Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.  ~President Abraham Lincoln

Leadership, management, is there really a difference?  I say yes, there’s a HUGE difference.  In honor of a number of our former U.S. Presidents, here’s what some of them had to say on the topic of leadership.

In periods where there is no leadership society stands still.  Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.  — President Harry Truman

President Truman believed that leaders change things for the better.  Changing things doesn’t mean increasing profits or employee retention or any other number from X to Y.  Changing things means creating something new, a change is a revolution.  Managers increase numbers.  Leaders ignite a transformation.

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss.  The leader leads, and the boss drives.  — President Theodore Roosevelt

In this context, when I think of drive I don’t think of a car, I think of a herd of cattle (keep in mind, I grew up on a farm in Kansas).  A cattle drive consists of cowboys on horses (or in my case, farmers in trucks and tractors) behind or alongside cattle herding them in a specific direction. Teddy Roosevelt understood that to lead you need to be in front, inspiring others to follow.  Leaders lead.  Managers drive; they dictate and control, they push people forward.

The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things.  He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.  — President Ronald Reagan

Reagan knew that in order to achieve great things, it would happen because of the people.  It was his job, as the leader, to get people to do great things.  Leaders achieve extraordinary things through others.  Managers accomplish the expected through processes and systems.

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.  — President John Quincy Adams

President Adams clearly believed that leaders strive for more.  If you are a leader you aren’t content with the status quo, you are focused on something more, a vision of what could be.  If you’re a manager you focus on the present situation and stabilize what is.

My attempt to use our past Presidents to draw out the difference between managing and leading is not to equate one as better than the other.  We need both in organizations.  Recognizing the difference and knowing when to manage and when to lead is a critical step toward creating a thriving organization.

Champions don’t do extraordinary things.  They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react.  They follow the habits they’ve learned.  ~Tony Dungy quoted by Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit

Some of you might be surprised to hear that I know who Tony Dungy is; but I have to confess, my first exposure to Tony was through his book, The Mentor Leader. Then, I learned that he was the head coach of the 2007 Super Bowl champions, the Colts, who had defeated (of all teams) the Chicago Bears.  Tony’s approach to leadership extends well beyond football or athletics.  Many of his philosophies are foundational to effective leadership, regardless of the type of organization or team you are leading.

Tony interviewed for a number of head coach jobs without success.  In each of those interviews he described one of his philosophies of coaching that focused around habits.  He would explain that he wasn’t going to try to create new habits with his players.  Instead, he would change their old habits.  This was based on a commonly held premise about habits.  A habit is the result of a cue, followed by a routine that results in a reward.  “To change a habit you must keep the old cue and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.  If you use the same cue and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit.  Almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same.”  (Duhigg, Charles, The Power of Habit, Random House, February 28, 2012).  Obviously, when Tony was given the chance, his philosophy of habits worked quite well. 

Applying this concept of changing habits to leadership, I can see a number of circumstances where I tried, sometimes even desperately, to change the cue or reward for other people.  Looking back, I can now see that had I focused on gaining a genuine understanding of other’s cues and rewards and then focused on changing their routine, I could have not only potentially changed their/our habits, but with far less pain and frustration.

For example, a friend recently told me about a practice his organization had instituted to change a habit.  The habit was staff holding a meeting after the meeting over cocktails.  Many times it was at these informal meetings that some of the best ideas were generated, but then lost due to the informal nature of the situation.  So while the leadership didn’t change the cue and the reward [cue: desire to discuss the topic further in a more causal setting and reward: identify possible solutions], they did change the routine.  They set up a bar environment, literally, in their conference room.  Then they would take a short cocktail break during their meetings.  [I should insert here that I believe the cocktails were nonalcoholic, but that really wasn’t the core of the routine, it was the relaxed, informal setting.]  The cue and the reward didn’t change, but the routine did.  The result, the leadership was able to capture both the creativity and problem-solving that had been taking place after the meeting.

As Duhigg states, it’s nearly impossible to completely extinguish a habit and it can be extraordinarily difficult to create a new habit, but it’s very possible to change a habit and transform behavior.  Effective leaders have mastered the art of leveraging the power of habit, both for themselves and others.

Don’t take it from me, take it from a former Super Bowl Champion.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way. ~Laurence J. Peter (who gave us the Peter Principle)

This quote by Laurence Peter comes to mind for me whenever I hear leaders mumble, complain, or whine about Millennials.  Too many leaders in the Baby Boom and even Gen X generations don’t want to make the changes or shifts required to lead Millennials.  It doesn’t make sense to them, so they want to keep doing things the way they have always done it.  After all, it worked just fine for them; therefore, it will surely work for generations to follow.  There’s a word for that: denial.

