or ‘honour’, and ‘integrity’ is derived from integra, meaning ‘wholeness’. These are almost always identified as the most important leadership qualities whenever this exercise is used with MBAs, or with groups of managers in leadership workshops. This indicates that almost all managers and professionals have great respect for leaders who do not engage in Machiavellian political games, and who exude professional trust, integrity, empathy and reliability. These leaders do not make promises they cannot keep, and do not break their promises once they have been made (see Chapters 3, 4, 7 and 12). Competence and credibility Not surprisingly, these are highly valued leadership attributes, and are often associated with industry-relevant experience, practical business knowledge, intelligence and dynamism. There is little doubt that followers do respond more positively to leaders who they believe have ‘clout’, who possess ‘smarts’, who can represent the best interests of their followers, who are able to make difficult and important decisions and see their ideas through to execution (see Chapter 8). THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 45 Table 1.2 Desired leadership qualities compared Posner GSM MBA Students Dumbledore Picard Honesty and integrity Honesty and integrity Honesty and integrity Honesty and integrity Competence and Competent and Competent and Competent and Forward-looking/ Creates direction/vision Brave and decisive Brave and decisive visionary Inspiring/motivational Inspiration and Inspirational Inspirational motivation Communication that Good two-way Good communication Good communication appeals to people’s communication skills skills skills hearts, hopes and dreams Fair-minded/equitable Parity and equity Fair and equitable Fair and equitable (Sense of humour?) (Sense of humour) (Sense of humour) (Sense of humour) Inspiration and motivation Often ranked as the most important attribute of good leaders by many MBAs is a willingness to treat their followers as intelligent, creative human beings who will contribute more to any organization, given the right encouragement, opportunities and rewards. To be more accurate, this ability is actually a consequence of an understanding of how not to demotivate one’s followers (see Chapters 3–5). Vision/sense of direction for the future To be visionary requires an ability to be creative, innovative and adapt- able to change, combined with a high capacity for learning (see Chapters 8–11). This also implies the ability to make brave decisions when followers are uncertain, vacillating or full of doubt. Human beings will respond to these capabilities in the same way as they have done for millennia, because they still want to be shown a way, a road or a path to the future by leaders they trust and respect. Good communication skills These invariably appear in managers’ selections of desirable leadership attributes. This complex cluster of skills and competencies includes a capacity to listen actively, knowing how to appeal to hearts as well as minds, the ability to build relationships through dialogue, to commu- nicate with everyone in a direct and personal way, and a capacity to walk the talk and lead by example (see Chapters 3 and 8). Equity/parity This is an attribute of leaders who treat all their followers fairly, equitably and with respect, and do not create in-groups of favourites. They do not make prejudicial judgments about people on the basis of their ethnicity, culture, race, gender, sexual orientation or physical abilities. When they do make judgments about other people, these are made on the basis of their character, values, abilities, work performance and the tangible contributions they make to their organizations (see Chapters 4 and 6). A sense of humour The German sociologist Max Weber once described charisma as being ‘the joker in the pack’, in his pioneering work on the growth and 46 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE characteristics of bureaucratic organizations in western industrialized nations (Gerth and Wright-Mills, 1977: 245–8). The real joker in the pack these days is probably a significant and often overlooked attribute of effective leaders: a good sense of humour (GSOH). Why could a GSOH be an important leadership/management attribute, and why might followers respond positively to this? When you have some free time, browse through the hundreds of job adver- tisements for senior managers and business leaders that appear in your local newspapers. You’ll be struck by the very high calibre of senior staff that companies seek to attract. Frequent references are made to the need for ‘exceptional communication skills’, ‘enhanced ability to lead teams’, ‘the ability to motivate and mentor staff’, ‘highly developed people management skills’, ‘exceptional leader- ship abilities’ and so forth. One might reasonably conclude from this that public and private sector organizations throughout the world are crammed full of leaders and managers who exhibit these admirable qualities. But are they? Try this quick test: get a piece of paper and write down the names of ten senior managers or leaders whom you