Evolutionary Leadership

I posted a little blurb on LinkedIn this week doing a bit of calling out on the stereotypical dictatorship that is run by many modern day CEO's and senior managers. Some are more benevolent than others, but still, the need to "control" as opposed to "collaborate" runs very strongly in the minds of many a CEO. My background as a 25+ year career ad agency executive and entrepreneur running ad agencies, departments, projects and PR/PA Firms across numerous verticals has taught me a lot about working and building teams. I've learned in real time how quickly success can dissolve when a "leader" whose ego must be pandered to steps in. 

Project Evolve is a marketing strategy and business growth think tank at its core. On the cannabis side, we manage the Global Cannabis Network Collective which brings together senior level operators along the cannabis and hemp supply chain which reside in multinational markets and are focused on expanding the global marketplace. Every successful CEO in the space who I talk to is always highly focused on finding the right partners who can fill in their knowledge gaps and generally willing to admit they need the support. It's an industry that already has so much inherent challenge, most successful CEO's have to seek out collaborative partners and team members. Those who don't, go it alone at their own risk. Those who are driven by their own egos and celebrate themselves at the cost of their teams inevitably become bright flashes in the pan but their chance of survival is small. The other side of Project Evolve primarily helps large scale events outside of cannabis to innovate ways they can better serve attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors. Along the way, these two verticals provide us some consulting work in our areas of expertise.  

One of the largest hinderances I've seen now over almost 30 years of work helping to expand small and mid-growth companies is CEO and Founder ego. There is a cultural sickness everywhere, but especially within American companies, where a very large portion of the CEO and company leader infrastructure tends to believe they must control and conquer their staff and partners as opposed to collaborate and inspire. Frequently, a well intended entrepreneur will find early success with a team centric and open input approach only to later feel the pressure to conform to the "traditional" model of command and control simply because they think that's what "they need to do" even with evidence to the contrary. They have to prove their "strength" instead of realizing the business success combined with the success of their team is proof enough. It's at that point where the positive air gets sucked out of the company often taking the team members who helped get them there along with it. 

Leaders will first deny it, but the truth is always there as they inevitably dictate to someone they hired to fulfill a role how to do that job instead of trusting them to do it and seeking their counsel. It is an inevitability that a "leader" cannot possibly be the best at all roles. But we are often sub-consciously blinded by the fear of failure and thus look for blame via a "cover my ass" approach as opposed to using challenges as learning opportunities. Such conscious and sub-conscious behavior ultimately kills the lifespan and potential of an organization. Internal indicators of this type of problem are often measured by employee churn rate, declining growth rates at transitional leadership periods and combined metrics developed to track external customer satisfaction with internal employee satisfaction.

Truly dedicated leaders must constantly do self-assessments on where they are and take feedback from those around them willingly and openly. Sometimes it's going to hurt. Too often, a philosophy of "domination" is mistaken for strength of confidence. As CEO's, founders, and leaders at all levels of a company, it is incumbent upon us to identify ways to develop programs which help our colleagues and ourselves "let go" enough control and instead become an inquisitive guide. Effectively, compatriots on an explorative journey where we all cross the finish line together. This allows greatness to happen. Sadly, in the United States we have been bred since birth to believe conquering is "success" irrespective of the degradation of alignment with others. Even though thousands of company stories would prove otherwise, we continue to see executives often times unintentionally or intentionally destroy people, employee confidence and entire organizations simply by refusing to see the value in others. By demeaning others, these executives actually simply seek to elevate themselves.

I do believe in compassionate capitalism as a general business philosophy and thus try to coach businesses in that direction. But what that means is balancing the goals of profitability with also serving your employees and the communities within which you operate. It is a belief that if we lift all boats instead of just our own, we all will be better for it and ultimately more successful on multiple fronts. Unfortunately, business schools and certainly MBA programs, are not yet teaching at any scale the importance or value of empathy as a business variable. Perhaps we should all look to Evolve.