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ã The Filson Leadership Group, Inc.
Einstein, the Universe and Leadership
By Brent Filson
Ever since serving
a hitch in the military, I have been nagged by the question that’s been
hanging around leadership since time immemorial: How can some leaders persuade
people to believe in them and follow them and other leaders can’t? But it
wasn’t the military that provided me with a framework to answer that
question. It was Albert Einstein and his quest for the unified field theory
of the universe.
Einstein is well known for his special and general theories of
relativity, two of the crowning intellectual achievements of the 20th
century. But what he is not so well known for is a magnificent quest that
he carried on for some 30 years — and ultimately failed in. That was his
quest for a unified field theory of the universe, a theory that explains all
the forces of the universe. And it was a quest that inspired me, in my
small way, to find an answer to the leadership question.
Einstein’s special theory combined space and time into a single concept
known as the space-time continuum. He spent the rest of his life failing
to develop a unified field theory that incorporated gravity into the
electromagnetic field. But it wasn’t his trying to solve the conundrums
of physics that inspired me. It was his trying to unify the grand forces
of the universe that’s so compelling.
Just as there are grand forces driving the activities of the universe,
I’m convinced that there are grand forces driving the activities of
leadership. Whether we are talking about small or large organizations,
organizations of butchers, bakers or candlestick makers, the same leadership
forces — leadership laws, if you will — apply. Or at least that was my theory, that was my quest: to find the laws of leadership,
if they did indeed exist, and then show how those laws can be applied in any
organizational challenge. In short, we can have a “unified field theory
of leadership.”
I won’t go into the details of how I came to develop the theory — only
that after a quest of several decades, working with leaders of all stripes, I developed what I call the Unified Field Theory of
Leadership Success. I’m certainly not unifying such grand concepts as
gravity and the electromagnetic field; but my theory, in its small way, has
helped many leaders around the world raise their leadership effectiveness to
much higher levels.
Here then is the Unified Field Theory of Leadership Success. It is
not magic dust to transform you into a great
leader. It is instead a polestar to guide and help you invigorate your
leadership and communication efforts.
The UFTLS is expressed as a series of four propositions.
(1)
BUSINESS SUCCESS HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE GET RESULTS. Clearly, this
is not some strange, UFO- like concept. Instead, it is a BFO — a Blinding
Flash of the Obvious. Yet obvious or not, it is ignored by many leaders —
too many leaders. Too many leaders focus on enabling such drivers as
quality initiatives, re-engineering projects, and cost-cutting programs — at
the expense of the people who must animate those drivers.
For instance, I know of a company that is engaged in the fourth major
restructuring in the past half dozen years. Three of those initiatives
have failed, mainly because they ignored the human/leadership aspect. In
fact, I propose that the new initiative is doomed to fail too. It’s obvious why: instead of being driven by a compelling
market strategy, strong products, or a vision of marketplace leadership, this
new restructuring is being driven by a new computer system!
The officers are restructuring the company primarily to better
employ that system, not to better employ people for results. I daresay
the light that they may perceive to be at the end of the tunnel will turn out
in truth to be a search party looking for survivors.
(2)
LEADERS DO NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN GET RESULTS. Another seemingly obvious statement. Yet when I give
talks to leaders around the world, and ask them, “What is the most important
thing you do as a leader?” some 95 percent of them give every answer but this
one. This is the right answer. Understand the power in the seeming
passiveness of “have.” Leaders cannot get results by themselves.
They need others to help get those results. Today, with speed,
flexibility, and teamwork driving
competitiveness, the control-freak order-leader who must tyrannize and micro
manage can’t compete against the leader who can build and motivate teams to get
results. In short, the leader who can “have”
others get results.
(3) THE
BEST WAY TO HAVE PEOPLE GET RESULTS IS NOT TO ORDER THEM BUT TO MOTIVATE THEM. Like leadership
purpose, motivation is another concept that is misunderstood by many
leaders. If we misunderstand the concept of motivation, how in the world
can we motivate anybody to do anything? Here are the four “eternal
truths” of motivation: A.
Motivation is not something people think or feel but what they PHYSICALLY
DO. Only when people take physical action can they in truth be defined as
“motivated.” B. Motivation is not something we can do to anyone. We as
leaders can only communicate. The people we want to motivate must
motivate themselves. The “motivatee” and the
motivator are always the same person. C. Motivation is driven by emotion. In fact, the words emotion
and motivation come from the same Latin root, meaning “to
move.” When we want to move people, motivate people, to take action, we
engage their emotions. D.
Motivation happens best when it is triggered by face-to-face speech.
(4) WE
LEAD WELL ONLY WHEN THE PEOPLE WE LEAD ARE LEADING WELL. Let’s throw
out the old concept of leadership. That concept is based on the idea of “followership” — successful leaders being the ones who got
people to follow them. Baloney! Today, the speed and scope of
change in the marketplace demand a new vision of leadership, leadership that
can not only deal with that change but actually speed it up and make
opportunities of it. That vision is this fourth proposition. How
many times have we heard this seeming praise, “They’re such great leaders, they
can’t be replaced!” Within the terms of the new leadership dynamics,
those “great, irreplaceable leaders” are in truth poor leaders that should be
gotten rid of! If the leader’s function is to have others get results,
then the best way is not simply to motivate them but to motivate them to
lead others to get those results. When we challenge our leaders to
truly lead, we change their world and ours. Only then are we leading
well.
Those are
the four propositions of the Unified
Field Theory of Leadership Success. Einstein failed in his quest for a
unified field theory; but the success or failure of this Theory of Leadership
rests with you. Put it into action. Guided by its ideas, develop
strategies, processes, and leadership skills. You will start on the road to
being a better leader, because the four
propositions do provide defining differences between leaders. Those
differences are not as grand as the differences between gravity and
electromagnetic fields, but they can help you do that very simple,
down-to-earth thing that your career, that any career,
rests on: leadership.
About the Author:
The author of 23 books, Brent Filson’s recent books are, THE LEADERSHIP TALK: THE
GREATEST LEADERSHIP TOOL and 101 WAYS TO GIVE GREAT LEADERSHIP TALKS. He
is founder and president of The Filson Leadership
Group, Inc. – and has worked with thousands of leaders worldwide during the
past 20 years helping them achieve sizable increases in hard, measured
results. You can learn more about Brent at www.actionleadership.com
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