have worked under that possess the positive attributes, qualities, characteristics and skills identified in this section. Almost all job advertisements are very predictable, repetitive, stale shopping lists of ideal competencies and qualities that seem to have little connection with the characteristics that some recruits actually exhibit once appointed. One has to search very hard to find advertisements like the Roc Oil Company advert in 1997, that ended with the memorable line, ‘Doom merchants, office politicians and prima donnas need not apply for these positions’, or the Apple Computer advertisements that sought ‘Raging, inexorable, thunder-lizard evangelists’ to work for them during the late 1980s. Remarkably, one essential factor miss- ing from every single job advertisement I’ve ever seen is, ‘Having a good sense of humour’. ‘Humour’ comes from the Latin word, umor, meaning ‘fluidity’ or ‘flexibility’, and has been the subject of academic research since the mid-19th century (Spencer’s The Physiology of Laughter, 1860). Contemporary research indicates that this is an overlooked leader- ship/management attribute, even though it would appear to be common sense that it should be an important part of leadership. For example, evidence presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in January 1999 indicated that staff give far greater credence to humour in their senior managers than they do to intelligence and are more productive than staff who work for humourless managers (Forster, 2000a). A survey by the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 47 Industry of 53 medium and large businesses revealed that employers are looking for certain personal attributes in addition to technical job skills these days. These included positive self-esteem, a balanced atti- tude to work and family life, excellent communication skills, motiva- tion, enthusiasm, commitment and, above all, a sense of humour (Stock, 2002). This indicates that an important quality for aspiring leaders to acquire is a good sense of humour. It may not be essential for effective leadership, but it definitely helps. Why? Because all humans are born with a hard-wired capacity to laugh, even those who may appear to be humourless. Babies start to smile after a few weeks, and laugh at three to four months. All normal people become hard- and soft-wired to respond to humour and fun. According to the ancient Greeks, ‘Laughter is the language of the Gods’, and if we can infuse our leadership style with some humour, we will get a positive response from almost all of our followers (Bushell, 2002). As Brian Tracy has observed, At almost any time, you can measure how well you are doing in your personal and work relationships by one simple test: laughter. How much two people, or a family laugh together is the surest single measure of how well things are going. When relationships are truly happy, people laugh a lot. When a relationship turns sour, the very first thing that goes is the laughter. This is true for companies as well. High performing, high profit organizations are those in which people laugh and joke together. They enjoy one another and their work. They function smoothly and happily as teams. They are more optimistic, more open to new ideas, more creative and more flexible. I used to think that people were an important part of any business. Then I learnt a great truth: people are the business. (Tracy, 1995: 3) Intuition tells us that a sense of humour is an important but often over- looked personal attribute of effective leaders. Humorous people often have the desirable leadership attributes described in this chapter in abundance, because they are usually psychologically healthy, don’t take themselves too seriously and have a real interest in other people. Humorous people are often good to work with and laughter is one of the best on-the-job stress relievers we know about (see Chapter 2). In almost all circumstances, humour can be used to defuse tensions and conflicts. According to the godfather of lateral thinking, Edward de Bono, humour is also closely linked to creative and innovative abilities, a suggestion we will return to in Chapter 9. In contrast, humourless people often have overbearing egos, are unable to listen to others and are toxic to some extent. So, if you are already a leader, why not ask job candidates to tell a few jokes or cite instances when they have used humour to diffuse tense or difficult situations at work? This approach may well help in the process of sorting the ‘doom merchants, office politicians and prima donnas’ from the people you really want to hire and work with. 48 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE Furthermore, some companies have built the concept of fun into their organizational cultures. These include the SAS Institute (the largest privately owned software company in the world), Scandia, Cisco Systems, Southwest Airlines, Google, Deloittes and Diageo (formerly Guinness UDV). At Google HQ, The Googleplex, more than 230 employees work within an organizational culture that ‘pampers’ their employees and encourages fun: The prevailing mood of Silicon Valley’s