Flawless Leaders

Mount Vesuvius is an active volcano just east of Naples, Italy. It is the only European volcano to have erupted in the last one hundred years. It is still considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world and is precariously one of the most densely populated volcanic regions in the world today. It is best known for its extremely violent eruption in AD 79 that caused the utter destruction of the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It had erupted several times prior to 79, and it has erupted more than forty times since 79. The ancient Greeks and Romans believed the volcano was sacred to their demigod Hercules, hence the nearby city of Herculaneum. Strangely, Mount Vesuvius is common in western vernacular almost two thousand years after it’s historic debut as the virulent destroyer of civilization. We now typically describe a person’s molten spew of anger as a “Mt. Vesuvius” occurrence.

Many leaders experience the deleterious effects of disproportionate emotional outbursts, during which times they might commonly be referred to (in hushed and reverent tones, of course) as Mt. Vesuvius. The extreme anger, rage, shock, or surprise that is randomly released from their pressure tank of emotion is akin to harmful noxious gasses violently uncorked from a putrid bottle. Similar to a volcano, these leaders have extended periods of external calm while their internal disturbances continue to percolate. When they finally do show emotion, the amount of emotion they display inappropriately outweighs the situation and constitutes a disproportionate response. Internal emotional pressure builds up inside the leader throughout several varied experiences within a given time period. This pressure is classically suppressed for various reasons until a selected situation receives a heavily unbalanced eruption. The emotional display then becomes the focus of attention instead of the situation or solution the outburst is intended to address. Hence, the emotion’s intention and function is never served. It is this dysfunctional addiction to disproportionate emotional responses that classically traps the emotionally unbalanced leader, corked in a bottle.

Emotions play an enormous part in leadership. Leadership is primarily a relationship and in relationships, emotions are key data. Out truth-based emotions (as opposed to fear-based) give us valuable data from which to base decisions involving trust and expectations within a relationship. Furthermore, effective decision-making is critical to effective leadership. In 1994, Antonio Damasio published his breakthrough findings on emotions from a biological perspective, after extensive research with brain-damaged patients; he concluded that rational decision-making was impossible without the mental capacity of emotion. Emotional data imbues and essentially enables every effective decision a leader makes. If effective decisions are essential, continually enhance your ability to perceive, access and assimilate accurate emotional data. 

- Phoenix, AZ. October 2008. Dave McCleary. 

Leaders are judged on their judgment. Followers follow leaders in direct proportion to their perception of that leader’s judgment. Judgment is an English word of many meanings. Most commonly, a judgment is the pronounced opinion of an appointed legal court or the divine sentencing and delivered calamities by an estranged God. In leadership it’s meaning is not just somewhat different. It is vastly different, and in the difference we find learning. A flawless leader’s judgment is a confluence of skills that contribute to evaluative opinion formulation: discernment, discrimination, perception, penetration, insight, and acumen.

Flawless discernment is the ability to grasp the obscure, the mysterious, the naturally confusing, that which we do not normally understand. Those with discernment help the rest of us find our way in the darkness.

Flawless discrimination is that uncanny capability to rapidly distinguish truth within oceans of fabrication and distortion, to select the optimally appropriate data within forests of innocuous information, to easily decide on the best options from the countless excellent choices constantly available. Followers flock in a fury to those who possess the critically required skill of discrimination because it is the primary supporting skill of great decision-making.

Flawless perception is the acute cognitive capacity for quick and empathetic comprehension of shades of meaning, the ability to instantly understand minute variations and nuances in meaning from communication and situations. Leaders are not only meaning-makers, they are mythmakers and the power of perception is what fuels this classic component of judgment. The greater a leader’s perception ability the more depth of understanding they bring to followers’ comprehension of the purpose and meaning within everything they do.

Flawless penetration is the power to see that which is not easily seen, to ignore the shallow data, the superficial onslaughts, the obvious problems, and to piercingly arrive at the root causes, the depths of truth, the heart of the matter. Flawless penetration as a leader is akin to being the one-eyed person in the land of the blind.

Flawless insight is the rapid access and assimilation of deeply intuitive data, an expertly honed “gut-feel”. When timing is crucial, leaders sometimes have only their instincts and insights to rely on.

Flawless acumen is simply the establishment of a reliable track record of sharp, crisp, clean, practical, and successful decisions. This performance is a source of comfort to tenuous followers relying on leaders for direction or input.

