What is the litmus test of leadership?

I can see the pain living in your eyes

And I know how hard you try

You deserve to have so much more

I can feel your heart and I sympathise

And I'll never criticise all you've ever meant to my life

I don't want to let you down

I don't want to lead you on

I don't want to hold you back

From where you might belong

You would never ask me why

My heart is so disguised

I just can't live a lie anymore

I would rather hurt myself

Than to ever make you cry

There's nothing left to say but good-bye

…

Though it's gonna hurt us both

There's no other way than to say good-bye. (Song by Air Supply, released in 1993)

Hi you,?

Sheeplu here. Incase you missed the introduction to my clan and my plan, do read the very first article in this series here.?

First things first. CTC. CTC.

What?

Cut To Chase.

Cut The Crap.

As I told you in the introductory article, me being a sheep gives me all the liberty of asking questions and lots of it, some may sound stupid but hey! The wise men (and women) among you say that there ain’t no question which is ‘stupid’. You will hardly come across any literature on leadership which starts with topics around tests for leadership, sounds so counterintuitive huh? Whereas one might expect that articles on leadership should start with the supernatural qualities expected from leaders, on the difference between managing and leading, and all the mushy-mushy-softy-silky quotes on leadership. But no! Here we are first asking when do leaders fail, what is that litmus test when they usually screw it up big time and why do they get it wrong.

If you have been screwed by leaders before in your company, or you think you have screwed up yourself as a leader but have not admitted it to any ranks below you in your company, this article is screaming at you, you screw driver of change or whatever you think you are!?

Now read, repeat, rinse and repeat until you get this engraved in your head, heart, and hard-drive.?

“For a leader in business, the litmus test of leadership is when you have to fire your staff”.?

“For political leaders, the litmus test is to stick with integrity by not giving into abuse of power and corruption, mostly by amassing wealth”.?

That’s it. There are no more difficult and dicey situations for leaders in business and politics but the ones mentioned above. If anybody denies above sheepishly , they must have failed the litmus test and are still in denial.

The metal is tested when you let your people go, when you as a leader have to take the bitter decision to lay people off, when you have to select the unfortunate ones who would lose their jobs, when you have to figure out how you will lead this process from start to finish. Literature on leadership is awash with endless mentions on motivation, vision setting, soft skills, empathy, communications etc. but none of these alone will help pass the litmus test of a true and genuine leader. It is only when you have to axe the very people who were following you, is when your true colours and personality are tested as a leader.?

Merely sending memos to employees in the organisation explaining why massive job cuts needed to take place is not enough. Making canned statements like “I take full responsibility” is too little too late. A true leader will appreciate the impact of losing a job by an employee. So many bills to pay, so many dreams to dare, so many savings to make, so many goals to achieve. Now expecting that layoffs will never happen in any company in the world ever is wishful thinking too. At the end of the day, one of the primary objectives for any company is to make profit and people come and people go, that is the cycle of the workflow and the workforce. So please take in all the leadership love showered by your leaders with some pinch of salt as that shower can turn to storm when markets change (or mind?).

But the way in which such a serious decision is taken, the way it is conveyed to the affected employees is where all the difference can be made. There are sorry tales from laid off staff in tech giants like Google for example, sharing that one fine morning when they were preparing for a meeting, they realised that they could neither use their laptops nor any company network as their access had been blocked and their roles terminated. That is exactly how they assumed and got to know that they have been laid off. Just imagine the kind of surprise and shock one must have felt.?

All the fancy town halls and talks about the company culture and vision - when it comes to laying people off, the same visionary leaders often fail the litmus test by simply sending memos or by asking staff to talk to their line managers instead. This is where ‘humility’ comes into play as one of the two factors that will help pass the difficult litmus test of firing people who were in your charge as a leader. Trust me, your staff would appreciate it if any element of surprise is removed from the bitter decision that they are going to lose their jobs. The longer the notice, the better for them to absorb the change ahead and look for alternatives This also allows companies who genuinely care for their employees to look for alternative options for the impacted staff to minimise the impact on their careers and families.?

The second factor to consider is that of ‘humanity’. Mass layoffs have the natural tendency of treating impacted employees as a mere identification number. A true leader will treat every impacted individual as a unique human being, with individual circumstances which may be impacted negatively due to the decision of cutting jobs. A true leader will not hide behind any pretext not to address every employee’s concern when their roles are going to be made redundant. And yes, this cannot be limited to sending a mere memo, or arranging company-wide announcements, presentations or Q&A sessions. A leader who considers ‘humanity’ at the heart for his/her employees will first of all avoid any situation where staff roles will need to be made redundant. In the unfortunate scenario, where it has to be done, a leader will make enough time out of his/her busy schedule to have human to human conversations with the impacted staff, individually if needed and as a group, as often as possible.?

Saying goodbye is inherently more difficult than extending open arms with a warm welcome. Leaders who genuinely master the art of the most difficult of human interactions i.e. parting ways, will be in a better position to pick up the debris swiftly and move on, without much impact on the heart, mind and the balance sheets.?

On the other hand, when it comes to political leadership, the context for the litmus test is mostly around the use and abuse of power.....[full text for this article will be available in the book to be published around mid 2024].

PS. As you can see from the quality of references being used in these articles, (Backstreet Boys and Air Supply so far), you are subscribing to the wrong newsletter if you wanted some mix of reference to leadership jargon and literature in relation to Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM, Ford, Toyota or some mentions on human psychology, philosophy and how human brain works, and finally tying it up with pinch of economics, marketing, branding etc. Its not happening here yet. I am a sheep remember, my playlist of songs is limited, mostly at the level of ba-baa-black-sheep. I warned you.

Next article (2/50):

How might leadership look like in the next 100 years?