Leading in Uncertainty & Chaos. The Forte of Transformational Leaders (3).

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Vol 2, No 4, February 14, 2024

You may be conversant with the expression, ‘to fail successfully.’ Whether we like it or not, failure is a part of life. What matters is how we react when we fail. Do we see failure as an end in itself?

Or, as an integral or inalienable part of the journey of life?

Remember that winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit.

Transformational and effective leaders see failure as a springboard to try something else. A springboard upon which to try again and again until they succeed. ?

Co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc. Elon Musk motivates his team with the promise of new horizons. The SpaceX engineer welcomes the potential for failure and expects his staff to do the same, saying in a recent interview, ?

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating."

Although Musk demonstrates fidelity to his vision, he's a big proponent of receiving evaluations from his colleagues, irrespective of their rung on the ladder. How can you expect workers to devote themselves to your mission if they cannot have a say in operations?

"I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. That's the best advice: constantly think about how you could improve things and question yourself." Musk explained in a recent press statement.

Think of any leader you know who has achieved phenomenal success in an organization or country worldwide. Without exception, they're innovators. You cannot be transformational in leadership if you're risk-averse, reluctant to make mistakes, or unwilling to toe the road not traveled.

What distinguishes generational or transformational leaders from the "also-ran" or good leaders is their uncanny ability to 'see horses in the sky' and their penchant to go where angels fear.

Let's pause and use a real-life practical example to illustrate transformational leadership.

The following is how exceptional leadership, informed risk-taking, and unwavering integrity created one of the world's most outstanding CEOs.

In 1981, Roberto Goizueta's appointment as chairman of the board of directors and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company was met with skepticism. Although he'd risen to president, he'd primarily held technical roles. He had little marketing experience—an ordinary skill most past company CEOs possessed.

"Roberto Goizueta was one of those leaders who come once in a generation. Over time, Roberto Goizueta earned (a word he chose deliberately) the opportunity to lead The Coca-Cola Company. He told the Fourth of July gathering that leading the company taught him a great lesson—that “opportunity always comes accompanied by obligations.”

He encouraged them to seize the obligation, to “take it in your hands and mold it . . . into value for society,” he shared. “Carry it on your back all day long. . . . Defend it.”

Did being with The Coca-Cola Company for over 40 years—16 of them as CEO—produce in Roberto Goizueta a leadership mindset and undeniable business results that would be impossible for today's leaders to achieve?

What made Roberto Goizueta exceptional, explains Gilkey, was the fact that his values matched the values of The Coca-Cola Company. "Leaders do many things we don't often think about," Gilkey explains.

One of Roberto Goizueta's favorite phrases was "Everything communicates." He not only communicated directly—sending personal letters to friends and members of his network—he communicated through body language, carrying himself with grace and style. "He had tremendous presence," recalls Newton (Shirreffs, Allison, June 3, 2019, writing for Emory Business School).

If you read between the lines in the story of perhaps The Coca-Cola Company's best CEO to date, you would have recognized one common denominator.

One common but striking attribute that runs in the DNA of transformational leaders worldwide ?is what I refer to as "intrinsic motivation." Their motivation is divine - it's from within - not something you learn or acquire from learning and experience. Intrinsic motivation can also not be taught.

Leaders who change the cause of a generation, history, or the world come fully prepared.

“Roberto Goizueta was one of those leaders who come once in a generation. He was a rarity and an exception.”

The other crucial attribute of transformational leaders is effective communication. Rudimentary or innocuous as it may sound, transformational leaders usually first 'transform' their team to become apostles. Apostles of their dream, or change mantra.

Describing the transformational presence of the former CEO of The Coca Cola Company, Shirreffs, Allison says,

"He had tremendous presence," recalls Newton. "He looked important." The CEO was a meticulous dresser who believed it was better to be overdressed than under-dressed. He rarely, if ever, took off his suit coat. He understood that he was a manifestation of the brand and, notes Newton, made it clear to those around him at the company that they were also.

"Suddenly, Coke employees paid attention to how they dressed," Gilkey says.

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Conclusion.?

It is important to stress that transformational leaders sometimes fail woefully, just like all mortals. There is one defining difference, however. They recognize that failing is as important as succeeding because the person who never fails is the person who never tries anything new.

They appreciate the full implication of failing successfully.

So, as the Co-founder, CEO, and product architect of Tesla, Inc., Elon Musk tells his staff, "Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating."

Youths and aspiring transformational leaders need to remember that authenticity is the key to transformational leadership. Leaders who place their organizations, communities, and countries above personal mundane interests succeed phenomenally.

As we close, let's take counsel in the following fantastic description of Roberto Goizueta, the former CEO of the Coca-Cola Company. ?

“He had a sense of stewardship, of leaving things better than when he found them,” says Clyde Tuggle, Goizueta’s executive assistant for six years and The Coca-Cola Company’s senior vice president and chief public affairs and communications officer from 2008 until 2017.

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