#5: Speaking Truth to Power When the Real World Doesn’t Conform to Your Leader’s Perspective
Hi everyone! This is my fifth blog dedicated to help proactive people make extraordinary impacts by initiating/influencing positive change. These blogs share stories of amazing change agents and provide insights on how proactive people can more successfully make a difference by effectively leading ‘from the middle.’
Introduction: My last blog (#4: The Importance of Relationships – Friends, Partners and ‘Challengers’) focused on how essential it is to build and sustain relationships, including with those who challenge or oppose us. Often if we take the time to actively and openly listen to others we obtain new information, become aware of different, yet valid perspectives, and better understand the possibility of unintended consequences. The danger of a leader ignoring those with the courage to speak truth to power is that there can be significant and dangerous consequences they may not be prepared for.
In this blog we flip that situation upside down – imagine you are the ‘challenger’ and have information that runs counter to your leader’s (or critical customer’s) beliefs and agenda. What can you do when you see a ‘train wreck’ about to happen and yet your leader, doesn’t/can’t see it, or is in denial?
New Orleans – September 2005 (After Hurricane Katrina, before Hurricane Rita): Hurricane Katrina struck southern Mississippi and Louisiana in late August 2005. Levees protecting New Orleans were breached and much of the city flooded on August 29th. I was at the multi-agency federal command center in New Orleans that was coordinating damage assessments, casualty response, and recovery activities. Sixty federal, state, local and non-profit organizations worked frantically to assist those who did not/could not evacuate and desperately needed housing, food, water and medical attention, and to restore essential services - electrical power and potable water, provide fire and police protection and critical medical services.
After weeks of non-stop efforts, a major milestone was reached. The Army Corps of Engineers made temporary repairs to the levees, repaired pumps and dewatered most of the city! The celebration was brief but significant as we finally saw substantial progress! Exhausted relief and support workers finally had something to feel good about.
City Hall was excited and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin decided to encourage people to return to their homes. Mayor Nagin’s perspective was to restore the city as soon as possible to begin the city's social and economic recovery. Admiral Thad Allen, U.S. Coast Guard, had been designated the Principal Federal Official (PFO) for Hurricane Katrina response and recovery by President Bush. Admiral Allen had serious concerns about residents returning to the city when many still did not have basic services including electrical power, fire protection, potable water and medical services. In several areas looting occurred as people were desperate for food and water; some shots had even been fired at Coast Guard rescue helicopters.
But there was an additional problem on the horizon. Hurricane Rita was hitting the Florida Keys and heading into the Gulf of Mexico. Admiral Allen was concerned the storm could impact efforts to restore New Orleans, delaying recovery efforts or, in a worst-case scenario, even re-flood the city. Allen understood the Mayor's desire to start New Orleans' economic recovery and shared his concerns about repopulating the city before basic services were restored and while a new hurricane was heading towards Texas and Louisiana. Allen asked the mayor to delay inviting residents to return in case they may have to evacuate the city again if the storm headed towards Louisiana.
While the Mayor acknowledged Allen’s concerns, he was determined to start New Orleans on the road to recovery as soon as possible and continued his efforts. Allen thoroughly understood the fragile state of repairs/recovery of the New Orleans infrastructure, particularly the temporary repairs to the levees which could easily be damaged again, even by a near-miss of the storm. He also knew it took several days to prepare for and evacuate the public in the path of a hurricane. Despite Allen's appeals, the policy was not changed and the Mayor took a ‘wait and see’ attitude about Hurricane Rita. Allen remained seriously concerned for New Orleans and Louisiana residents who could end up in the path of the storm.
Hurricane Rita intensified, becoming a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 180 miles per hour making it the most intense cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico, even stronger than Hurricane Katrina. A couple days later, Hurricane Rita was predicted to make landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border, possibly impacting New Orleans again. The storm was of enough concern for the Navy to inform Admiral Allen they were going to take the USS IWO JIMA, where federal response and recovery personnel berthed, away from New Orleans’ waterfront to ride out the storm at sea.
While Allen kept pressure on the mayor’s office to discourage residents from returning, he used his time wisely, planning for a worst-case scenario - a direct hit by Hurricane Rita re-flooding the city. Earlier, Allen had ordered a house-to-house search for survivors in areas most impacted by Katrina. They had a good count for much of the city, but could not account for people returning. He needed an effective way to warn residents so they could evacuate the city safely, if necessary. Public communications systems were still inoperative, many areas did not have electrical power restored and there wasn’t time to go house-to-house. His team devised a strategy to use helicopters with loudspeakers to warn citizens to evacuate areas facing the greatest threats.
Epilogue: Hurricane Rita came ashore September 24th as a Category 3 hurricane near the Louisiana/Texas border, devastating southwestern Louisiana and reflooding recently drained areas along the Industrial Canal in New Orleans as the recently repaired levees were breached yet again. Fortunately, at the urging of federal, state and local officials supported by their agencies, most Louisiana residents managed to evacuate before the hurricane made landfall. Incredibly, of 120 storm victims, only one was in Louisiana.
I've had the very good fortune to work directly for Admiral Allen and twice with him as a major customer of mine. He is an outstanding leader and I have heard him speak about his leadership philosophy on several occasions. A common theme is the necessity and responsibility of those who work for a leader to "speak truth to power". Allen tells subordinates – I need and expect you to speak "truth to power" and let me know if you have important information that differs from my thoughts/plans, even if you think I won't like what you have to say – it's what I need to know to make good decisions.