These several skills converge into the strange constellation that makes up a followers’ judgment of a leader’s judgment: does the leader have the most necessary or most favorable combination of discernment, discrimination, perception, penetration, insight, and acumen? That is flawless judgment for the leader. The one with the most of the most of these qualities is most often followed.

The judgment of a court or God is based in positional authority alone. The judgment of a leader is grounded in a complex mix of their related abilities, skills, aptitudes, track record, and personal power. The court’s judgment rests entirely on their appointment of power. The leader’s judgment rests entirely in who they are and what they do. These are two entirely different tracks of judgment. When a leader continually hones the skills related to flawless judgment, they are on the track of freedom, potentiality, and possibility and followers are typically waiting on their every word. When a leader exercises positional power only and judges as if they were the court or God, they enter the jail of judgment and must rely on coercion to influence those they assume to follow them. When we assume to judge others as God, we assume to ascend above them, to be unequal to them, to be “above” them. This is a classic prison sentence for the leader. The ascendant leader expects more honor than engagement thus limiting the potential of everyone around them. Their dysfunctional need to be worshiped derails their potential leadership. Their constantly aggressive and asserting demeanor is usually a projection of both ascension and self-rejection and is a covert message of hate and abuse to potential followers. This repels, not attracts, followers. Flawless leaders become great by accepting not asserting. The path through the open door of the jail of judgment is to change who you are and what you do, to walk the humble path of the flawless leader and learn the skills of flawless judgment.

- Griswold, CT. September 2008. Dave McCleary.  

Forgiveness is a deep and difficult topic. “Que Sera, Sera” is evidently inappropriate here. This is serious stuff, not for the faint of heart or those frail in fortitude. MK Ghandi said that “the weak never forgive; forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.” Our predilection toward forgiveness flavors our leadership. Forgiveness is a consummate relationship intervention and leadership is all about relationship.  

Forgiveness is too abstract to discuss without making it personal with examples. Forgiveness must be experienced. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables illustrates this eloquently. Jean Valjean, the main character, spends nineteen years in prison for stealing. He is released after being hardened and calloused by excruciating human cruelty during his long sentence. Now, an former convict, he must carry identification paperwork that informs everyone he is lecherous and dangerous. After wandering four days in a merciless world that summarily rejects him, he is shown kindness by Bishop Myriel who gives him a warm meal and shelter for the night. The tough, indifferent Valjean only knows a world of judgment, threats, and survival and returns the first gift of love he has received in almost twenty years by stealing the Bishop’s silver and leaving in the night. The next day the authorities return with Valjean in custody to restore the stolen silver to it’s rightful owner. The Bishop unexpectedly swings open the door and his arms widely and warmly greets Valjean as a long lost friend. He exclaims he is overjoyed that Valjean has returned; that he forgot to take the silver candlesticks that he gave him too. He tells the gendarmes that he gave not only the silver to Jean but the candlesticks also. The police leave, and Jean Valjean’s heart of stone melts as the Bishop explains that he forgives him. The Bishop’s gift of the silver is to start a new and honest life, a life full of love and power. Hugo’s tale then expounds on the beautiful transformation that occurs in Valjean’s life. A life that essentially becomes an enormous expression of compassion and kindness, a huge ripple in the sea of humanity from one flawless leader’s act of forgiveness.

From this story we can clearly see the anatomy of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a three-part harmony that Myriel knew well. It is 1) a recognition of evil and harm, 2) the willful abandonment of judgment and rightful resentment, and 3) authentic acts of undeserving kindness toward the harmful evil-doer. While the evil of Valjean is necessary for forgiveness to occur, the identity and capability of Myriel is even more necessary. Hugo’s scene of forgiveness occurred more because of who Myriel was than due to what Valjean had done. Let us also make no mistake, Myriel’s act of forgiveness was not selfless; it was self-caring and self-protective. For by compassionately freeing himself from his wall of wounds, his vexing victimization, his containing resentment, Myriel was able to lead Valjean toward his own freedom. Flawless leaders must first free themselves before they can free others.

The lack of forgiveness is rooted deep in every society. In Hemmingway’s short story The Capital of the World, he writes of a Spanish father that has decided to reconcile with his son, Paco. The remorseful father takes out an ad in a newspaper saying “Paco, Meet Me At Hotel Montana Noon Tuesday. All Is Forgiven, Papa.” Caught up in the emotional desire for reconciliation when making the newspaper ad, the father did not realize that Paco is such a common name in Spain. On Tuesday, the father was met by eight hundred young Pacos looking for their father’s love.  

