Some Needed Good News for Business and Civic Leaders

Right now, at this very moment, there is an opportunity for all leaders to simultaneously demonstrate the two most powerful aspects of leadership —and contribute to what is needed most in the world today.

This is equally true of leaders of small and big companies, non-profit organizations and those who serve the public interest - even teachers and front-line healthcare providers. Anyone whose role is to help ensure a better future for others is being called upon to guide the people they are responsible for and responsible to.

The intersection of these two sources of truly competent leadership is the force that will help us all get through the current crisis. And more importantly, it is how small and middle-size companies will drive the economic and social recovery we will surely need as much in the near future as anything we need today.

These factors are 1) truly empathetic, selfless (affective) caring; and 2) utilizing cognitive empathy to apply emotional intelligence. People follow leaders who they believe care about their needs and interests - and leaders need to not only effectively demonstrate what they care about - but also need to understand the emotions of others in order to command influence. (I want to thank my good friend @Sean Flaherty of ITX for making a clear argument to these factors in his Momentum Framework workshops.)

There is an old saying (often attributed to Theodore Roosevelt), "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Leadership, especially in times of crisis requires that you demonstrate competence in terms of your ability to accomplish things that benefit others needs - and compassion - because often people's needs exceed our best efforts.

The best we can and must do - is to focus our attention and efforts on accomplishing what matters most.

This is a function of having a clear sense of purpose. It is akin to having a noble cause - where your conscientiousness dictates that you place the needs and interests of others above your own.

Accomplishing what matters most has an exponential benefit to your organizations and those who needs you serve. As business leaders this means your employees and their families, your suppliers, and your customers. As civic leaders it amounts to serving our neighbors, our communities and our nations.

If you understand that leadership amounts to organizing the attention and actions of people to work together and accomplish things that serve a common purpose - you should know that people do things for two reasons: because they believe they have to and because they can. (No one has ever done anything that cannot be done - and people routinely accomplish things that were once thought to be impossible.)

Leadership creates necessity and possibility. Leaders focus people's attention on what's necessary and then guide them to see that whatever actions must be undertaken are ultimately possible.

And then leaders help drive that sense of purpose so that what people learn to believe is possible is absolutely necessary. This is how leadership drives and elevates human performance.

There is no segment of society that is untouched by the havoc the current worldwide pandemic has unleashed. Crisis creates enormous stress. That is true whether you find yourself at great risk, or on the side of finding significant opportunity. The problem with stress is that it tends to inhibit your ability to creatively apply critical thinking. You tend to be more reactive.

Reactive tendencies are fine for addressing problems that can be addressed with command-and-control solutions (having planned actions that are triggered by anticipated events). But command-and-control is not effective in VUCA conditions - defined by being volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. The current crisis clearly meets this threshold.

Instead being reactive, leaders need to lean towards creative solutions. This means getting comfortable with the discomfort of massive uncertainty.

It also means being intensely curious - and resisting the temptation to reach for certainties out of a desire for comfort, which oftentimes leads to irrational certainty - where you accept false certainties and shut down your investigation of real or better solutions.

If you express genuine caring for others - and you can effectively influence their behavior in ways that will benefit them - you will find that you are accomplishing things that truly matter.

While people are currently struggling - or in many cases truly suffering, you can demonstrate exceptional leadership by simply being an advocate for their wellbeing.

Citing back, again, to Sean Flaherty and his Momentum Framework, he describes the means by which you can optimize your affective empathy and your emotional intelligence - and multiply your power to be an effective leader. He suggests that all relationships can be measured in how we transform them from basic levels of trust (the willingness to exchange time and information), and loyalty (willingness to transact through a fair exchange of value). These define most all of the transactional relationships we have in our lives. But Sean points out that the ultimate level of effectiveness occurs when we drive advocacy.

Advocacy is when people are willing to do something for the benefit of another - without the need or expectation of anything in return.

It is customers referring new customers to you - or suppliers and even competitors offering their endorsements of your business. It is also how you demonstrate your caring and influence on behalf of others.

During this crisis - what would happen by being and advocate for your customers, your suppliers and even your competitors. Would you generate more loyalty down the road? And what about advocating for your employees? How do employees who are advocates perform as compared to those who are simply loyal?

This is good news - because by leading as an advocate - you not only help the people you depend on get through the challenges that may be adversely affecting them. You also set the foundation for the kind of cooperation and collaboration that will help lead us into and through the recovery we desperately need to have take shape.