According to Pew Research, Millennials have surpassed Generation X to become the largest generation in the American workforce.  Adults between 18 and 24 make up one in three American workers.  By 2020 (which isn’t far away!), Millennials will make up 50% of all workers.  We shouldn’t be surprised by this, but Millennials are here to stay.

I’ve blogged on this topic previously, but with each year as the scales tip further in favor of the Millennials, it seems to become a greater challenge.

Michael Lee Stallard suggested 3 Ways to Connect with Millennial Employees in an ATD (Association for Talent Development) post.

1. Deliver an inspiring vision, and then practice what you preach. Millennials are much different than their Baby Boom or Gen X counterparts.  They aren’t quite so self-centered (in a macro-context); they want to be part of a vision that serves and/or helps others.  When they see leaders model the way, they want to follow.
2. Value them. Again, Millennials are looking at your actions, your behaviors, much more than your words.  What are you doing to show they are valued?  This goes way beyond saying, “I really value your work.”  We need to show it.  Talk to them, one-on-one.  Get to know them, ask about their career goals, what are their interests.  They want to be mentored; so mentor them.
3. Let them speak. Another way to say that might be “give them a voice.”  They want to have input into the decisions that will affect them.  Give them opportunity to tell you what they see is right, wrong, or missing before you hit the implementation button.  When changes are made based on their input, give them credit.

It’s not an “age thing” as much as an attitude.  I’m not making a political statement, but an observation.  Currently, it appears that Bernie Sanders, the oldest presidential candidate, is garnering the greatest appeal with the Millennials.  It has been said that “Sanders’ idealism and authenticity – and his unvarnished take on their everyday realities” is what’s drawing younger voters.  Sounds a lot like an inspiring vision being lived out coupled with showing Millennials they are valued.

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” That’s what I think will happen in organizations where the current leaders are pushing back more than embracing the generation who will be leading our organizations in a few short years.  Millennials are telling us: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”  Will we listen?

Learning in a face-to-face human community, as humans have evolved to do over hundreds of thousands of years, may always be the ideal – especially in an endeavor that is as relationship-driven as business.  ~Warren Bennis

Productivity–it’s a popular topic in most, if not all, organizations.  It’s a theme that transcends size, industry, for-profit/not-for-profit, or any other category or label.  We can all make potentially significant improvements in productivity with one simple change.  Put down your device and talk, face-to-face.

We like to believe that technology has made us more efficient; therefore, more productive.  Or has it?

While searching on Google a sidebar caught my attention:  The New Science of Building Great Teams, an HBR article.  So just like Google wanted me to do, I clicked on the link.  I learned that of one of the findings of the “new science” is the increase in efficiency by simple, old-fashioned, face-to-face communication.

Here’s one actual example shared in the article.  The manager of a call center wanted to raise the energy and engagement of his employees.  It was suggested by the researchers to institute a common coffee break for each team.  This simple change (which cost nothing!) increased their face-to-face interactions and raised their energy levels.  Measuring efficiency before and after this simple change revealed that efficiency in the center overall increased by 8% on average and by as much as 20% for the worst performing teams.

Who would have thought that simply talking, even informally, could markedly increase efficiency?!

If you’re leading a team and want to increase your team’s productivity, here are a few more research findings:

• Socialize more (even a 15-minute coffee break together).
• Be democratic with your time. Communicate with everyone equally and make sure all members get a chance to contribute.
• Listen as much, or more, than you talk.
• Practice energized but focused listening.

These researchers concluded that “the most valuable form of communication is face-to-face. The next most valuable is by phone or video conference, but with a caveat: Those technologies become less effective as more people participate in the call or conference. The least valuable forms of communication are e-mail and texting.”

Emailing and texting has become our communication default (professionally and personally).  It’s what we turn to first because we think it’s most efficient.  Why not put these research findings to a test, try it with your team.  Instead of emailing and texting, get face-to-face or on the phone, video chat (yes, that device you hold in your hand everyday does more than email and text).  It’s not old-fashioned, it’s good leadership.

DiSC TIP

When things get tense, lean-in to the other person’s DiSC preference.

When things get tense (and you know it will at some point), take a breath, pause, and then lean-in to the other person’s DiSC behavioral preference.

• If they are a D: face issues quickly and directly, and avoid taking bluntness personally.
• If they are an I: stay calm, acknowledge their feelings, and avoid personal attacks.
• If they are an S: practice patience and diplomacy to avoid shutting them down.
• If they are a C: allow them time to process, and avoid becoming forceful or emotional.

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.  ~George Bernard Shaw