hottest company is similar to that of a classroom full of teenagers. People whisper jokes to each other and there are frequent interruptions of laughter. One could scoff at the [exercise] balls or dismiss the lava lamps as juvenile. But when it certainly doesn’t harm production innovation, or popularity, what difference does it make? You may as well pull up a ball, sit down and realise that in five years every boardroom in the world will have its own set of big plastic balls and a ping- pong table. It’s a fun-loving crowd. They really enjoy life and are very enthusiastic about being around one another. They spend a lot of time there when they’re not working. (Abridged from Bouleware, 2002) In Deloittes, the culture is based around seven core values, ‘Recruit and retain the best, talk straight, empower and trust, continuously grow and improve, aim to be famous, think globally, and have fun and cele- brate.’ In the UK company Diageo, ‘Celebrations and social events are a key part of the culture. It attempts to foster happiness at work, believ- ing that it is essential for the workplace to be filled with fun and good humour for everyone.’ The Australian divisions of these two compa- nies were ranked in the top 30 ‘Best companies to work for in Australia’, during 2002 (Corporate Research Foundation, 2003: 64, 74). Southwest Airlines (SA), selected by Fortune as ‘The best company in the USA to work for’ in 1998, has a number of core values underpin- ning its people management policies. The first two are ‘Work should be fun . . . it can be play . . . enjoy it’ and ‘Work is important . . . but don’t spoil it with seriousness’. As O’Reilly and Pfeffer observe, ‘Part of taking care of employees at Southwest entails an emphasis on having fun at work. Humour is a core value and part of the Southwest style and spirit’ (2000: 32). One of Herb Kelleher’s first actions, after he became chairman of the company in 1978, was to order the personnel department to hire people with a sense of humour. Southwest pilots and flight attendants were encouraged to make safety and other announcements fun, and to be creative in the process. Passengers have been greeted by attendants dressed as leprechauns on St Patrick’s Day, and have had safety instructions delivered in the form of a stand-up comedy. This philosophy of fun gradually pervaded the entire company. Despite what more traditional managers might think, there was genuine method to this apparent madness. In 1982, when THE FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 49 Kelleher took over the airline, it had 27 planes, 2000 staff, high labour turnover and low morale, and revenues of $US270 million. By 2001, it had 344 planes, 30 000 loyal and motivated staff, very low levels of labour turnover, and revenues of $US5 billion. Another interesting feature of SA is that, while it has always had a highly unionized work- force, it suffered far fewer industrial disputes than its major competi- tors during the 1990s and early 2000s. By the time he stepped down as CEO in 2001, Kelleher had created a unique and fun-loving culture, in an airline that employees wanted to work for and customers wanted to fly with (see Bloomsbury, 2002: 1105). The way it manages its people also played a significant role in this success. As Frank Perez, the baggage handling supervisor at Mineta Jose Airport, commented in early May 2003, ‘This company is 100 per cent for its employees. That’s what makes it really sweet’ (cited by KRT, 2003). In January 1999, Kenneth Hain of Incentive magazine summarized what motivated the relatively underpaid employees of Southwest to perform so well in a single word, ‘happiness’ (cited by O’Reilly and Pfeffer, 2000: 34). The foundations Kelleher laid down stood SA in very good stead during the global meltdown of the world’s airline industry during 2002–3. While almost every airline in the world struggled during this period (and several went under), SA’s performance was nothing short of remarkable. During 2001–2, SA was the only top ten US airline company to post a profit, and many other airlines were desperately trying to get their operating expenses in line with SA. With more than 2700 daily flights to 58 cities in the USA, SA became the sixth-largest airline company in the USA during 2003 (in terms of passengers carried). It was also declared the best performing US stock of the last decade by Money magazine in December 2002. In conclusion, these examples indicate that, while humour and fun alone will never create a great company or high-performing employ- ees, they can be powerful tools for leaders and managers to employ at work. 7 We will return to the power of humour and laughter again in Chapter 2, in the context of stress management and in Chapter 9, in the context of creativity and innovation. When people feel good, they work at their best. Feeling good lubricates mental efficiency, making people better at understanding information and using decision rules in complex judgments as well as more flexible in their thinking. Upbeat moods, research verifies, make people view others – or events – in a more positive light. That in turn helps people feel more opti- mistic about their ability to achieve a goal, enhances creativity and deci- sion-making skills and predisposes people to be helpful. Moreover, research on humour at work reveals that a well-timed joke or playful laughter can stimulate creativity, open lines of communication, enhance a sense of connection and trust and, of course, make work more fun . . . Small 50 MAXIMUM PERFORMANCE [...]