In the Age of Disruption, Leaders Need Authenticity, Not Authority

To be successful, the CEO must engage in two-way leadership where she is open to input and feedback from all levels of the company. 

If it’s lonely at the top, you’re doing it wrong.

In order to build a company that can thrive in the digital age—which is fast, real-time, connected and transparent—you need to lead that way yourself. Sure, you could stay put in the corner office where it’s comfortable and protected, and lead from your desk chair, but you won’t be there for long.

The way we do business has radically changed. Massive disruption across every industry requires leaders who can quickly spot emerging trends, make calculated decisions and adapt to them without missing a beat. It is impossible for a CEO to do this alone. A CEO needs to surround herself with skill sets from the future, and digital natives in order to be sure the company is ready for the future. To be successful, the CEO must engage in two-way leadership where she is open to input and feedback from all levels of the company. 

It is this openness, this transparency that will act as a real-time check on the business. Employees who feel that they are being heard by the leadership team are more likely to raise red flags, suggest alternative methods and pitch bold ideas. The leaders who listen to these employees will in turn save money, prevent crises, discover new opportunities and maintain a competitive edge.

What’s more, transparent leadership is now expected of CEO’s, particularly by Millennials. If you don’t believe it, take a look at Glassdoor ratings of CEOs. The most common complaint is a lack of transparency from a CEO. Followed by not having enough communication by the CEO and the leadership team. It’s not an exaggeration to say the C Suite has become a glass box thanks to Glassdoor.

To respect you, employees don’t always need to agree with you. But they do need to understand you and your leadership style. They want to know what motivates you, why you did something and what you have in terms of facts, data and emotional input to make decisions.

When I was CEO of Starcom Mediavest Group (SMG), I knew that not all of our 6,500 employees would agree with my decisions. And there was no way I could control for that. What I could control was how I put myself out there in our company, so I did.

First, I held two all-company webcasts each year. They were simulcast in real-time everywhere so that we could bring the global community together. The alternative was to only rely on email, or a memo or my traveling market to market, all which can be effective in some cases, but all old-fashioned tactics. I wanted to ensure that everyone was listening to the same message at the same time--that way there would be no miscommunication or hearsay. 

In these webcasts, we talked openly about company business, making sure to address both successes and failures. As an executive, it’s important to address the tough stuff—particularly when all eyes are on you. People may not be asking the tough questions but they’re definitely thinking it, which is why you should use opportunities like town halls to nip those questions in the bud.

It’s also important to use those town halls to share more about yourself—specifically what your priorities and goals are for the next quarter, six months and year. The best leaders make themselves accountable by publicly announcing their goals and then cascading their goals to the leadership team and in turn cascading them through the organization. Again, people may not agree with your choices, but at least they understand you and what’s expected of them in turn.

In addition to holding the webcasts twice a year, I focused on being outside of my office whenever possible. As often as I could, I would walk the floors of SMG – in NYC, in Chicago, in London, in China, everywhere. I would go to conference rooms or wherever people were hanging out. I would have meetings and get work done on their turf. And this also went for my clients too. I always learned much more about how we were doing for any client, when I saw my team in action with them in the room at their HQ. My goal was for people to see me and feel more comfortable with me being around. People relax a bit more when you are sitting at the table with them versus sitting across from them in the corner office.

To be sure, I understood that there was a fear factor, a suck-up factor, a half-the-story factor. When I left the room, I knew that people were going to talk differently. So, I used other strategies to get honest feedback, particularly from the youngest employees who often had the best feedback because they’re usually the ones on the front lines.

Often the best conversations were had in the elevator lobby on days that I left late. I always made a point of engaging the person who was waiting with me, and usually they were people who worked at lower levels in the company. You can learn a lot in these moments about what’s top of mind for them and how they feel about the company in general.

I always found a lot of inspiration these conversations, too. I’ll never forget the woman who told me how grateful he was for our flex-time policy so that he could take time off to care for a sick relative. As CEO, it’s all too common to hear what’s going wrong or what you specifically are doing wrong. To hear that we are getting something right and making a big difference in our employees’ lives—that’s a great way to end a long day.

Of course, there are many more ways to lead authentically and from the playing field.

What are some of the best tactics you’ve used? Leave a comment to get the discussion going In The Age of Disruption, Leaders Need Authenticity, Not Just Authority