leadingtoday.org

Leadership Tip of the Month

November 2005

Copyright 2005 ã weLEAD, Inc.

What Are The Roots of Modern Leadership?

If you had serious problems and were to receive psychoanalysis treatment, you would most likely be asked a series of questions about your past to determine the events that led to where you are today and why. It is believed that childhood experiences have a powerful psychological influence throughout life. In a similar way, to understand where traditional autocratic leadership is today and why it no longer works effectively, we must go back to the origin or roots of modern leadership. To review the present sad state of leadership in the United States please read the October 2005 “Leadership Tip of the Month”.

Imagine yourself as an entrepreneur in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The year is 1770 in urban England and you have an idea to mechanize the weaving of textiles using a machine design you have patented. You have found a location, good materials to use and limited financing to begin your business. But, where will you find people to do the work and what models exist in society to manage and lead these workers? As you look within your culture of the late 18^th century you have three strong models of management and leadership to emulate. These models have proven to be successful over a period of time. Here are your three choices…

1. The political government is a hierarchal model beginning with the King and working down many levels to the local government. Even though the King is partly responsible to a Parliament, the political model is “command and control” oriented and rigidly established. To question this structure is considered treason or civil disobedience and punishment can be severe.

2. The military complex is part of the government and is also highly hierarchal with a “top…down” approach to management. Military personnel are taught to simply obey anyone of higher rank beginning with a general or admiral at the “top” of the chain of command. The military has established serious consequences for disobedience or creative thinking.

3. The State religion is an ancient institution with clear levels of clergy rank and authority. Beginning with an archbishop the structure is also rigid, hierarchical and control oriented. To question authority, or exhibit creativity is considered rebellion against God’s established order and the consequences can be harsh.

In reality, your three models are very similar and offer little contrast between them. What they had in common is that they were autocratic, controlling and used intimidation as a way to motivate followers. Yet, they were also organized, and had a history of gradual achievement. If you were an entrepreneur in 1770 you would have certainly chosen a similar management philosophy to guide your new business! It should be no surprise that later industrialists and financial giants like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford and others were domineering, autocratic, controlling and sometimes ruthless in their management and leadership styles.

The reasoning or justification behind this dictatorial management approach was the type or quality of worker you would find available to hire for your new business. Workers were streaming into the cities from rural farms and agricultural communities. They were basically uneducated, illiterate and desperate for work of any kind. They did not offer unique skills, only manual labor. They were untrained, often undisciplined and unmotivated. They were not valued for their knowledge or experience, only their ability to move their body quickly to perform manual labor. They were treated like “things” and could easily be replaced by hundreds of workers who were waiting to take their job. This reinforced the idea that the business owner needed to be a paternalistic and strong “father-like” figure.

That was then and this is now…

The reason rigid hierarchical management no longer works is because of dramatic changes in the culture and society beginning in the late 20^th century. Most western governments are now democratic in structure. The major influence of democracy has changed education, expectations and choices in the cultures that have embraced it. As Peter Block stated in his book, Stewardship,

“In some ways we are a nation profoundly conflicted about what we believe. We live in political institutions that celebrate the rights of individuals to express themselves, to assemble, to pursue happiness and individual purposes…Yet when we enter the factory door or the lobby of business cathedrals in our major cities, we leave our belief in democratic principles in the car. The halls and chambers of these buildings have flourished on a very different set of beliefs and rituals.”

People who live in democratic cultures resent and resist an archaic philosophy that treats them like ignorant and untalented children.

Another change that has occurred is the quality of the worker. Most workers today in western nations are educated and have far more to offer than manual labor. The western economy has changed from one that centered on manual labor to one that must be centered on the knowledge and intellectual skills of each worker. Many college graduates now have unique focused talents that exceed those of the corporate president, CEO or management team. In our highly competitive environment it is suicide to limit the potential of your workforce. Educated workers have choices and will leave if not personally treated to their satisfaction. Great employees are in limited supply and can’t be easily replaced if they leave for a better opportunity.

Stephen Covey writes in his recent book entitled The Eighth Principle,

“The fundamental reality is, human beings are not things needing to be motivated and controlled; they are four dimensional – body, mind, heart and spirit… People make choices. Consciously or subconsciously, people decide how much of themselves they will give to their work depending on how they are treated, and on their opportunities to use all four parts of their nature. These choices range from rebelling or quitting to creative excitement:”

Covey later adds, “The point is, if you neglect any one of the four parts of human nature, you turn a person into a thing, and what do you do with things? You have to control, manage, and carrot-and-stick them in order to motivate them.”

This months leadership tip is the understanding of why we have a high degree of ineffective leadership in our world today and its origins. Realize that we have moved from the Industrial Age to a Knowledge Worker Age where the true worth, talents and potential of people must be tapped in order to competitively thrive in a digital and technological world! Machines, technology, materials or buildings are not your greatest asset… your people are!

For weLEAD, this is Greg Thomas reminding you that Edward Simmons once wrote, “The difference between failure and success is doing a thing nearly right and doing a thing exactly right”.