Flawless leaders are willing to abandon power in favor of love; vacate condemnation in favor of compassion; jettison judgment in favor of acceptance; shuck self-protection in favor of vulnerability; ignore independence in favor of relationship; and forsake fairness in favor of forgiveness.

- Lynchburg, VA. August 2008. Dave McCleary. 

The uncomfortable truth is that dictators exist because we chose them. Somewhere in time we cut a deal and now we live with the results. Many dictatorships occur forcibly and abruptly, some rise to power by destroying their predecessors, some tyrannies continue mostly unabated because we are culturally predisposed to acquiescence, and other despots slickly slip into power because we were simply asleep. Regardless of origin, they continue to exist because we are either (a) still asleep or (b) our perception of freedom’s pain is greater than the pain we feel now. This is not only true for the people of Cuba, Russia, and Venezuela who crave the extinct basic freedoms of speech and assembly, it is also true for (a) workers who want to unionize in a Kansas Wal-Mart because their wages are below poverty level but don’t because they feel threatened by their executive leaders who complain about their waning investment portfolios, (b) executives in an elitist insurance and consulting company in London who amount to “immobile drones” because they feel guiltily trapped and destined to continually supply their super-elite superiors with obscene profits by parasitically infusing fear into and sucking the money out of countless other organizations, (c) the Detroit Michigan auto workers who fear their jobs will cease to exist because their company has been slowly bled to death (in part by their own organization) and is no longer a viable competitor either at home or in the global marketplace, (d) the wife who thinks that she deserves the beating she just received from her husband, (e) the Chinese immigrants who are too busy working to object to their inhumane schedules and workloads that are “required” to make illegally high interest payments on their debt so that their “benefactors” will not harm their families back home, (f) the leprosy patient in Bombay who has not felt human touch in years and is ostracized from his family even though his disease is in permanent remission, (g) the engineer in Glasgow that does not voice her disagreement with the boss in a meeting because she needs her job and she fears his history of retaliation, and (h) the priest in Guadalajara who chooses not speak the truth he knows to be true because he feels bound by invisible religious chains to an “all-powerful” system to speak only the truth that is deemed “acceptable”.

In almost every organization in every free country there is at least a pocket of tyranny. Flawless leaders have learned that followers do not need them, they want them. Followers do not exist to serve leaders. Leaders exist to serve followers. To follow is to desire, to want to struggle and experience pain in order to achieve a shared dream. Flawless following is the result of a leader influencing you while honoring your freedom. Other methods of influence typically involve some sort of contract, hierarchy, deal, coercion, and/or compliance (the extortion instruments from the toolbox of tyranny). These tools do not know geo-political boundaries, they do not respect constitutions and declarations of freedom, and they easy infect every organization and leader throughout the world. Be not deceived, at some point you have been bitten and infected with the disease of despotism. The question that flawless leaders grapple with constantly is to what extent will I radically and recklessly honor my freedom and the freedom of all those around me? Too often leaders choose prison instead of freedom. From within our chosen prisons, we project incarceration onto others. We cannot lead anyone to freedom without first choosing it for ourselves. Every day we are presented with countless choices of prison or freedom. Choose freedom.

- Labrador, Canada. August 2008. Dave McCleary. 

As I was finishing a week of intense personal work with a group of leaders in Poland, one of them thoughtfully commented that he felt as though he was leaving the prison of his former self. This was a powerfully resonating reflection for everyone there. Since then, I have often thought of that picturesque symbolism to describe those significant and often painful times of personal learning that some people call “breakthroughs”. I prefer the terminology of this Polish leader: instead of “breakthroughs”, I now call these occurrences “prison breaks”.

The thick irony is that leaving the prison of our former selves is the simple and freeing choice to walk through an already unlocked and open door. We stay stuck because we are seduced by both the payoffs we receive and the comfort of pain avoidance. Choosing prison is victimizing choice, not ourselves. We daily choose the limiting benefits of remaining stuck in our prisons and then ascribe power to someone (a jailor) or something else (a cause) in order to avoid the intense pain of accountability and freedom. Leaders choose prison sentences in countless ways, but most commonly through purposeless direction (“my way or the highway” leadership), frenetic reaction (“if I’m busy spinning than I must be good” leadership), limiting assumptions (“the solutions of the past will work again” leadership), pain avoidance (“all pain is harmful” leadership), and the chains of fear (“all my emotions are truth-based” leadership).