In General H.R. McMasters' book "Dereliction of Duty" (written as an Army Captain), he writes about the tragic consequences when subordinates at the highest levels in the U.S. government failed to speak "truth to power" about the dire situation in South Viet Nam in the 1960's to President Johnson. The result was a protracted and costly Viet Nam war with over 40,000 American lives lost.
Ira Chaleff, in his book, "The Courageous Follower", lists five dimensions of courageous followership including the courage to challenge, the courage to take moral action and the courage to speak to the hierarchy - all key dimensions of speaking truth to power. I highly recommend his book for those striving to 'lead from the middle' for its valuable insights and recommendations. In particular, Chaleff offers excellent advice on finding and using formal and informal platforms of influence - a key strategy for leading from the middle.
Tips: What can you do if your leader isn't listening to you and the ‘train wreck’ is rapidly approaching?
· Recognize you may be operating in a ‘blind spot’ of the leader and you may have to be creative to get them to recognize and fully appreciate the issue and concerns. Leaders can only make good decisions based on good information…..be credible, don’t be perceived as having an ‘agenda’, serve as a ‘trusted advisor’.
· Their perspective of the situation is likely different than yours. Examine your own views and assumptions first to make sure your viewpoint is accurate. Verify your perspective with others. Then view the situation from your leader’s perspective and find holes in their ’reality’. Consider how to best address differences in perspectives based on the leader’s style: e.g., Logic - show the huge ‘cost’ of not preparing the city for reflooding versus the small cost of waiting until the storm passes to start the economic recovery; or Emotional – focus on risks to residents and the potential loss of lives.
· Convince a trusted advisor or peer of the leader and have them discuss the issue with the leader. Provide them evidence that supports your position – win them over and you may win over the leader. When taking your issue to a trusted advisor of the leader, listen carefully to their reaction – identify their concerns, issues, and perceived opportunities, then update your approach to mitigate/eliminate concerns and maximize beneficial opportunities.
· Make preparations, below the radar, until the leader recognizes the problem and/or the situation worsens to the point that action must be taken. Be prepared to respond quickly if necessary.
Geoff Abbott: I’m a retired 30-year U.S. Coast Guard officer currently teaching leadership. I hope you enjoyed this blog. Please feel free to join me on LinkedIn and to share my blogs with others. Comments welcome!
Recent Articles: See additional ‘leading from the middle’ blogs at:
https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/dr-geoff-abbott-60688a1/recent-activity/posts/
Making a Difference During Uncertain Times: Flint, MI Water Contamination https://www.dhirubhai.net/post/edit/making-difference-during-uncertain-times-dr-geoff-abbott
The Power of Teams (Part I): 1898 Revenue Cutter Bear 1500 Mile Overland Rescue https://www.dhirubhai.net/post/edit/incredible-power-teams-part-i-dr-geoff-abbott
The Power of Teams (Part II): North Atlantic Rescue - 500 Miles Offshore https://www.dhirubhai.net/post/edit/incredible-power-teams-part-ii-dr-geoff-abbott
The Importance of Relationship: Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans 2005 https://www.dhirubhai.net/post/edit/4-importance-relationships-friends-partners-dr-geoff-abbott
Principal at Gordon & Rosenblatt, LLC
6 å¹´I've been thinking about this again and I would add one more point: if the leader isn't "hearing" you, ask yourself why. This is where the concept of emotional intelligence is key.? We are all human, with human frailties - might your leader be struggling with one that keeps them from seeing the merits of your observations/suggestions? During a different emergency response, I had an experience in which I could not understand why my immediate commander wanted to cling to a conservative but ultimately self-defeating course of action. Only in retrospect did I realize that the commander was in a situation that was outside of his experience and preparation, he was reporting to a demanding boss himself, and as a result he was feeling profoundly insecure. That insecurity kept him from evaluating the merits of alternative ideas. In retrospect I could have done a better job of acknowledging his feelings and addressing his concerns and thereby meeting him where he was at the time, so that we could move forward together instead of me feeling that my task was to pull him along.
President and CEO, The Institute for Performance Excellence, LLC.
6 å¹´Geoff, this is the most powerful to date. I love this one. Something I struggle with all of the time....not speaking up (maybe I do that too much) but rather influencing up. I am a disciple of the adage “no one is going to engage in the behavior that you want them to, unless you give them adequate reason to do soâ€. The issues you introduce of blind spots and perspectives are important dynamics in my view. The mayor’s view was that it was crucial that he demonstrate to the city and the country that NO was moving forward, quickly. TA, to influence that decision, had to sell him on a reason not to move people back that is more powerful than his reason to move people back....and the mayor needs to believe it. The threats that TA presented are powerful but if the mayor is not convinced of those threats, he won’t be influenced by that argument. As you point out, in several of your articles, understanding the reason(s) why a person is doing something/making a decision is key to being able to influence that behavior.....but only if we give them a reason more powerful than the one driving the behavior we are trying to influence. Thanks for this one.
I consult and provide specialty expertise on making plain the edges & challenges of program management, workforce agility, performance improvement, & cybersecurity. I know, I’m narrowing that list down.
7 å¹´Thank you for writing! Living in NOLA now--I can imagine how this conversation between ADM Allen & former Mayor Nagin went. NOLA has been fortunate ever since, but we still have to fight to maintain resilience against the next storm.
Principal at Gordon & Rosenblatt, LLC
7 å¹´Great points, Geoff. I saw this just after posting a related article: the leader's responsibility to create a space where it is safe for team members to speak those truths. Available on my LinkedIn page. Looks like we are seeing the same issues.
Medical Director at Pacific Emergency Arts
7 å¹´Bravo Zulu to Admiral Allen