The Search for Worthy Leadership November 16, 2009

1. Presented to UTA The Search for Worthy LeadershipNovember 16, 2009

2. Overview • Goal for Tonight • To propose a different way of looking at Leadership • The Personal Journey • For historical context • Some Conventional Wisdom of Leadership • Four stories of catastrophic failure • A New Lens for Leadership • The Worthy Leadership Model • Practical Applications • A brief case study • Some early research findings

3. The Journey • University of Minnesota • PhD in Counseling Psychology • Executive Development Focus • Doug Bray and Ann Howard • AT&T Management Progress Study • Research Interests • Who Changes? • How Much? • Why? • Now at 27+ Years Experience • Assessing, Coaching, and Developing Senior Leaders

4. Three Observations of Top Leaders • Oftentimes they were not the brightest, the best educated, the most experienced, or even the most productive leaders in their organizations. • Oftentimes they were not committed to, or aligned with, their organization’s goals and values. • And oftentimes they were not great on integrity, trustworthiness, or character.

5. How Do People Like This Become Leaders of Our Organizations!?

6. Two Overly Simple Answers • The California Psychological Inventory • “Dominance Scale” • Robert J. Sternberg, PhD • IBM Professor of Psychology and Education, Yale University • Formerly the Director of the PACE Center at Yale University • Other – • PhD from Stanford; plus four honorary Doctorates • Twelve significant awards for research, writing, and education • Editor of four referred journals • “Fellow status” in 14 Professional Organizations • Current or past President of four Global Professional Organizations • Over 950 refereed journal articles • Plays the Cello, likes fine wine, and rehabs old houses

7. How? • Their “personality” made them do it. • CPI Dominance Scale • They “wanted” to become leaders. • Robert Sternberg A third answer (for discussion at a later time) • We “let them” become our leaders.

8. Four Leadership Stories But Does This Mean They Should Be Leaders?

9. A “Conventional Wisdom” Lens • Top Leader #1--- Deep experience and knowledge of his industry, deep experience managing scale, personal knowledge of and credibility with a wide array of stakeholders, and seen as the “go to” person in times of distress. • Top Leader #2--- Very savvy about and committed to his industry, fanatically results oriented, worked very independently, his (very, very large) team passionately followed him, and lots of great results over many years. • Top Leader #3--- Very bright, enormous functional breadth and experience, worked twice as hard as anyone else, amazingly resilient, coped easily with conflict, disruption, and chaos. • Top Leader #4--- Very bright, very strategic, very credentialed, broadly and deeply knowledgeable, goal focused, very articulate, very adaptable, and had an on-going outside personal coach.

10. Through a “Worthiness” Lens • Top Leader #1 --- Came out of retirement to bring the company back from certain bankruptcy and credibility recovery. Had an affair with a senior officer and was summarily terminated by the Board under his own new executive conduct policy. • Top Leader #2--- Resentment led to serious health issues. Openly wept when asked about his “philosophy of forgiveness.” A series of fiduciary irregularities have come to light. He was terminated and plea bargained to avoid indictment and prison. • Top Leader #3 --- Thought he was smarter and more shrewd than anyone else. Made a “secret deal” that violated federal government contracting laws. Indicted, tried, and went to federal prison. Attributes his problems to being a bit impulsive. • Top Leader #4 --- A career climber, he quickly navigated himself into CEO positions at a young age. He failed bigger each time. Was most recently accused of misstating financial information, and fired. His last company ceases to exist.

11. Leadership Worth Following? Obviously Not!

12. A New Lens for Leadership • Worthy Leadership • Definition: “guiding, directing, and influencing people in a way that has great merit, character, and value” • The Capacity to Lead • A lot of conventional wisdom • Necessary, but not sufficient • The Commitment to Lead • Some conventional wisdom • But much more than simply “wants to lead” • The Character to Lead • A little conventional wisdom • But very significantly expanded

13. The Capacity to Lead – “can do”

14. The Commitment to Lead – “want to”

15. The Character to Lead – “does do”

16. Worthy Leadership in Real Life A Case Study

17. Worthy Leadership in Real Life • The Leader - A Group President • The largest division of a name company • The Board - Wanted a Development Effort • Preparing for possible succession to CEO • Collected Verbal-360 Feedback • Using The Worthy Leadership Model • Her Results • Shared with her permission

18. The Capacity to Lead – “can do” • Capacity to Reason & Make Good Decisions • Her eyes go right to the important numbers. • She is good at making tough decisions, and in helping others make them, too. • Capacity to See & Realize the Future • She has a vision for what we should be, even years out. • Her execution focus is one of her most important talents. • She won’t let the short-term business needs bog her down. • Capacity to Communicate & Influence • She insists we disseminate information. • She gets consensus ahead of time.

19. The Capacity to Lead – “can do” • Capacity to Know • She knows this place forwards and backwards. • She is a voracious reader. • She is always abreast of the market and products. • She has contacts at all levels, inside and outside of the company. 5. Capacity to Persevere & Adapt • She is very high energy. • She changes with the business and tackles problems well. • She has a good sense of humor. • I appreciate her ability to not lose her human side. • She takes care of herself, and we can, too.

