Malcolm Turnbull’s Biggest Challenge

The new Prime Minister needs to believe, as a fundamental principle, that now he can only get things done through others.

Malcolm Turnbull’s biggest challenge starts now: to become a Prime Minister. At this stage he enjoys the title ‘Prime Minister’, chosen by his colleague to be the first among them. However, will he make the difficult transition from being called “Prime Minister” to being Prime Minister?

This is not an easy journey, and one that has now beaten Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, and others before them. History is replete with examples of leaders who have not fulfilled their potential when they reach high office.

One key reason for the failure to make the transition — other than just not being up to the job — is the inability to grasp that the skills you used to date are almost certainly not the skills you need now. In fact they will probably work against you. The way you work, the way you manage, the way you lead people … it all needs to change when you become The Leader.

There is an old cliche which states ‘what got you here won’t get you there’, popularised by Marshall Goldsmith in a book by that name.

This is the point being made: what got you here won’t get you there. Julia Gillard, for example, seemed to enjoy complex and difficult negotiation. However, it appeared as PM she created crisis and conflict in order to apply those skills.

One of Tony Abbott’s great skills is as a warrior — the title of his book Battlelines virtually spells that out. He can fight a fire, debate an idea, oppose a policy. However as PM it seems that he continued to revel in opposing: defending the indefensible in unfair budgets, broken promises, and poor behaviour of those around him. He went further and opened new fronts populated by knights and dames.

This therefore is Malcolm Turnbull’s great challenge — making the transition from being a member of the team to a leader of the team, where that team consists of other leaders.

You can observe this struggle in new CEOs. They continue to play to their strengths in perhaps communication, strategy, and finance, while failing to recognise that success now comes through others. The CEO becomes, as one told me, ‘the glue that holds everything together’.

CEO’s fundamentally get paid to be someone

CEOs don’t get paid to do something in the same way as a worker in a mine or the employee in the store. CEO’s fundamentally get paid to be someone: the leader of the firm, with responsibility to create an environment where others can do what they have to do. The CEO is also the face of the firm to the outside world, with responsibility for influencing the way others view the firm and the impact that firm has beyond its walls.

How do you make the transition from one level of leadership to another, and in particular to the highest level, the very pointy end, of leadership?

This the question facing Malcolm Turnbull and he needs to address this just as any other leader.

The new Prime Minister needs to believe, as a fundamental principle, that now he can only get things done through others.  Like any leader this means letting go of any need for recognition, as he points to success through the good work of others. It means creating an environment where Ministers are able to get on and do their job without being hamstrung by inefficient processes or centralised power and decision making. It means being very clear about his role, and how very different this is from any other role.

He needs to recognise that those skills that got him elected by his peers are almost the very last skills he should use to keep the job because, in a counter-intuitive way, they will most likely work against him. And if that happens he risks adding to the growing list of ex-PMs on the public payroll.

I'd be interested in hearing your comments? What skills will be important for him and what should he leave behind?

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Anthony Howard

I am passionate about building a more human world one leader at a time. I am a CEO, entrepreneur, thought leader, philosopher and author who has made a life out of questions.

People call me the ‘CEO Whisperer.’ As a mentor and coach I help leaders navigate complex, demanding environments so they can perform and lead at their best. If you have substantial responsibility in your firm, and a pressing strategic, operational, political or personal question, send me an email at the address below if you would appreciate one hour of my time at no cost.

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? 2015, Anthony Howard