Flawless leaders leave prisons through the embrace of learning and change. Learning and change are somewhat synonymous. Change and learning are self-inflicted wounds. When leaders remember the most significant learning or change in their lives, they usually remember painful and uncomfortable emotions associated with that learning or change. Those who are flexible have learned to walk through their valleys of pain in order to stumble onto the path of a flawless leader. Flawless leaders have learned that not all pain is harmful. Leaving prisons is painful. Flawless leaders leave prisons daily.

- Zurich, Switzerland. May 2008. David McCleary.

Leaders unconsciously choose blindness to unseen matters too often. That which is not task and accomplishment is ignored. When I was contemplating a key strategic move in my organization, a trusted advisor of mine asked me why I was hesitant to operate in the world of the unseen, God does, so why shouldn’t I? This feedback was key in some exposing unhelpful assumptions I was unconsciously choosing that would have hampered my decision and reduced value for my firm and our clients. Since that time, I am amazed how applicable this feedback has been to various aspects of leadership. There are many layers of human systems in which we lead: the most blatant is the content – the “what” we are working on, the area where most leaders start and most get stuck. Some leaders multi-task and also work on the process, the “how” we are working together. This applies to both the content and the efficiency and effectiveness of the human system, the extent to which we optimally interrelate. This is where most leaders fear to tread, to their detriment. Still, another layer of leadership is the level of paradigm, the basis for action and reaction, the “why” we do what we do and how we do it. Discerning, understanding and leading paradigms are “career critical” for flawless leaders. Paradigms cannot be seen, and like the 80% of the iceberg that is beneath the surface, they comprise the vast majority of the arena for leadership.  Paradigms give us clues to the various meanings and purposes will resonate in followers. Flawless leaders do not allow ambition to fade meaning out of life.

That which is meaningful and lasting begins with and is pervaded by purpose. Leaders fail when they dishonor that truth. Leaders fail when they choose not to subjugate themselves to a greater purpose. For leaders to avoid failing, they must do that which they strive so strenuously against: surrender. Leaders fail when they fail to surrender to purpose. In this way, surrender is more powerful than conquest. Conquest alone cannot bring significance; only contribution offers the possibility of significance. Conquest takes; contribution gives. Conquest diminishes; contribution enlarges. There is an inherent generosity that occurs when a leader powerfully surrenders to meaningful purpose. The question that must remain is “what purpose is worthy of my surrender?” 

- Santa Vittoria, Italy. May 2008. David McCleary. 

Flawless leaders value the sovereignty of human life above accomplishment and other self-serving motives. By doing this, they enrich their sensitivity. Flawless leaders know that sensitivity brings greater growth and profitability than numbness over the long-term horizon. So, according to a flawless leader, being too sensitive would be analogous to being too good or too profitable. Flawless leaders encourage others to get a thinner skin, not a thicker one. Flawless leaders treat people as ends, not means to an end. People are not numbers, machines, objects, talents, or resources. People are equals. The flawless leader forgoes the desire for conquest and ascendency and chooses the contributions of surrender to purpose and service to people. In this way they become the natural irritant to the tyrant, whose life is built on the instability of supremacy. Flawless leadership is an unforced rhythm of healing and humanization. Flawless leadership is a force of nature, a power to harmonize, a balanced treaty of peace. Hierarchical position, coercion and adoration give a false sense of pseudo-power. Power is not a scarce resource to be hoarded or competed for. Power comes to those who bring others power. Power comes to those who bring hope. Creating power in others is one of the primary duties of a flawless leader. Power comes not to those to whom others have surrendered. Power comes to those who have surrendered to a greater purpose. At its core, flawless leadership is a matter of restoration, responsible healing, and lavish service.

- Florence, Italy. June 2008. David McCleary. 