20. The Commitment to Lead – “want to” • Commitment to Excellence • She provides a lot of clarity. • She has a consistent message and always stays on point. • She sets big and clear goals, and celebrates their achievement. • She does not suffer fools. • Nothing is allowed but excellence. 7. Commitment to People & Relationships • She is compassionate and interested. • She builds and supports a trusting environment. • I don’t feel vulnerable working tough issues with her. • She is very thorough in our reviews. • She has no concerns about putting people in strong roles.

21. The Commitment to Lead – “want to” • Commitment to Learning & Personal Growth • She is fascinated by what she doesn’t know. • She is curious. And we love it! • She has the courage to ask the potentially embarrassing question. • She will lead us in new directions as we discuss topics. • She is self-aware enough to know how she impacts people. • Commitment to Stakeholders • She talks about customers and mandates a customer focus. • Customers and (employees) are the lifeblood of our company. And she makes sure they get what they need. • She is very committed to pleasing the Board, but realizes what it takes to succeed and appreciates our efforts. • She gets involved herself (with customers, at times)! • Her commitment to the community is incredible!

22. The Character to Lead – “does do” • Personal Integrity & Ethics • She thinks twice about things if she believes there are ethical issues. • She is always above board. • This what we stand for, what we are, and it’s her. • She can be tough, but she is fair. • She has no agendas, and she is straight-forward. • I would trust her with my kids, house, and bank account. • Organizational Integrity & Courage • She protects the culture and sets the standards. • She does not bend the numbers to get results. • She lives with the truth. • She does not hide things, and is transparent. • She is gracious in how she handles power. She shares it. • We were this way long before government standards required it.

23. The Character to Lead – “does do” • Humility, Gratitude, & Forgiveness • She is humble, self-deprecating, and laughs at herself easily. • She remembers individuals’ achievements. • She talks about achievements, and sends notes. • She is not easily offended. • She does not hold a grudge. • She lets go of her anger quickly.

24. Through the Eyes of Her Team • “Does she demonstrate leadership worth following?” • Five team members said: Yes! • Four team members said: Absolutely! • Two team members said: Definitely! • Narrative Comments • “Almost in a frightening way.” • “If she went somewhere, I would want to go along.” • “She generates enormous loyalty.” • “She encourages and empowers us to succeed.” • “She wants to be part of the process, but she wants us to grow our businesses and run them ourselves!”

25. Her Business Results! • Consistently very top-of-market/industry results • Pre…during… and post-economic bubble (2000-2003) • Best of peer companies during the current recession (2008-2009) • The company was sold for a significant premium • In an industry where this is very unusual • The entire team still runs the company (post acquisition) • The company is fighting through the recession well • Despite a significantly increased debt-load

26. Leadership Worth Following Early Research Findings

27. Multi-rater Data • What got leaders to where they are? Past Performance • Strengths in Capacity and Commitment are seen as reasons for success. • Will leaders follow other leaders? Followership • Leaders rated high in Character are seen as likely to support other leaders. • Are leaders “worth following?” Worthy Leadership • Leaders rated high in Character and Commitment are seen as “worth following.”

28. Future Success & Failure • Failure • “If this individual fails to reach his/her full potential, weaknesses in which three factors (below) will contribute most to his/her failure?” • Top Four • Capacity to Communicate & Influence • Commitment to People & Relationships • Capacity to See & Realize the Future • Humility, Gratitude, & Forgiveness • In the Middle • Capacity to Persevere & Adapt • Commitment to Learning & Personal Growth • Capacity to Reason & Make Good Decisions • Capacity to Know • Bottom Four • Commitment to Stakeholders • Organizational Integrity & Courage • Commitment to Excellence • Personal Integrity & Ethics • Success • “If this individual reaches his/her full potential, strengths in which three factors (below) will contribute most to his/her success?” • Top Four • Capacity to Know • Capacity to Reason & Make Good Decisions • Commitment to Excellence • Commitment to People & Relationships • In the Middle • Capacity to Communicate & Influence • Personal Integrity & Ethics • Capacity to See & Realize the Future • Capacity to Persevere & Adapt • Bottom Four • Commitment to Learning & Personal Growth • Commitment to Stakeholders • Organizational Integrity & Courage • Humility, Gratitude, & Forgiveness

29. Leadership Worth Following Summary Thoughts

30. So What? • “Dominance” and the “wanting to lead” will almost always be present in our leaders • And should be • Conventional Models have served us pretty well, overall • But that doesn’t make leaders ultimately effective, or the leadership they practice necessarily “worthy”

31. So What? • We believe that leadership should be “worthy” • To increase the chances of significant success • To decrease the chances of catastrophic failure • We believe that Worthy Leadership • Achieves better and more sustainable results, and • Help others to “do better” and “be better”

32. Thank You 5605 North MacArthur Blvd – Ste 760 Irving, TX 75038214.260.8001 www.worthyleadership.com