... threat has passed • Greater intolerance of ambiguity and uncertainty, leading to an inability to cope with ‘fuzzy’ situations • Reduced ability to deal with complex problems, slower decisionmaking capabilities and an increased chance of making mistakes at work • Greater anger, impatience and hostility towards others PERSONAL PERFORMANCE AND STRESS MANAGEMENT 67 • A reduced ability to manage time, leading. .. commercial and service sectors PERSONAL PERFORMANCE AND STRESS MANAGEMENT 61 • Corporate collapses, rationalization, mergers, downsizing and large-scale redundancies, leading to increasing job insecurity, and the phasing out of the old commitment to ‘jobs for life’ in almost all organizations • Labour market restructuring and deregulation, and reforms to industrial relations and employment legislation... Goizueta (Coca-Cola), Jack Welch (General Electric), Alfred Sloan (General Motors), Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Bill Marriot (Marriot Hotels), Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (HP), Akio Morita (Sony) and Konosuke Matsushita (Matsushita) are widely regarded as being among the greatest business leaders of the 20 th century.9 What qualities and characteristics did they share? They were curious about the world and. .. FOUNDATIONS OF LEADERSHIP AND PEOPLE MANAGEMENT 51 wonder that playfulness holds a prominent place in the tool kit of emotionally intelligent leaders (Goleman et al., The New Leaders, 20 02) Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand (Mark Twain) Summary: the qualities and characteristics of successful leader/managers In this chapter, it has been demonstrated that we may have some psychological... UK and Australia It has been estimated that two-thirds of visits to family doctors in the USA, the UK and Australia are attributable to stress-related illnesses (Robbins et al., 20 01: 27 6) Third, there has also been an increase in stress-related compensation claims in all industrialized countries during the 1990s Stress-related litigation, already widespread in the UK and the USA, has the potential to. .. they are able to cope well with pressure, multiple job tasks and occupational stress, and can maintain a good balance between the competing demands they face at work and in their personal lives While there are continuing debates about defining and measuring stress, it is defined here as a natural human response to environmental challenges (stressors) that place physical or psychological demands and. .. (by Easter 1999) that I really wanted more than teaching was providing It was a really strong feeling, something inside me saying, ‘I really, really don’t want to continue in teaching any more.’ I think it was the fact that there was really no challenge and it was the security and safety of it all that I found scary It was stagnant and nothing much was going to change I’d also probably got as far as... emotional intelligence and are very adaptable Great leaders never rest on their laurels Whatever success they achieve is in fact the main reason why they change, because they know that organizational leadership today is a race without a finishing line They do not have a fixed, rigid leadership repertoire, and can adapt as circumstances change They have some knowledge of the art of political statecraft,... message So they communicate frequently and with credibility, and they listen to their employees, acting as a prism and focal point for their ideas and suggestions They walk the talk and practise what they preach, and if they make promises to their followers, they deliver on these Successful leaders are also risk-taking professionals who are visionary and innovative as well as good planners, educators and. .. symptoms of occupational distress There has been a steady rise in the average number of hours worked per week by most managerial employees and an increase in their workloads – in intensity, complexity and duration For example, the percentage of Australian professional and managerial employees working more than 50 hours a week rose from 22 per cent in 1983 to 29 per cent in 20 03 (ACTU and The Australian . personal way, and a capacity to walk the talk and lead by example (see Chapters 3 and 8). Equity/parity This is an attribute of leaders who treat all their followers fairly, equitably and with. (General Motors), Sam Walton (Wal-Mart), Bill Marriot (Marriot Hotels), Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard (HP), Akio Morita (Sony) and Konosuke Matsushita (Matsushita) are widely regarded as being among. hard-wired capacity to laugh, even those who may appear to be humourless. Babies start to smile after a few weeks, and laugh at three to four months. All normal people become hard- and soft-wired to respond