Truth embraces scrutiny. Truth is open and vulnerable. Truth cannot be trapped. Truth pierces your soul and brings regenerative pain and change. Truth is not easily allowed in organizations. Avoiding truth’s pain and manipulating others to think “we are who we pretend to be” are strong unspoken values. In organizations, we collude with hidden forces that counter truth. We all nod yes around the table and the leader assumes that agreement is commitment. (Not!) No one speaks up and disagrees so the leader assumes that everyone is aligned and in agreement. (Think again!) We are not physically absent; we “put in our time” so the leader assumes that we are productive. (Not even close!) We attend the right meetings, listen in on the right conference calls, copy the appropriate people on the right emails, and daily apply a thin coat of cosmetic compliance. Faux-followers do all these things to defend against truth and accountability, independent thought, clearly articulated opinion, emotional maturity, intellectual acuity, collaborative leadership, and clarified commitment. Most leaders encourage follower acquiescence, but disguise it with the cloak of “execution”. They are trapped in neutral, accepting disengaged behaviors in the midst of their own meaningless motion.  Flawless leaders would beg to differ, and beg you to differ with them. Flawless leaders value and invite disagreement; they find safety in dispute; they praise and empower resistance. Flawless leaders embrace challenge and opposing opinion as interesting and significant; they feel less accurate without adequate objection and protest. When followers are not weighing in their positions and healthy debate is not occurring, flawless leaders reflexively know that trust is low and effectiveness is in jeopardy. Flawless leaders look at their followers as the first line of defense in protecting themselves and the larger organization from their leadership mistakes and misdirection. Flawless leaders value the fully-engaged commitment that can only come from free-thinking debate.

- Griswold, Connecticut. April 2008. David McCleary.

Are people following you or worshipping you? If they are engaged in purposeful action and meaningful motion, they might be following. If they feel free to disagree with you and are more committed to your shared vision of the future than you as a person, they are probably following. If your “followers” are highly concerned with giving you admiration, respect, honor, and loyalty than you might be saddled with a bunch of worshippers. If you have people around you attempting to manipulate your opinion of them and trying to get your “favor” than you definitely have worshippers on your hands. Worshipping gets in the way of following. Leader-worship is a common root cause for low productivity in organizations. Observe behavior: are they following or worshipping? A leader is not there to manage results; a leader is there to influence behaviors. Results are lagging indicators, unchangeable history lessons; behavior is a leading indicator, predictive of future results.  Many leaders are unconsciously striving for others to worship them instead of follow them. This fills their dark-side voids of acceptance, significance, and competence. Many followers are looking for surrogate parents they deem worthy to worship. This fills their dark-side needs to avoid accountability and freedom. This twisted dynamic plays out in organizations: followers willingly give up their power and worship paternalistic leaders who are all too happy to receive worship in lieu of followership. With all that “worshipping”, there is little time left to “engage”. To flawlessly lead, leaders must get over their needs to be worshipped, and engage their followers in the business of following. Flawless leadership requires great confidence and optimism, yet it also requires profound humility; humility that respects all human life. Flawless leaders view others as equals, not subservient minions.

- San Jose, California. April 2008. David McCleary.

We all struggle against the toxicity of tyranny and despotism. We all participate in the venom of tyranny and its many disguises. Psychologists tell us that we are all born tyrants. We are born with an innate desire for unilateral control over everything around us, and if you are a parent you have experienced the shadows of tyranny firsthand. I have often thought that tyranny is the infantile and immature form of manipulation, but in fact, tyranny actually has many forms. Sometimes it is outright forced compliance; sometimes it appears as benevolent dictatorship; sometimes patriarchy; sometimes paternalism; sometimes colonialism. In whatever size and shape it assumes, tyranny is undeniably the manipulative forcible coercion of others’ free will. Tyranny can be a phone call from the lonely grandmother covertly dripping in guilt, the drill sergeant’s demeaning scream intending to help keep you alive when you face battle, the selling of a human slave to be owned as property by another human, the boy who buys flowers and dinner hoping to have sex from his date at the end of the night, the business owner who raises prices during a natural catastrophe, or the wife who uses sex with her husband to manipulate his actions or decisions. Regardless of tyranny’s profile, to be an instrument of someone’s will other than your own is dehumanizing. Human exploitation is the hallmark of tyranny.  Flawless leaders are an irritation and an affront to tyrants. They quietly represent a more restorative and enduring form of maturation. Flawless leaders stand in strong and subtle opposition to tyranny. Flawless leadership is an unforced rhythm of healing and humanization. Flawless leadership is a force of nature, a power to harmonize, a balanced treaty of peace. Hierarchical position, coercion and adoration give a false sense of pseudo-power. Power is not a scarce resource to be hoarded or competed for. Power comes to those who bring others power. Power comes to those who bring hope. Creating power in others is one of the primary duties of a flawless leader. Power comes not to those to whom others have surrendered. Power comes to those who have surrendered to a greater purpose. At its core, flawless leadership is a matter of restoration, responsible healing, and lavish service.

- Timisoara, Romania. April 2008. David McCleary.